BBC Monitoring

A new character, Nahoul the bee, has appeared this week on children's programmes broadcast by the Hamas movement's Al-Aqsa TV station.

    Nahoul - who says he is the "cousin" of Farfur, the Mickey Mouse look-alike character recently killed off on Al-Aqsa TV's children's series Tomorrow's Pioneers - has pledged to follow his predecessor on "the path of martyrdom", the Jerusalem Post reported on 16 July.

    The new character promised to continue on the course of "the jihad warriors" and to exact "revenge upon the enemies of Allah, the murderers of the prophets," the Post added.

    According to Palestinian Media Watch, an Israeli group that monitors Palestinian media for anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish incitement, Nahoul is referring to Jews and Israelis.

Bee on a wire

    Nahoul is played by an actor dressed as a six-foot-tall bee and suspended from the ceiling by a wire.

    But the programme's critics are focusing on its script rather than its technical failings.

    Nahoul says, among other things: "I want to continue on the path of Farfur, the path of 'Islam is the solution.' The path of heroism, the path of martyrdom, the path of jihad warriors."

    In the final episode of the previous series of Tomorrow's Pioneers, Farfur was beaten to death by an Israeli trying to buy his land.

    In a report on the Israeli website Ynetnews.com, Yaakov Lappin wrote: "Farfur the mouse may have changed into Nahoul the bee, but the message remains the same... the path of martyrdom is the route to follow."

    Source: BBC Monitoring research 17 Jul 07