By Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook, Palestinian Media Watch Bulletin, July 16, 2007.
Hamas’s Al-Aqsa television station recruited a new children’s character to
“continue” the legacy of its star martyr, Farfur – the Mickey Mouse lookalike
who was beaten to death by an Israeli on the previous program.
The new character on the children’s show Tomorrow’s Pioneers, a bee named
Nahool, tells the hostess he is Farfur’s cousin and that he wishes to “continue
the path of Farfur& the path of martyrdom, the path of the Jihad warriors& and
in his name we shall take revenge upon the enemies of Allah, the murderers of
the prophets…”
The expression “Murderers of the prophets” is an Islamic expression
used by the PA religious leaders to refer to Jews. Defining the Jews as the
enemies of God is common in PA religious broadcasting.
There was worldwide outrage after PMW reported the existence of Farfur and
his hateful messages in May. The New York Daily News dubbed the character
“Terror Mouse”, while Walt Disney’s daughter Diane described it as “pure evil”.
Without apparent regard for the sensitivities of their child viewers, the show’s
creators killed off the character in a particularly violent way that allowed them
to continue the show’s rabidly anti-Israel messages.
It is now clear that these messages will continue through the new Nahool
character.
The following is an excerpt from the program:
Hostess Saraa: “Who are you? And where did you come from?”
Nahool: “I am Nahool , Farfurs cousin.”
Saraa: “And what do you want?”
Nahool: “I want to continue the path of Farfur, the path of Islam is the
solution . The path of heroism, the path of martyrdom, the path of the Jihad
warriors. Me and my friends shall continue the path of Farfur. And in his name
we shall take revenge upon the enemies of Allah, the murderers of the prophets
, the murderers of innocent children, until Al-Aqsa will be
liberated from their filth.”
Saraa: “Welcome! Welcome Nahool.”
