Feb 12, 2008 7:19 pm US/Eastern
First Mickey Mouse, Now Hamas Targets Bugs Bunny
Rabbit Character On Children's Show: 'I Will Eat The Jews'
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Hamas has entrusted its latest messages of hate to a children's character that looks a lot like Bugs Bunny.
CBS
Hamas is once again preaching hatred to kids. This time, the militant Palestinian group is using a bunny rabbit to urge war against the Jews.
Apparently taken off Hamas Television in the Gaza Strip, and now playing on YouTube is a clip from the children's television show called "Tomorrow's Pioneers." Someone in what's supposed to be a friendly bunny costume utters statements like "I will eat the Jews."
Eugene Secunda is an NYU professor and expert on the use of propaganda. He says though the presentation is somewhat comical, make no mistake: It's effective.
"There's a basic understanding if you are in the world of propaganda that, first of all, the younger you can reach the target audience, the more likely they are to be susceptible to the messages they are promoting," Secunda said.
Ken Jacobson is the senior associate national director of the Anti-Defamation League.
"The cartoon character says I'm going to finish off the Jews. I'm going to eat the Jews. Doing that to children is about as low as one can get. It has real consequences. In my view this is the kind of thing that creates suicide bombers," Jacobson said.
Last year, Hamas Television did the same thing, with a character that looked a lot like Mickey Mouse. International outrage forced Hamas to pull the character, with one Hamas official calling it "a mistaken approach."
"Children are our most vulnerable categories. That's why the U.S. government has stepped in in certain situations and forbidden certain kinds of cartoon characters or the use of exploitation of children in American television," Secunda said.
No word yet on whether this new round of outrage will force this character to be taken off Hamas Television as well.
The same show once used a bee character to teach children not to do bad things to animals, but made the point by having the "bee" throw real cats by the tail.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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