While children in the United States grew up on shows like Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood teaching them they were special just as they are, children in Gaza watched a mouse named Farfour—a Mickey Mouse-like character—shouting “Kill! Kill! Kill!” on the children’s program Tomorrow’s Pioneers. The show aired on Al-Aqsa TV, affiliated with Hamas, from 2007 to 2009.
Experts say the program helped cultivate a generation of extremist fighters. Farfour taught children to aspire to die as martyrs and dominate the world under Islam, demonstrating how to throw grenades and fire weapons.
The show was described as educational, similar to Sesame Street, but instead of promoting positive values it encouraged hatred of Jews and support for violence. Many of the children who watched it are now of fighting age, including some involved in the October 7, 2023 attacks that killed roughly 1,200 Israelis and took 251 hostages.
Other characters on the program conveyed equally extreme messages. A bee named Nahoul told children, “We will free Al-Aqsa from the filth of criminal Jews,” referring to a fictional town, while Assoud, a rabbit who replaced Nahoul, promised to “finish off the Jews and eat them.”
Ten-year-old host Saraa Barhoum said she wanted to become either a doctor or a martyr and sang songs with lyrics such as “Let your lighthouse shine over a sea of blood.”
Mia Bloom, professor of communication and Middle East studies at Georgia State University, remembers Tomorrow’s Pioneers well from her research into terror tactics.
“It’s a constant stream of horrific propaganda that is almost impossible for a child to break out of. And so the kids grow up thinking that every Israeli should be killed because every Israeli is bad and evil,” she said.
Disney, known for protecting its copyrights, was aware of Farfour’s resemblance to Mickey Mouse but did not respond. By the end of the first season, Farfour was “killed” on air by Israeli soldiers after refusing to hand over documents.
Nahoul died of illness when Israel denied him medical treatment and Assoud was killed in an Israeli airstrike. Each character was replaced by a new one continuing the violent messaging.
The show also featured children in the studio singing about their desire to die as martyrs. Bloom said Hamas exploited the trauma of children, some of whom had already lost homes or relatives, to control the narrative and direct their anger at Israel. Similar messages appeared in textbooks, news programs and magazines in Gaza, portraying Jews as “pigs” and “monkeys.”
Tomorrow’s Pioneers is seen by experts as an extreme example of how Hamas used media to turn children into potential attackers with consequences that persist today.