GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Zainab al-Azaar got used to hearing her son Iyad, 5, reciting partisan songs and moving his legs and arms as if he were in a military parade at home, although she has repeatedly told him not to. She noticed he was exhibiting — at such a young age — a leaning toward Hamas, which is affiliated with his kindergarten in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.
She told Al-Monitor, “I always heard Iyad repeating songs, and I believed it was OK since we used to listen to these songs on partisan radio and TV stations during the war, with news on Al-Aqsa TV or Al-Kofiya TV. Yet what caught my attention is that my son had a fight with his cousin because the latter sang [Popular] Front for the Liberation of Palestine’s songs.”
