Hamas Mickey Mouse Preaches Hate

Hamas 'Mickey Mouse' Preaches Resistance
By DIAA HADID

The Associated Press May 08, 2007

Hamas militants have enlisted a figure bearing a strong resemblance to Mickey Mouse to broadcast their message of Islamic domination and armed resistance to their most impressionable audience children.

A giant black-and-white rodent _ named 'Farfour,' or 'butterfly,' but unmistakably a rip-off of the Disney character _ does his high-pitched preaching against the U.S. and Israel on a children's show each Friday on Al-Aqsa TV, a station run by Hamas. The militant group, sworn to Israel's destruction, shares power in the Palestinian government.

'You and I are laying the foundation for a world led by Islamists,' Farfour squeaked on a recent episode of the show, which is called 'Tomorrow's Pioneers.'

'We will return the Islamic community to its former greatness, and liberate Jerusalem, God willing, liberate Iraq, God willing, and liberate all the countries of the Muslims invaded by the murderers.'

Children call in to the show, many singing Hamas anthems about fighting Israel.
Palestinian Media Watch, an Israeli organization that monitors Palestinian media, said the Mickey Mouse lookalike takes 'every opportunity to indoctrinate young viewers with teachings of Islamic supremacy, hatred of Israel and the U.S., and support of 'resistance,' the Palestinian euphemism for terror.'

Israeli officials denounced the program Tuesday.

David Baker, an official in Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office, said 'there is nothing comic about inciting young generations of Palestinians to hate Israelis.'

A spokeswoman from Walt Disney Co.'s headquarters in Burbank, Calif., did not immediately return messages asking for comment about the use of the Disney-like character.

Yehia Moussa, a Hamas leader in the movement's Gaza Strip base, denied inciting children against Jews. 'Our problem is not with the Jews. Our problem is with the (Israeli) occupation and the occupiers,' he said.

The television station would not comment.

A Gaza-based psychologist said the program proved that the culture of glorifying violence had penetrated mainstream society in the Palestinian territories, where dreams of Islamic dominion and animosity toward the U.S. and Israel are widespread.

'It's the fault of both (Israel and the Palestinians),' said Samir Zakkout, of the Gaza Community Mental Health Program. 'There's been a collapse of values. If I can kill my enemy, I can kill my brother.'

The program is opposed by the Palestinian Broadcasting Corp., which is controlled by Hamas' political rival _ the Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

'I don't think it's professional or even humane to use children in such harsh political programs,' said Basem Abu Sumaya, head of the Palestinian Broadcasting Corp. 'Children's nationalist spirit must be developed differently.'

Hamas loyalists launched the Al Aqsa satellite channel last year. Bearded young men read the news and Islamic music is layered over footage of masked militants firing rockets into Israel. The channel also broadcasts talk shows, programs about the disabled and cartoons.

In addition, Hamas loyalists run at least five news Web sites, one newspaper launched just last week and a radio station.

Radical Rabbis Call For The Return of Animal Sacrafice

JERUSALEM (AP) -- A fringe group of extremist rabbis wants to resume the biblical practice of animal sacrifice at an explosive religious site in Jerusalem, members said Wednesday. read the whole cnn article

Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

An Appeal in the Jerusalem Post for Jews to Appreciate Christians and Accept Their Help

by Shmuley Boteach/TN : Nov 13, 2006 : The Jerusalem Post

"The one group traditionally identified as the single greatest threat to our continuity is becoming one of the chief guarantors thereof."

In an opinion piece published in the Jerusalem Post, Shmuley Boteach entreats his fellow Jews to accept and appreciate Christians. He begins his letter by asking the question: How can a tiny nation, often hated wherever it resides, possibly survive? Noting that this has been the paramount question governing Jewish existence for two millennia, he lists a new solution: "For the first time in history there is a...highly potent medium for Jewish survival: non-Jews. That's right, the one group traditionally identified as the single greatest threat to our continuity is becoming one of the chief guarantors thereof. Specifically, believing Christians are taking it upon themselves to ensure the survival and prosperity of the Jewish people in general, and of Israel in particular."

The new answer must be Christian love and support for the Jewish people and the State of Israel, and a case in point, adds Boteach, "is the ground-breaking work of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ), founded by Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein. Thirty years ago, when Rabbi Eckstein bucked the trend in Jewish organizations and started building bridges to Evangelical Christians, he endured withering criticism and personal attack, by those whose shortsighted vision saw in Evangelical Christians enemies, rather than friends. But today, the IFCJ is one of the foremost providers for Jews in need contributing close to $100 million per year to Jewish immigration, resettlement and social welfare projects in Israel, the former Soviet Union, and abroad."

"My own life-long work of building Jewish bridges to non-Jews, especially religious Christians, has led me to join Eckstein in furthering evangelical support for Israel," concludes Boteach, "and it is time others in the community overcame their skepticism of Christian support for Israel, and accepted that while the two faith communities have substantial issues on which they will always disagree, on the most important issue, the survival of God's chosen people, we are in perfect harmony."