Ruthie Blum : Babies in bandandas
https://www.jns.org/babies-in-bandanas/
Exactly seven months before their abduction on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, Ariel and Kfir Bibas were photographed getting ready to celebrate Purim—a particular favorite among children, since it involves parading around in costume.
The by-now famous snapshot shows the toddler and his baby brother each dressed up as Batman. Age three and a half at the time, Ariel must have been familiar enough with the comic-book superhero to request the get-up. As another widely circulated image illustrates, the whole family, including mother Shiri and father Yarden, wore Batman pajamas.
That was the day on which Hamas invaded southern Israel. With the gleeful help of average Gaza residents, thousands of Palestinians from the neighboring terrorist-infested enclave committed the worst atrocities against Jews since the Holocaust.
They slaughtered around 1,200 people, among them Shiri Bibas’s parents. They raped, stabbed, shot, burned and decapitated anyone and everyone they encountered, ultimately kidnapping more than 250 innocent Israelis and foreign nationals.
Yarden and Shiri, residents of Kibbutz Nir Oz—known for its peace activism and generous assistance to Gazans in need of work or medical treatment in Israeli hospitals—were among the latter. Bleeding from his wounds, Yarden was hauled off on a motorcycle by the barbarians who raided Nir Oz. He was released three weeks ago as part of the ceasefire deal.
During the 483 days of his captivity, he had no idea what had happened to his wife and sons. To add torment to torture, his captors told him that his loved ones were dead.
They then forced him, weeping, to tape a propaganda video. Upon his release from the tunnels of Gaza, he was told that there was still hope that Shiri, Ariel and Kfir were alive.
That hope was dashed when Hamas announced that their bodies, along with that of 83-year-old Oded Lifshitz, would be returned to Israel on Thursday morning. At the designated hour, four coffins were dragged to a stage over which was a Nazi-like placard of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Before the caskets were transferred to the Red Cross, masked Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Fatah operatives proudly basked in the cheering crowds of Palestinian “civilians.”
These male and female jihad-lovers came out in droves, with children of all ages in tow, decorated in bandanas. Not ones with bat wings, of course. No, those with terrorist insignias. After all, their superheroes are “martyrs” for Allah. That’s whom they are taught to glorify and emulate.
Following the horrifying display of joy over the dead Jews, the crowd dispersed and the coffins were transported back to Israel, a short car-ride—yet light years—away. Once past the border that separates hell from heaven, they were delivered to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute for autopsy.
Lifshitz was identified relatively quickly. It took several more hours before members of the extended Bibas family were informed of the even worse news than already expected.
The remains of the woman being examined did not belong to Shiri. Furthermore, Ariel and Kfir had been murdered in cold blood in November 2023, about three weeks after they were snatched.
“The terrorists did not shoot the two young boys; they killed them with their bare hands,” Israel Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari revealed on Friday. “Afterward, they committed horrific acts to cover up these atrocities.”
Gasps could be heard around the country and beyond. Memories came flooding back of the footage of a terrified Shiri, clutching her babies for dear life, being ushered by Palestinian “civilians” into a residence in Khan Yunis, never to be seen or heard from again. Until Friday night, that is, when Hamas deigned to return her actual body.
No mother in Gaza empathized with her fate. On the contrary, the women of the Strip continue to view her as a perfectly legitimate target for sadistic abuse.
It’s in keeping with how they educate their children in the art—and skill—of savagery. It’s why so many Gazan youngsters continue to be taken to observe the nauseating hostage-return ceremonies aimed at a last hurrah of humiliation for the State of Israel.
Those children wear the headbands of one terrorist faction or another. You know, for the cuteness of it all.
Batman symbolizes the fight for justice. He stands for righteousness in the face of evil. His mission is to protect the innocent. To fight for the weak. To ensure that villains do not triumph over good.
This is what Israeli children grow up to admire. Heroes who defend, not attack. Warriors who sacrifice for the sake of others, not themselves. The IDF soldier who protects civilians at all costs. The paramedic who rushes to the scene of terror attacks, unarmed, to save lives. The firefighter who runs into flames while others flee.
Contrast this with the children of Gaza and the Palestinian Authority, who are raised on a steady diet of hatred. Their heroes are bombers, not Batman. Mass murderers, not saviors.
This is the reality of a society governed by blood lust. It’s the result of rulers who use their people as human shields and ideological pawns, indoctrinating generations into believing that the path to paradise is paved with mutilated Jews.
It’s high time for the Tribe, in Israel and abroad, to internalize this reality and realize that coexistence with heathen monsters is impossible. Anyone who has a temporary lapse in judgment on this score should remember what befell the Bibas family.
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