Cartooning Anti-Semitism… Or Hatred of Israel … Or Anti-Semitism
Cartoon from Al-Watan newspaper in Qatar, 6/2/2010
When does the switch flip and depictions of Israeli Jews in newspaper cartoons as blood-thirsty, horned devils endangering Palestinians move from legitimate political commentary (no matter how much we disagree with it), and become unacceptable Jew-bashing?
Check out Ron Campeas’ (with the JTA’s Capital J Blog) comments on a collection of cartoons about Israelis since the Gaza flotilla crisis put together by Tom Gross. Each cartoon is analyzed for what it says – or doesn’t say – not only about Israelis, but about the Jewish people, and how we can tell when cartoons cross the line.
Ron’s article starts out posing Tom’s question: “When will politicians realize that anti-Semitism, both Arab and Western, including that in the media, is a severe impediment to solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
Here’s one of the cartoons from the collection. How does it make you feel? Do you think it’s legitimate political discourse or something beyond? Lend your thoughts to the comments, and then head over to Capital J to read Ron’s article (with many more cartoons to analyze) – “Defining Anti-Semitism Down.”
(Photo: Tom Gross)
Filed Under: Politics & News
