All the beheadings, bombings and other violent acts in the Middle East can be blamed on a cunning creature and his sidekick—no, it's not the Islamic State (ISIS) or some other terrorist groups, according to the head of Egypt's State Information Service (SIS).
In a Cairo University speech this week, SIS head Salah Abdel Sadek said the violence is due to an American creation—the cartoon characters Tom and Jerry, the Washington Post reports.
"Tom and Jerry" portrays "the violence in a funny manner and sends the message that, yes, I can hit him ... and I can blow him up with explosives," he said. "It becomes set in [the viewer's] mind that this is natural."
Social media users were quick to pounce on the Egyptian bureaucrat's statement. "Egypt's rulers must have been watching a lot of Tom and Jerry if this is the case," tweeted Sarah Birke, referring to the Egyptian military's crackdown on dissenters.
But Sadek is not alone in blaming Tom and Jerry for the violence in the region. The news site Egyptian Streets said the American cartoon duo "warps the idea of justice, helps children come up with sinister plans, and encourages violence and the use of sharp instruments such as knives, guns and chainsaws," according to WND.
It could be recalled that Tom and Jerry—and Mickey Mouse as well—have long been targeted by Muslim critics.
In 2006, Tom and Jerry were accused by an Iranian official of being part of a Jewish conspiracy, WND reports.
Professor Hasan Bolkhari, a cultural adviser to the Iranian Education Ministry, told a film seminar that the "Tom and Jerry" cartoon was created to remove the link between mice and Jews created in the minds of Europeans by German fascist leader Adolph Hitler.
"If you study European history, you will see who was the main power in hoarding money and wealth in the 19th century," Bolkhari said. "In most cases, it is the Jews. Perhaps that was one of the reasons which caused Hitler to begin the anti-Semitic trend...
"Watch 'Schindler's List.' Every Jew was forced to wear yellow star on his clothing. The Jews were degraded and termed 'dirty mice.' 'Tom and Jerry' was made in order to change the Europeans' perception of mice," Bolkhari said.
In 2008, Sheikh Muhammad Munajid, a former Saudi diplomat to Washington, D.C., also denounced Tom and Jerry and also Mickey Mouse, saying these cartoon characters should all be killed, according to WND.
"The mouse is one of Satan's soldiers and is steered by him," he said.
"Mickey Mouse has become an awesome character, even though according to Islamic law, Mickey Mouse should be killed in all cases," Munajid added.
