Mickey Mouse clone teaches hate
costumed character on Hamas show violates Disney copyright.
May 9, 2007 Dominic von Riedemann
(Source: www.bcdb.com)
Farfur, an animated rip-off of Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse, is teaching Palestinian children to pray for Islamist leadership and to hate Israel, claims an Israeli organization that analyzes Palestinian media.
“The Hamas Television (show Tomorrow’s Pioneers) is using a clone of Disney’s Mickey Mouse to teach children to hate Israel and America, and aspire to Islam’s inevitable and impending world domination,” said Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook of Palestinian Media Watch (pmw.org).
The two hosts of the show, Farfur and his human co-host Saraa’, talk about the importance of drinking milk and saying daily prayers, “while taking every opportunity to indoctrinate young viewers with teachings of Islamic supremacy, hatred of Israel and the US and support of ‘resistance’ – the Palestinian euphemism for terror.”
The costumed character Farfur, with his squeaky voice, round ears and cheeks, white gloves & tuxedo with tails, bears more than a passing resemblance to Walt Disney's iconic cartoon character. 'Farfur' means 'butterfly' in Arabic.
“Using a character based on an appealing, world famous and beloved icon like Mickey Mouse to teach Islamic supremacy and resistance as Islamic duty is a powerful and effective way to indoctrinate children,” say Marcus and Crook.
“We are setting with you the cornerstone for world leadership under Islamic leadership. Isn’t it so, Saraa’?” Farfur said to his co-host, in an episode that aired April 16th, 2007.
“Yes, our beloved children,” replied Saraa’, a young girl.
“You must be careful regarding your prayer and to go to the mosque for all five (daily) prayers,” said Farfur. “I say, in the mosque and in the first rows, until we can lead the world.”
“We remind you that we, the great ones, started this program to lead this world,” said Saraa’. “The nucleus, with the will of Allah, will be from here, from Palestine. We will carry the concern of this nation that awaits us.”
Marcus and Crook say the writing on the show is quite sophisticated.
“Farfur's performance is unquestionably funny and entertaining, as is the character’s comic timing,” they write.
“For example, as he rhymes off a list of world figures, he chirps: ‘We will win, Bush! We will win, Condoleezza! We will win, Sharon!’ Then, without missing a beat, he quips, ‘Ah, Sharon is dead!’”
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has been in a coma for the past several months.
During an episode that aired April 30th, a Palestinian girl named Harwa phoned in to sing a revolutionary song.
"We liberated Gaza by force/From your death,” she recited. “The people firmly stand/In their fire is a flame/Rafah sings ‘oh, oh’/Its answer is an AK-47/We who do not know fear/We are the predators of the forest."
In that same episode, they say a boy named Mohammed recited a poem that went, “Oh Jerusalem, we will never surrender to the enemy/We will never be humiliated . . . We will destroy the chair of the despots, so they will taste the flame of death/We will lead a war."
“It is unclear what screening process, if any, is used in the selection of the poems to be recited,” Marcus and Crook write. “Either the themes are selected by the screeners, which reinforces the hate orientation of the program, or they are the initiative of the children and parents, which demonstrates the great success of the show's hate messages.”
Israelis find the show shocking.
"Children are taught that killing Jews is a good thing," said foreign ministry spokesman Mark Regev. "Children are taught to hate Jews and to hate nonbelievers."
Palestinians in Fatah, Hamas' political rival, are also unimpressed with the show.
"I don't think it's professional or even humane to use children in such harsh political programs. Children's nationalist spirit must be developed differently," said Abu Sumaya, head of the Palestinian Broadcasting Corp.
Tomorrow’s Pioneers airs every Friday afternoon on Palestine’s Al-Aqsa TV, the official television station of the Hamas movement. Hamas, which holds the majority in the Palestinian National Authority, is sworn to the total destruction of Israel. It is listed as a terrorist organization in several countries, including Canada. Despite pressure from world leaders, Hamas has refused to give up terrorism as a means to promote its goal.
Yehia Moussa, a Hamas leader, denied that the show incites hatred against Jews.
"Our problem is not with the Jews," he said. "Our problem is with the (Israeli) occupation and the occupiers."
Tomorrow's Pioneers proves that Palestinian society now has a culture of glorifying violence, claims a Gaza-based psychologist.
"It's the fault of both (Israel and the Palestinians)," said Samir Zakkout, of the Gaza Community Mental Health Program. "If Palestinians had peace, children wouldn't learn violence."
Years of bloodshed, from brutal Palestinian infighting and Israeli attacks on the territory, have traumatized countless children in Palestine.
"There's been a collapse of values," Zakkout said. "If I can kill my enemy, I can kill my brother."
Farfur of Tomorrow's Pioneers
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Mickey Mouse
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