TV mouse pitches view of Hamas

GAZA CITY -- 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 take off on the Disney character -- does his high-pitched preaching against the United States and Israel on a children's show each Friday on Al-Aqsa television, 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 look-alike takes "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."

Israeli officials denounced the program yesterday .

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.