Most were surprised when the Walt Disney Co. failed to officially respond to Hamas' use of a Mickey Mouse look-alike in a Palestinian children's program, considering the company's usually vigorous protection of its copyrights.
Disney CEO Robert Iger explained at a gathering of journalists on Monday that while the entertainment giant found the virulent Hamas show appalling, it felt any kind of legal action against Hamas and the Palestinian Authority would ultimately be ineffective.
Farfur the Mouse has become a hit with Palestinian children who regularly tune in to Hamas' Al Aqsa TV. In the several episodes that have aired, the fuzzy rodent intersperses cute childish quips with calls to "resist" Israel at all costs and seek global Islamic domination.
Iger said Disney executives "were appalled by the use of our character to disseminate that kind of message," but felt that a lawsuit or public statement of any kind "wouldn't have any effect."
For more than a decade, the Palestinian Authority has brazenly violated its commitment to end all forms of incitement against Israel and the Jews in order to create an atmosphere conducive to peace.