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Israeli children sing 'we will annihilate everyone' in Gaza

Israeli children sing 'we will annihilate everyone' in Gaza in chilling video
MENA
1 min read
20 November, 2023
A waving Israeli flag and CGI-enhanced footage of strikes on buildings play in the background as a group of children sing 'we will eliminate them all'.
Israeli strikes on Gaza have destroyed vast swathes of the Palestinian territory [Ali Jadallah/Anadolu via Getty]

A chilling video has been released showing Israeli children singing for "annihilation" in Gaza, where Israel's air and ground assault has killed more than 13,000 people, mostly women and children, and displaced well over a million.

An Israeli group called The Civil Front posted the video of children singing a song called "Friendship Song 2023" to social media on Sunday.

In the video, the children sing to each other and to the camera, with an Israeli flag backdrop superimposed in some parts of the video.

Scenes also show Israeli soldiers in action or in mourning, as well as CGI effects of bombings of buildings.

"Autumn night falls over the beach of Gaza/Planes are bombing, destruction, destruction/Look the IDF (Israeli army) is crossing the line/To annihilate the swastika bearers," the children sing.

"In another year there will be nothing there/And we will return safely to our homes/Within a year we will annihilate everyone/And then we will return to plow our fields."

The lyrics have been slammed by Palestinians as genocidal. Far from being fringe propaganda, the video has been shared by Israel's public broadcaster Kan on its website and social media, before being taken down.

In its online article, Kan offered little more than credits for the song and video.

'Friendship Song 2023' is an adaptation of a song commemorating Israelis killed in the run-up to the establishment of the Israel state in 1948, according to Kan.

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On its website, The Civic Front describes itself as an "apolitical movement" founded in the aftermath of Hamas's attack on Israel on 7 October.

It says it is made up of military personnel, bereaved families, and others, and that the 7 October attack "created a severe rupture in the faith of the Israeli people in the security systems in Israel and in the protection it needs".

The group has produced a series of videos that call for the destruction of Gaza in response to the Hamas attack.

An Arabic-language voiceover from one of the group's videos released earlier this month, purportedly "in memory of the Nova victims", says: "We will dance on the ruins of Gaza, we will dance to the music of your cries, we will drink the tears of your sorrow," as video of festival revellers and mourning Palestinians plays.