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Exposing Hamas's Mickey Mouse

The Zionist P.R. is abuzz with news of a Mickey Mouse moniker on Al Aqsa television, Hamas's equivalent of Hizbullah's Al-Manar, telling children to "annihilate the Jews" and that one day Muslims will rule the Earth. I actually fell for the P.R. that spewed it out, until my sister found the video on YouTube and was considerate enough to show me. After watching it, I concluded that the video was heavily butchered and the translation was waaay off.Why do I say that?

First, the translator was MEMRI, the same organization that made a pitiful translation and coverage of the Wafa Sultan debate. MEMRI is known for snippetting MidEastern media output and horribly translating what is being said on Arab television. Second, even if MEMRI did turn out to be a "reliable" source, there were many translation mistakes evident, as well as quotes that were taken out of context.

At 00:18, "Farfur" (فرفور, a play on the Arabic word that means "mouse") gives the caller a hint to say something, by saying "I will shoot", or "rah atukh" (راح أطخ), referring to Israeli soldiers firing at Palestinians, an image associated with Palestinian daily life to many children living in refugee camps and homes across Palestine alike. Not so long after that, MEMRI makes a translation mistake, translating, at 00:27, "rah inqawim" (راح انقاوم, "I will resist") for "I will fight" ("rah aqatil", راح اقاتل).

If you thought that was horrible translation, wait till you see what they translated at 00:34. MEMRI translated "byitukhunal Yahud" (بيتخونا اليهود, "the Jews will shoot us") for "we will annihilate the Jews" (سنقتل اليهود, "sanaqtul el Yahud"). How MEMRI mistranslated this horribly is beyond me. At 00:46, Sanabel, the caller, said that she "will commit martyrdom", but the context is misunderstood in Zionist P.R. Martyrdom means that "she" will die a martyr fighting the "Jews" (i.e. Israeli army in the eyes of the Palestinian children).

The screen then blackens at 00:47, indicating a snippet. As a result, I will shun any credibility on the second part of the video clip that has been aired by MEMRI. Then, "Farfur" says that in order to become "ostaziyatil 'aalam" (أستاذية العالم, "the top of the world"), we should be proud of our language. It could mean several things, and not necessarily being "masters" or "elite" of this world. Also, at 00:59, "Farfur" said that the Arabic language "sa'idat", or "topped", the world, just like English "tops" the world today as the most distributed and spoken language (well, Mandarin has more native speakers). And then, a bit of comedy: "How are you, Saraa? I hope to be good time... (chuckles)". After that, "Farfur" openly talks about the Arabic language as being a "language of the advanced world that invents things", and then Sara, the veiled girl, tells "Farfur" that Muslims have indeed contributed to civilization in the past and still do so in the present, just like every other nation of people on Earth.

However, I am aware that two wrongs don't make a right, and while programs like this run in almost every nation, I have my qualms with "The Pioneers of Tomorrow". While MEMRI was dead wrong again in making a mountain out of a molehill, the program does have its flaws. Although the program has no incentive towards violence, the material being taught in the program and shown, about Israeli army soldiers shooting children shouldn't be mentioned: it's a children's program. On the other hand, one might say that we can't blame them for being constantly under fire by Israeli army tanks and soldiers. The attitude that is being expressed in the program, about Muslims rising "again", is normal: almost all Muslim nations are third-world and need to develop, and once they develop, they will indeed be near the top of the world, if not on it. And I think "we" can do that without such programming.

As for MEMRI, it's obvious that this organization, headed by former Mossad agents, has an agenda: a smear campaign against Palestinian and Muslim society in general. How the hell do they expect us to trust what they say when their work is completely unprofessional and intellectually dishonest?

Considering Wafa Sultan and this new incident, guess that makes my score 2, and MEMRI's... 0.

Salaam, from Saracen

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