Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook, writing for Palestinian Media Watch, tell us that the latest episode of a popular Hamas children’s TV show features cruel treatment of animals. The show’s main character swings cats around by their tails and also throws stones at lions in cages up in the Gaza zoo.
The Hamas TV show is called “Tomorrow’s Pioneers” and was originally set up purportedly to showcase Islamic traditions and lifestyles for children.
One of the show’s characters, Nahool the Bee, is played by an adult in a costume. In this show, Nahool torments domestic cats and lions at the zoo. In the skit, the lions are enraged by the abuse against them, and one lion repeatedly tries to attack Nahool.
For a show that is supposed to teach children how to behave, it fails on many levels. When Nahool the bee picks up a cat and swings it around by the tail, children can be heard bursting into laughter. If a person were to swing a cat around by the tail, it could easily cause permanent physical damage to the animal and it could cause permanent behavior problems.
Marcus and Crook say the show cited the reason for terrorizing and inflicting physical pain on real animals in the episode is to teach children not to abuse animals! The say “When the program returns to the studio, the children in the audience criticize Nahool for his behavior, and he is told never to do it again.”
Nahool is a relatively new character on the show, a replacement for Farfur, a Mickey Mouse clone that was taken off the air in response to international outrage that a palestinian clone of the lovable Walt Disney character was purposely teaching palestinian children (and others) about hatred and world Islamic domination.
Update: The show “Tomorrow’s Pioneers” was eventually taken off the air in 2009. This show replaced a previous show, “Ovan and Branches,” that was often jammed by Israel due to its focus on martyrdom.