Hamas sponsors mass wedding in Gaza

[oberliner]

SHEIKH ZAYED CITY, Gaza Strip — Nearly a thousand Palestinians celebrated marriage on Thursday night in a ceremony organised by Hamas in the north of the Gaza Strip.

Hamas dignitaries including Mahmud Zahar, one of the militant group's top leaders, were on hand to congratulate 450 grooms who took part in the carefully stage-managed event.

"We are saying to the world and to America that you cannot deny us joy and happiness," Zahar told the men, all of whom were dressed in identical black suits and hailed from the nearby Jabalia refugee camp.

Each groom received a present of 500 dollars from Hamas, which said its workers had also contributed five percent of their monthly salaries to add to the wedding gift.

The 450 brides shared none of the glamour, taking seats among the audience of around 1,000 party guests: most couples had already taken part in religious ceremonies elsewhere, with more marriages planned for the next few days.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5igKMKNhotZrz6JytkJenE7spoaDQ

[Turbineguy]

1. Mothers, don't let your kids...

grow up to be suicide bombers...

[Vegasaurus]

3. There are plenty of mothers

who are honored to have their children blow themselves up.

It is a source of family pride to have a martyred child,because killing Israelis is more important than having a live child (apparently),

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Scurrilous]

7. A new low for you.

http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/Ee5mbnrflAV/Two+Hundred+Palestinian+Couples+Celebrate/xeHAsivpQ0R

Read the captions on the photos.

The young girls in the video are bridesmaids.

From a link at that crappy blog you source:

http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/198275.php

"UPDATE by Rusty: Soccer Dad writes in saying that the little girls shown were probably hired to be there in order to celebrate the weddings. More like flower girls. He notes that the brides and grooms wouldn't be seen holding hands like that.

In other words, the girls shown are not the brides."

[oberliner]

8. The brides themselves did not participate in the festivities

I believe the original article that I posted makes that clear.

To wit:

"The 450 brides shared none of the glamour, taking seats among the audience of around 1,000 party guests..."

The point is that Hamas is, to my mind, actively courting public opinion in a variety of different ways.

Meshal recently gave an interview to the Wall Street Journal in fact.

[Sezu]

13. Thanks for pointing that out.

My bad.

[ProgressiveMuslim]

14. This blogger sums up the religious bigotry behind the meme Sezu is pushing:

http://heathlander.wordpress.com/2009/08/01/hamas-child-brides/

Anti-Jewish bigotry of this sort would not be tolerated for a nanosecond on this forum. That would be rightly so.

The poster would be immediately T/Sd.

There is really no excuse for this.

[Sezu]

16. Did you not see that I admitted my mistake

AND thanked Oberliner for pointing it out????

Why do your type always go for the jugular? At least I admit it when I'm wrong unlike the many who don't. Go take a pill.

[Violet_Crumble]

43. What's 'your type' supposed to mean? People who dislike the bigoted sites you seem to like?

The ONLY reason you listened to Obie and thanked him is coz you view him as pro-Israeli. I've seen plenty of times when people have pointed out that you've got something factually wrong (only recently I corrected you on something wrong you'd posted about a UN map yet you didn't listen to or thank me or admit that you were wrong) and you ignore it and sometimes get more insistant that whatever it is yr saying is right.

[Daylight]

25. The Raw video

http://wejew.com/media/5562/Hamas_Shocking_Mass_Wedding_for_450_Little_Girls/
At the beginnin it shows everyone driving to the wedding ceremony. Note no women in the cars only men and little girls. AT 4:25 it shows them lined up for the wedding ceremony. Again no women only little girls. It also shows a couple of scenes where one of the brides was commenting on the wedding ceremony. Someone who knows Arabic want to translate?

[ProgressiveMuslim]

4. What do you make of this story, Oberliner? Why is this newsworthy to you? nt

[oberliner]

5. Hamas continuing to try to win hearts and minds in Gaza

I get the sense that both Hamas and Fatah are doing their best to ingratiate themselves with the people.

Indications seem to be that tensions have been ratcheted up again a bit lately between the two organizations.

If Obama is able to achieve what is perceived on the Palestinian side as progress in the peace process by working with the Abbas-led government, one wonders what Hamas would make of that.

An event like this, with money being handed out to men in need of cash, tells me that Hamas is at least somewhat concerned with public opinion at this time.

[ProgressiveMuslim]

6. Just wondering if you were pushing Sezu's pedophilic angle.

Sezu's post is full of shit, anyway. The girls in that video are not brides. That contention is beyond gross.

It's curious to me that pro-Israel posters never chastise your brethren when need be.

[Violet_Crumble]

10. Has anyone else taken a look at that blog Sezu linked to? It's full of anti-Muslim stuff...

...along with anti-liberal rantings, Hell, it makes LGF look like a bunch of lefty tree-huggers!

[Violet_Crumble]

9. Aren't you bothered by the bigoted comments and hate expressed in this thread?

I'd have major issues and be voicing them if I posted an OP that garnered bigoted and hatefilled comments as this one has, and I'm kinda curious as to why you haven't bothered. If those comments were made about Jews, you'd be first cab off the rank voicing yr opposition to that sort of mindset...

[Violet_Crumble]

11. Kick for Obie n/t

[oberliner]

12. Regarding the three posts I think you are talking about

One posted a factually incorrect statement about the age of the brides (which was corrected).

Two made references to suicide bombers.

The first one I don't even really understand what is being said, and the second one I would agree that there are some Hamas mothers (I dont know about "plenty") who do view the martrydom of their child as an honor. Hamas as an organization has presented suicide missions in this fashion. The post seems to be an anti-Hamas one, rather than a bigoted statement against Palestinians or Muslims or Arabs.

[Violet_Crumble]

15. Yr talking about post #3?

I can't believe you'd even try and justify that as not being bigoted. Apart from anything, the poster has a history of posting bigoted comments, and nowhere in their post were they referring to Hamas.

[oberliner]

17. The wedding was a Hamas-sponsored event

The OP makes it clear that this ceremony was organized and conducted by Hamas.

That being the case, I see the comment in question as being anti-Hamas. And I would agree that Hamas has promoted the idea that it is an honor to sacrifice your life (or the life of your child) in order to conduct a suicide attack against Israelis. The Hamas leadership has often made public statements supportive of that notion and often the families of suicide bombers have echoed those sentiments.

[Daylight]

18. Hamas sponsors mass wedding in Gaza

The guys are men and the wives are all little girls about grade school age.
Here is link to the raw video of the marriage http://wejew.com/media/5562/Hamas_Shocking_Mass_Wedding_for_450_Little_Girls/
Check it out at 4:25 you see the line of little girls getting married.

Need an Arabic translator to translate.

[SeriousEbony]

19. Sick perverts

And to think we just gave these child rapists a billion dollars to continue their abuse of little girls.

[LeftishBrit]

30. While I'm no fan of Hamas, they are not child rapists

The young girls shown at the mass wedding are bridesmaids - not the brides.

[mzteris]

20. I don't think so . . .

"He explained the minors seen in the video were family of the bride or groom. He said it was tradition for little girls to dress in gowns similar to the bride. He said the little girls walking down the aisle with the grooms are family members of either the bride or groom.

A WND review of the video found some of the little girls, speaking in Arabic, state they are at the wedding of a family member. The girls interviewed do not say anything about themselves getting married.

Multiple calls to Palestinians who participated in the wedding affirmed the little girls are not themselves the brides. "

[Daylight]

26. family members of the bride or groom [b]hah[/b]

Why is there one girl per guy, what a coincidence.

[mzteris]

21. Islamophobia. Ignorance Or Propaganda?

" . . . So, I've gatecrashed a Hamas wedding party in Gaza, as you do.

The party is for 450 grooms, the brides are elsewhere, some among the 5,000 or so guests.

. . . Then the grooms, aged about 18 to about 28. They are holding hands with their young nieces and cousins, little girls aged from about 3 to 8, made up to the nines, wearing white wedding dresses.

. . . It never struck me for a moment that the little girls might later be described in the bloggersphere as the brides! How naive I am.

Dozens, and I mean dozens, of websites took the video of the event and wrote lurid stories about Hamas mass paedophilia with headlines about '450 child brides', and endless copy about how disgusting this was, how it showed how depraved Islam is, et al, ad infinitum. Site after site jumped on the story, linking from one totally wrong load of rubbish to the next . I'll give credit to Tundra Tabloids who at least took down the video, but most sites just ploughed on regardless.

I spent a few hours visiting websites and leaving comments where I could. To little avail. Instead I received a steady stream of vitriol. The best response was on a site run by a Debbie Schlussel . The guy who posted it said he wasn't interested in the detail. The detail being the fact that the girls weren't the brides.

It showed how much some people want to believe nonsense like this, as it re-inforces their prejudices, always a comfortably fun thing to do. . . . who would you believe, the reporter who went to the event, or a desperately poor version of citizen journalist, sitting at home, making things up, not checking anything, and either unknowingly or deliberately, writing hysterical anti Islamic nonsense. " http://blogs.news.sky.com/foreignmatters/Post:dcc9d723-8046-4857-b618-5c1135ba6417

[Daylight]

27. This is a long video, where is the pictures of the brides if the little girls weren't them?

They showed the brides mothers, interviewed some in the video in fact.
http://wejew.com/media/5562/Hamas_Shocking_Mass_Wedding_for_450_Little_Girls/

[uppityperson]

22. You post a video with an "explanation" yet need translator to say what is going on?

And we are just supposed to believe you?

Wtf?

[mzteris]

24. it's not true at all . . .

just a bunch of islamophobes. . .

[mzteris]

23. from an Israeli newsource

Hamas weddings are much cheaper than traditional weddings. Instead of paying for a gown and stylist, brides appear in black robes, headscarves, and Hamas banners. In some mass weddings the brides have not been seen at all, and young girls in white dresses play the part of bride during the event.

[Daylight]

28. That would explain it. But it's also just plain wierd even if true.

Then again it could be they are trying to cover up the truth that the little girls really are the brides.

[uppityperson]

29. the moon being made of green cheese is just plain wierd (sic) even if true also

Why do you continue to wish for pedophilia when it has been shown that the little kids are bridesmaids?

[Daylight]

31. wrong words.

I don't wish for one way or the other. I don't believe they are just brides maids. I don't take their defense of the pictures and the video at face value. And they have reasons to lie.

[uppityperson]

32. You post a link to a video with "your" assumptions, saying need a translator to say for sure

poster translates, shows your assumptions were wrong and all you can do is say they are lying.

huh

[LeftishBrit]

33. Arutz Sheva wants to cover up the truth that the little girls really are the brides???

Come on. Arutz Sheva is an Israeli Jewish religious-right paper that would in general love to portray Palestinians and Muslims in a bad light. They would have no earthly motivation for lying about this custom. And I have heard of this custom elsewhere in any case.

And, as Hamas clearly organized this mass wedding as something of a publicity stunt, they would not have been likely to include child brides and lie about it. It wasn't something they were trying to keep secret; quite the reverse.

And anyone who reads this forum knows what I think of Hamas - but there are enough genuinely bad things to say about them, without inventing stuff.

[ConsAreLiars]

34. Not certain of your motives, but the replies in this thread highlight the utter depravity and

amoral hatefulness of those who will use and spread and believe any putrid lie, so long as it serves to demonize "the other," whether that other is Hamas, Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims or all nonbelievers of others tribes or nations.

Those responses were as sick and disgusting, and, sadly, as predictable, as anything seen here for several months at least.

If encouraging that kind of hate speech and delusional belief systems was your intent, well, congratulations.

[LeftishBrit]

35. You cannot blame the OP of a genuine news item..

because some people misinterpret their post and/or use it as a platform. So far as I can see, only one person persisted with this 'child bride' theme after being corrected. The main point of the article, and probably the OP, is not 'child brides' but IMO that Hamas are trying to bolster their public relations.

'amoral hatefulness of those who will use and spread and believe any putrid lie, so long as it serves to demonize "the other," whether that other is Hamas, Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims or all nonbelievers of others tribes or nations'

Quite so; but to be accurate, you would have to include Jews and Israelis among those who are sometimes demonized by 'putrid lies'. Many people have an irrational hatred of Palestinians/Muslims/Arabs, and many have an irrational hatred for Israelis/Jews. Hamas are in a somewhat different category: they are not an ethnic or national group, but a political party like the Republicans or the Likud; and like the other parties I mention, they deserve plenty of condemnation - but not false rumours.

[ConsAreLiars]

37. News items are always posted for some reason.

Interesting and instructive maybe. Or others. In this case this article and the associated video had been circulating for a day before it was posted here and used by hatemongers to "prove" that Hamas was supporting chi;ld rape. I am 99% certain that those who repeated that lie in this thread had already seen and believed it when they first encountered that claim on the supremacist sites they use as resources. I only suspect the OP'er knew that this article and the associated video knew that linkage before starting this thread.

As for listing all who are often demonized, that would be a rather long list. Based on my experience on DU in general, open bigotry, vicious lies like those, and a pattern of hate-mongering is usually dealt with rather quickly, thankfully. Except when directed against Palestinians in this Forum. Here people who regard Palestinians as human get called anti-Semites and Nazis with moderator approval.

[oberliner]

38. People who regard Palestinians as human get called Nazis with moderator approval?

Do you have any evidence to support this claim?

Also, as the poster of the OP I will tell you (as I told the other member who asked why I posted this article) that I thought the article showed how Hamas was going out of its way to curry favor in the midst of what appears to be a growing Hamas-Fatah power struggle. You will note that the mass wedding including a distribution of cash gifts by Hamas to all of the grooms.

I had no idea about any videos of "child brides" and when such information was posted in response to the OP, I corrected the misinformation and pointed that poster to the line in the article that made it clear that the brides themselves did not participate in the festivities but rather were seated in the audience.

Many of us are more interested in the actual dynamics of the conflict than in simply demonizing one side or the other as others seem so keen on doing.

Though there have been some nasty posts, I've never seen anyone in this forum get called a Nazi with moderator approval because they regard Palestinians as human.

[ConsAreLiars]

39. Thanks for the explanation.

As for the fact that posters who routinely make accusations of anti-Semitism and are not banned, all you have to do is read this forum to see that those who habitually make that accusation are still posting. Calling people Nazis is typically done by one long-term activist in this forum who does it "discreetly" by asserting that posts which criticize the brutality against Palestinians belong on Stormfront, a Nazi website. You can google that poster's name on DU and that site name and you will find over a hundred cases, so again, I guess that kind of name-calling is encouraged.

[oberliner]

40. And thank you for yours

Although I think that virtually all of the folks who post here view Palestinians and Israelis as human beings in spite of the strong differences of opinion that exist among DUers regarding the ongoing conflict.

[ConsAreLiars]

41. Well, we are in complete agreement

on that. I do agree the great majority who post here regard Palestinians and Israelis as human, and the majority of them regard both as equally human. Apologies for wondering if your OP had come to your attention by the same route that 3 others in the thread had followed, beginning with the lies and "video proof" and ending with the article.

[Violet_Crumble]

42. While the mods don't approve, I've seen people called Nazis coz they support the Palestinian people.

It's been done to me in the past, so it's not like it doesn't happen....

fwiw, I didn't see any problem with the OP you posted. I think one person who came along and posted repeatedly in the thread appears to have a bit of an obsession going with under-age girls, which I find fairly creepy, but doesn't reflect on the OP or yr reasons for posting it...

[ProgressiveMuslim]

36. 100% spot on.