Hamas TV: Get them While They're Young!

Get them while they’re young.

A simple mantra known by fast food, sporting shoes, toy companies and drug dealers all around the world. Once you’ve got them hooked on your product you’re officially on the gravy train. And if you can get them while they’re young, all the better. And now the extremists are getting in on the act. I have always thought that given the fullness of time, we would eventually see an end to the whole Israeli, Palestinian, Hamas, Fatah shemozzle. Hey, I knowmthe whole UK IRA thing was probably very different to the Middle East, but at least there we seem to have reached some sort of agreement. So can a middle ground be reached between Israel Hamas? If I were a betting man, I would say not. Why, well read on.

Imagine your kid is watching Sesame Street and he sees Big Bird and Cookie Monster get into a vicious argument, which ends when the demented chocolate-chip addict bashes Big Bird's brains out with a baseball bat.

Palestinian parents may have a clue. On Friday, Hamas-affiliated al-Aksa TV broadcast the finale of a children's show starring a big rodent mascot called "Farfour" -- a dead-ringer for Mickey Mouse except that he preaches jihad instead of wooing Minnie. When Farfour's show, The Pioneers of Tomorrow, premiered earlier this year, the cuddly star declared that he and his audience were "placing together the cornerstone for the ruling of the world by an Islamic leadership."

Last week, The Pioneers of Tomorrow ended its run in style. In Friday's final episode, we see Farfour's dying grandfather (who is human, for some reason) entrust the mouse with the deed to his pre-1948 land holdings in Tel Aviv. When Farfour tries to reclaim his land from the "filth of the criminal, plundering Jews," an Israeli government worker pummels him to death -- at which point, the show's teenage presenter declares that Farfour had been "martyred" by "the killers of children."

Now I am pretty sure that if anything close to that happened on Sesame Street, or my personal childhood favourite, “The Muppet Show” we would have some seriously disturbed children around, and if I had kids, I would be banning them from watching it no matter how many cool action figures McDonalds came up with. So what was the reaction of the kiddies to the Martyrdom of Farfour?

Anyway, Farfour's unfortunate real estate deal was still under way when the show cut to its teenage girl co-host, who announced Farfour had been martyred while defending his land; 72 virgins for Farfour. A young female viewer phoned in. "We don't like the Jews because they are dogs!" she railed. "We will fight them! They killed Farfour!"

Anyway, now that Farfour the Jew Hating mouse has been killed off, we won’t have to worry about any more of that indoctrination type propaganda right. Wrong, Farfour has been replaced by none other than “Nahoul the Bee” who “During the Hamas TV show, "Pioneers of Tomorrow,"..... pledges to "take revenge upon the enemies of Allah, the killer of the prophets and of the innocent children."

In an early episode Nahoul further said "I want to be in every episode with you on the Pioneers of Tomorrow show, just like Farfour. I want to continue in the path of Farfour – the path of Islam, of heroism, of martyrdom, and of the mujahideen. Me and my friends will follow in the footsteps of Farfour. We will take revenge upon the enemies of Allah, the killer of the prophets and of the innocent children, until we liberate Al-Aqsa from their impurity. We place our trust in Allah."

So, any sunny predictions for an end to hostilities in the Middle East in our lifetimes, don't know about you, but i am predicting an extended period of alarming, saddening and shocking headlines on both sides of that fence for a long time yet.