March 16, 2011: At night on March 11th, someone crept into the home of an Israeli  Jewish family in a West Bank settlement, and killed the two parents and three of five children (including a one month old infant). Two of the older children got away. Israel announced that it was searching for Palestinian terrorists, who have been trying to kill Israelis this way since their latest terror campaign began in 2000. But no Palestinian terror group took credit for the attack, and Palestinian leaders condemned it.

What did not get reported much was the coverage this sort of thing got in the Palestinian media. For one thing, there was much discussion about who else might have done it, other than a Palestinian. Foreign workers were mentioned, and it was implied that the Israelis were going to blame it on Palestinians no matter what. Of more interest was what has regularly been reported in Palestinian media, when it comes to terrorism against Israelis, for decades. Palestinian media constantly encourages and praises terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians.  But it gets much worse than that.

For the last two generations, it has been Palestinian policy to preach the destruction of Israel, not coexistence. Increasingly, over the last few decades, Palestinians have been indoctrinated with anti-Semitic propaganda, which encourages the young to become suicide bombers and terrorists. This is a very public campaign, and the terrorist killers are showered with praise in the media. In the Palestinian territories, there are hundreds of places (streets, squares, buildings) and events named after terrorists. Anyone who has killed an Israeli is a hero, and anyone who died trying is worthy of admiration. This goes beyond honoring "war heroes." The propaganda campaign portrays Palestinians as in a life-or-death struggle with "the Zionist entity" (what Palestinians like to call Israel). Since God is on their side, the Palestinian propaganda pushes the idea that it's only a matter of time before Israel is destroyed.

Thus most Palestinians (unless they were educated outside of the Middle East) take it for granted that any peace deal with Israel is just a tactical move in the effort to eventually destroy Israel and drive all Jews from the Middle East. People outside the Middle East have a hard time comprehending this attitude. But it is very real, and can be seen on Palestinian web sites (not so much on the non-Arabic language ones, although even there the anti-Semitic line is leaking through more and more).

This sort of propaganda is what it takes to encourage Palestinians to sneak into a Jewish home at night and stab sleeping children to death. Similar attacks happen in broad daylight, and the perpetrators are usually caught. When put on trial, the killers boast of their murderous actions, proclaiming their pride in striking a blow against Israel. For anyone who has paid attention to Palestinian media for the past few decades, this bizarre behavior should come as no surprise.