Nahool

Nahool

Tomorrow's Pioneers (Arabic: رواد الغد‎; also The Pioneers of Tomorrow) is a children's program, broadcast since April 13, 2007 on the Palestinian Hamas-affiliated television station, Al-Aqsa TV (Arabic: مرئية الأقصى قناة الأقصى‎). The show features young host Saraa Barhoum and her co-host, a large costumed animal as they perform skits (or "scenes") and discuss life in Palestine in a talk show fashion with call-ins from children (typically of age 9-13 with some as young as 3). Presented in a children's educational format similar to such shows as Sesame Street or Barney & Friends, Tomorrow's Pioneers is highly controversial as it contains antisemitism, Islamic extremism, anti-Americanism, and other anti-Western themes.

The show, brought to Western attention by pro-Israel organizations such as Palestinian Media Watch and MEMRI, deals with Islamic traditions and lifestyles, some as innocuous as the importance of daily prayers and drinking milk, but also advocates more radical messages of Islamic supremacy and "Resistance Jihad," and the loathing of Israel, the capitalist economic system, the United States, and western world. The negative attention created by, amongst others, MEMRI, has heavily influenced Western coverage of the show; MEMRI is the main source of the translation and understanding of the show. Some Palestinian media have described the show as simply "trying to instill principles and values in children and aiding parents to encourage acts of charity and cooperation" in children.

However, according to Palestinian Media Watch, two animal character co-hosts, the Mickey Mouse clone Farfour and Nahoul the bee, were used to "champion violence, promote hatred of Israel and preach about world Islamic supremacy." Later in the show's narrative, the characters were, as the show described it, "martyred," with the deaths either directly or implicitly blamed on "The Jews, Israel, Israelis, and/or what they believed to be Zionists."

The original host of Tomorrow's Pioneers and Farfour, Hazim Al-Sha'arawi, stated that it was his idea that Farfour be killed by an Israeli interrogator, adding that the show “wanted to send a message through this character that would fit the reality of Palestinian life.” El-Sharawi states, “A child sees his neighbors killed, or blown up on the beach, and how do I explain this to a child that already knows? The occupation is the reason; it creates the reality. I just organize the information for him.” Al-Aqsa TV deputy manager stated, that the program in fact is simply "about Palestinian kids express their feeling regarding what they witness -- if it's occupation it's about that..."

The show is considered to be the spiritual successor to an earlier Hamas-broadcast children's radio program series entitled Ovan and Branches (Arabic: أفنان وأغصان‎). Broadcast weekly on Fridays and running for 85 minutes, the program is also moderated by Hazim Al-Sha'arawi. Israeli sources have characterized it as "the 'most serious' of martyrdom operations." Arabic sources have said that the broadcasts of Ovan and Branches have been jammed by Israel in the past.

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