Farfur seems entirely innocent: he looks like Mickey Mouse, speaks in a squeaky voice and his name means “Butterfly” in Arabic. But the fuzzy-faced rodent — the star of a Palestinian children’s show, broadcast on Hamas-controlled television — is pitting Israel and Hamas against each other on a new battlefield: satellite television.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry has ordered Hamas to withdraw Farfur’s show, Tomorrow’s Pioneers, on the ground that it is being used to “indoctrinate Palestinian children to violence, hatred and murder”, according to their statement.

The perpetually smiling puppet, which routinely urges Palestinian children to support armed resistance, sang in one recent episode: “We will destroy the throne of the tyrants, we will pour the fire of death on them.” In another, Farfur admits to cheating in his exams because “the Jews destroyed my house”, and that he could not find his schoolbooks, buried in the rubble.

Hamas refuses to ban Farfur. “This programme tries to relay noble Islamic concepts to the children by teaching them about life from our point of view,” according to Fathi Hamad, the chairman of al-Aqsa TV in Gaza City.

Blockade drains life from Gaza

The movement of goods into Gaza had been intermittent at best since Hamas won Palestinian elections early last year

BACKGROUND

• Israel continues Gaza blitz as 310 dead

• Q&A: Hamas and Gaza

• 97 days and counting for BBC's man in Gaza

• Now war is with the enemy within

• The little girl trapped by a quirk of war

The dispute also sheds light on one of Hamas’s newest weapons: its satellite television station is part of a strategy to strengthen its grip on Palestinian society, especially children. In a climate of factional fighting and international sanctions, Hamad said that al-Aqsa television, often known as “Hamas TV”, is part of the movement’s battle for the hearts of the Palestinian people. “It is a way of teaching children about the importance of Islam from a very early age,” he said.

The station was modelled on Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV, which is watched across the Arab world. It was launched in January last year, broadcasting from a secret location in Gaza. This year it went to satellite, opening offices in the West Bank and hiring dozens of staff. The programming has evolved from hours of Koranic readings but now includes children’s shows, Islamic MTV, with videos of fighters from its armed wing, and an Islamic fashion show, geared to women, with tips on how to dress modestly and raise obedient children.

Some secular Palestinians object to its message. Mustafa Barghouti, the Palestinian Information Minister, who hails from the secular Third Way movement, has appeared several times as a guest on the station. Last week, however, he said that Farfur’s show had crossed the line. “It reflects a mistaken approach to the Palestinian struggle for independence and should be suspended to allow for a review,” he said, but he conceded that the Palestinian Government had no jurisdiction over private stations.

Hazem al-Sharawi, Hamas TV’s West Bank manager, said that al-Aqsa had no intention of turning back: “We don’t incite. We present facts. We can’t cut off our children from the reality they live every day.

“We need to launch a counter-offensive. We have to stop preaching to ourselves and start broadcasting to the whole world,” he said.

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