What rats!
A ripoff of lovable Mickey Mouse is being used by the terror group Hamas to preach Islamic radicalism and hate to Palestinian kids.
Meet Farfur, a life-size clone of Walt Disney's star, complete with big ears, a squeaky voice, a tuxedo with tails, a red bow tie and white gloves.
Starring on Hamas' new kiddie TV show "Tomorrow's Pioneers," Farfur tells children to drink milk, pray daily - and take up AK-47 assault rifles to defeat Israel and the U.S.
Farfur sings, dances and taunts President Bush, Secretary of State Rice, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who has been in a coma for months.
"We will win, Bush!" Farfur sang on a recent episode. "We will win, Condoleezza [Rice]. We will win, Olmert. We will win, Sharon! Ah, Sharon is dead," he then quipped.
A little girl named Saraa serves as the terror mouse's sidekick and says things like, "We want to resist against the enemy, and we don't want to surrender."
The perverse show is broadcast throughout the Gaza Strip on Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV station, telling children to strive for "world leadership under Islamic leadership." They sing songs with lyrics like "We will destroy the chair of the despots, so they will taste the flame of death." A child named Rafah was recently praised for calling in to sing about an AK-47.
Itamar Marcus, director of Palestinian Media Watch, said the program began running last month.
"It's a brilliant way of getting the most horrific messages into the consciousness of young children without them even realizing the terrible nature of what they are learning," Marcus said. "It's fun. You laugh at Farfur. You don't realize you're being poisoned."
Marcus said his group has informed the Walt Disney Co. of the mad mockery. But Disney spokesman Jonathan Friedland declined to comment yesterday. The U.S. State Department also refused to comment.
Ken Jacobson, deputy national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said Hamas has been using programs aimed at children to breed a new generation of terrorists.
In March, Al-Aqsa TV aired a music video featuring the daughter of Reem Saleh al-Riyashi, the first Palestinian mother to become a suicide bomber. In the video, the 4-year-old girl dons a bomb vest for her own suicide mission.
"When you take a character like Mickey Mouse and deliberately use it for an ideology of hatred with children, obviously it's going to have an impact on their thinking. The single biggest problem in the region is the teaching of hate to young people," Jacobson said.
"What's really depressing is that for years the United States and Europe have poured money in for schools and health services for the Palestinians," said Prof. Gerald Steinberg, director of conflict resolution studies at Bar-Ilan University near Tel Aviv.
"But Hamas and other Palestinian groups are still preaching hatred and terror against Americans, against Israelis and against the West and raising yet another generation in the same spirit of hate."
Meet Farfur, a life-size clone of Walt Disney's star, complete with big ears, a squeaky voice, a tuxedo with tails, a red bow tie and white gloves.
Starring on Hamas' new kiddie TV show "Tomorrow's Pioneers," Farfur tells children to drink milk, pray daily - and take up AK-47 assault rifles to defeat Israel and the U.S.
Farfur sings, dances and taunts President Bush, Secretary of State Rice, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who has been in a coma for months.
"We will win, Bush!" Farfur sang on a recent episode. "We will win, Condoleezza [Rice]. We will win, Olmert. We will win, Sharon! Ah, Sharon is dead," he then quipped.
A little girl named Saraa serves as the terror mouse's sidekick and says things like, "We want to resist against the enemy, and we don't want to surrender."
The perverse show is broadcast throughout the Gaza Strip on Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV station, telling children to strive for "world leadership under Islamic leadership." They sing songs with lyrics like "We will destroy the chair of the despots, so they will taste the flame of death." A child named Rafah was recently praised for calling in to sing about an AK-47.
Itamar Marcus, director of Palestinian Media Watch, said the program began running last month.
"It's a brilliant way of getting the most horrific messages into the consciousness of young children without them even realizing the terrible nature of what they are learning," Marcus said. "It's fun. You laugh at Farfur. You don't realize you're being poisoned."
Marcus said his group has informed the Walt Disney Co. of the mad mockery. But Disney spokesman Jonathan Friedland declined to comment yesterday. The U.S. State Department also refused to comment.
Ken Jacobson, deputy national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said Hamas has been using programs aimed at children to breed a new generation of terrorists.
In March, Al-Aqsa TV aired a music video featuring the daughter of Reem Saleh al-Riyashi, the first Palestinian mother to become a suicide bomber. In the video, the 4-year-old girl dons a bomb vest for her own suicide mission.
"When you take a character like Mickey Mouse and deliberately use it for an ideology of hatred with children, obviously it's going to have an impact on their thinking. The single biggest problem in the region is the teaching of hate to young people," Jacobson said.
"What's really depressing is that for years the United States and Europe have poured money in for schools and health services for the Palestinians," said Prof. Gerald Steinberg, director of conflict resolution studies at Bar-Ilan University near Tel Aviv.
"But Hamas and other Palestinian groups are still preaching hatred and terror against Americans, against Israelis and against the West and raising yet another generation in the same spirit of hate."