The seeds of indoctrination and incitement are planted from a very young age, from cradle to grave, which fuel violence in our region, particularly within jihadist Islam.
To counter this, it is essential to halt systematic exposure to this intergenerational indoctrination.
Achieving this goal necessitates the establishment of new institutions and frameworks designed to eliminate and replace these indoctrination systems. Examples of such coercive educational systems include the Hitler Youth, the North Korean educational system, the Cambodian Khmer Rouge, Communist China, and the Soviet Union during Stalin’s era, all of which were totalitarian in nature. They utilized coercion, direction, intimidation, and harsh systems of reward and punishment to impose their messages.
This is how Hamas operates.
What is required is the complete removal and replacement of these systems, which must be enforced from the top down, accompanied by close supervision and monitoring. The best example of this approach is what was done in Germany at the end of WWII. When the Allies liberated Germany, they took over its legal, educational, political, and cultural environment. The official term for this comprehensive approach was denazification, and it proved to be effective.
A similar approach must be undertaken in Gaza, Judea, and Samaria.
The process needs to permeate every corner of public life to ensure a lasting impact.
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Professor Elihu D Richter MD MPH
Occupational and Environmental Medicine
Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Public Health and Community Medicine
POB 12272 Jerusalem Israel