Israel is “the snake’s head” in song on PA TV

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Israel is “the snake’s head” in song on PA TV

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
Sept. 14, 2017

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Israel demonized as "the snake's head"

in song on PA TV calling to attack "the Zionists"

Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
i

A documentary broadcast on official Palestinian Authority TV called Tunisia in Palestinian Memories featured a song, which demonized Israel as "the snake's head":

Tunisian journalist Rashid Al-Buka'i:

"Oh Palestinians, [the Zionists] shot you with a rifle

The Zionists kill your doves at the holy sites."

Song writer Sheikh Imam:

"Oh Palestinians,

I want to go and be with you

With fire in my hands,

and together with you my hand

will strike the snake's head [Israel]."

[Official PA TV, "Tunisia in Palestinian Memories," Sept. 5, 2017]

The song was also performed at a Fatah event in 2011 in front of Mahmoud Abbas, and other senior PA and Fatah officials. It has been broadcast several times since by PA TV and PA TV Live, as documented by Palestinian Media Watch. Other versions of the song have been broadcast as well.

Portraying Israel as the enemy who is a "snake" is a repeating symbol in Palestinian imagery. In a terror promotion video during a Palestinian terror wave, a Fatah fighter demonstrated that he was able to eat a live snake, possibly symbolizing "the enemy":

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May. 8, 2014]

Cartoons in the official PA daily and on PA TV have likewise depicted Israel as a snake for years. One showed an army pilot as a snake, another presented Israel's then foreign minister Avigdor Liberman as a snake whose head was being cut off by Fatah and Hamas, and yet another depicted Israel as a snake in a Snakes and Ladders game.