From an AFP news article, Jul 30, 2009, entitled "Hamas sponsors mass wedding in Gaza" (updated 18/8/09, and again on 16/9/09):
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...
"We are presenting this wedding as a gift to our people who stood firm in the face of the siege and the war," local Hamas strongman Ibrahim Salaf said in a speech....
The 5-minute video below from LiveLeak purports to show "brides" who were as young as 5 or 6 years old. If you don't have time to see the whole video, just watch the first 30 seconds, then from 4'25" to 4'35".
UPDATE 18/8/09: However Tim Marshall, who attended the event, says the young girls seen in the photos and videos were not the brides, and that "Hamas, and the jihadists do enough terrible things without having to make things up about them."
Tim had this to say on Sky News, 4/8/09:
...Sure Hamas have cold blooded killers among them, sure they support the murder of children in Israel, sure they are cracking down on women's rights, but many of their supporters are just ordinary people. And they need a break.
...the fireworks explode, the cheering begins, and in march the Hamas scouts, bashing drums, looking every inch the future Hamas fighters many will be. 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 ...the girls weren't the brides.
... Hamas, and the jihadists do enough terrible things without having to make things up about them. ... It's as is (sic) they really beleive (sic) that because there are examples of child brides, it means all weddings are with child brides...
(Updated 16 September 2009) from a talk on January 07, 2009, by Wafa Sultan, on YouTube:
2 comments:
disgusting bastards!!!
uhhh he just said those were not brides, the brides were among the audience. those little girls were neices and cousins dressed to resemble the bride, as flower girls.
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