Tom and Jerry makes children indifferent to violence, Chairman of the Egyptian State Information Service, Salah Abdel Sadek, said Saturday.

In his opinion, the cartoon partially leads to the rise of the ISIS terrorist group.

Speaking at a conference at Cairo University, Sadek said Tom and Jerry ‘portrays violence in a funny manner and sends the message that “yes, I can hit him… and I can blow him up with explosives,” The Metro writes. These ideas, according to the Chairman, become set in the mind, being perceived as something natural.

After Sadek’s speech, the country’s Youm7 newspaper described in detail how the cartoon encourages terrorism.

The article stresses that the cartoon distorts the idea of justice, helps children make ‘sinister plans,’ and justifies violence with the use of knives, guns and power saw. Besides, the author of the material attaches importance to the fact that the cartoon teaches to use alcohol, smoke and steal.   

Nevertheless, EgyptianStreets writes that these accusations do not imply that the government will take certain measures to ban Tom and Jerry, Lenta reports.