Latest Oliphant Cartoon Called "Hideously Anti-Semitic"

The Raw Story:

The latest cartoon by the most widely syndicated political cartoonist in the world has raised the ire of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which is dedicated to fighting anti-Semitism.

The ADL's director called the syndicated cartoon, published Wednesday and reprinted below, "hideously anti-Semitic."

Read the whole story: The Raw Story

Comments

[MagisterLudi]

Letter from American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee to Oliphant's publisher.

Washington DC, January 13"Today the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) wrote to the San Francisco Chronicle and Universal Press Syndicate to communicate concern over racist depictions of Arabs in caricatures by Pat Oliphant.
In recent weeks, ADC received numerous complaints from readers and concerned citizens regarding Oliphant's cartoons.
http://www.adc.org/index.php?id=2415

Same author cartoonist. Same situation.

Looking forward to amusing comments twisting this one around.

[Manchurian]

Oliphant calls them as he sees them. He's an equal-opportunity political cartoonist, proving the point that no one is (or should be) exempt from deserved criticism.

[MagisterLudi]

I agree with ADL ability to criticize Oliphant and Oliphant's right to lampoon whoever he wants. I hope one day he's brave enough to take on Hamas or Ahmadinejad.

[chaos4700]

That only proves the cartoonist isn't anti-Semitic, doesn't it? Or at least, the narrow anti-Jewish definition of the word. He's clearly not targeting Jews if Arabs have also been the subject of his cartoons.

[MagisterLudi]

Majority of the posters here applauding this cartoon have a totally different reaction about Danish cartoons. So much for freedom of speech.

P.S. I support both Oliphant's freedom to express as well as Danish cartoonist lampooning of certain attitudes.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4764730.stm
Statement published by BBC and many other media sources.

"After having overcome fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism, the world now faces a new global totalitarian threat: Islamism.
We, writers, journalists, intellectuals, call for resistance to religious totalitarianism and for the promotion of freedom, equal opportunity and secular values for all.
Recent events, prompted by the publication of drawings of Muhammad in European newspapers, have revealed the necessity of the struggle for these universal values.
Islamism is a reactionary ideology that kills equality, freedom and secularism wherever it is present...­.
We refuse to renounce our critical spirit out of fear of being accused of "Islamophobia", a wretched concept that confuses criticism of Islam as a religion and stigmatisation of those who believe in it.
We defend the universality of the freedom of expression­...

Signed by:

Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Chahla Chafiq
Caroline Fourest
Bernard-Henri Levy
Irshad Manji
Mehdi Mozaffari
Maryam Namazie
Taslima Nasreen
Salman Rushdie
Antoine Sfeir
Philippe Val
Ibn Warraq

BRAVO!!!

[Manchurian]

Right on, ML. There are no sacred cows. All religions have their good points and their bad points, and the bad aspects deserve to be criticized.

[MagisterLudi]

The face of tolerance.
Respected German magazine Der Spiegel reports:"
CAIRO (AFP) - At the Cairo Book Fair, the largest and most important event of its kind in the Arab world, religious works dominate, while literature and scientific texts are often pushed to the margins...
The fair also has its darker sides, with anti-Christian polemics advocating conversion to Islam as the only solution to a flawed religion and of course plenty of editions of Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" for sale.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,553724,00.html

[longtimegone]

There is a new report from Human Rights Watch just out on Israeli use of white phosphorus in Gaza, if you can tear yourself away from the cartoons.

[MrJoyboy]

Israel is a perfect illustration of the adage that the abused become abusers.

[MagisterLudi]

Amnesty International statement:
There is incontrovertible evidence that Hamas security forces and armed militias have been responsible for grave human rights abuses and that the victims of such abuses and many others are being intimidated and discouraged from testifying about their ordeal.
The Hamas de-facto administration has displayed a flagrant disregard for the most fundamental human rights norms, not only allowing such abuses to be perpetrated, but actually facilitating and encouraging the abuses by justifying them and by granting absolute impunity to the perpetrato­rs."
http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?id=ENGMDE210012009&lang=e

[MagisterLudi]

Martin Luther King Jr.(1968)
"You declare that you do not hate Jews, you are merely anti-Zionist. And I say, let the truth ring forth from high on the mountainto­ps... When people criticize Zionism, they mean Jews... What is anti-Zionism? It is the denial of the Jewish people of a fundamental right that we justly claim for the people of Africa and freely accord all other nations of the globe.''

[AmandaBC]

So, by misquoting MLK, you're claiming that these Orthodox J.ews are anti-S.emi­tic, right?

http://nkusa.org

[MagisterLudi]

I don't debate with people who are not familiar with basic geographical and political facts.

[MagisterLudi]

Aside from Iran's satellite, Syria, no Arab country has shed a tear for Hamas. Indeed, mainstream Arab media have accused Hamas leaders of provoking a war they couldn't win. The Sunni world recognizes that Iran's proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah, pose a real threat to them. Moreover, the Arab world views Iran as a real threat.
The leadership in Tehran has repeatedly and publicly mocked and called for the overthrow of the Saudi monarchy and the regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Hamas leaders have been accused in the mainstream Arab media of provoking a war they couldn't win.
http://www.metimes.com/Opinion/2009/01/19/the_real_world_gazas_five_rings_of_fire/3092

[MrJoyboy]

Wow, you're devoting your life to this. the cartoon must have hit a nerve.

[discourse jockey]

Comment unrelated.

[1dogs2]

Had MLK lived to see the recent horror in Gaza, he would have added to his comment that Palestinians, like all of the people of the earth, are equally entitled to the same fundamental right that Zionists claim for themselves but deny to Palestinians.

[JacksonJones]

To be fair, the Palestinian armed factions have always sought to deny those rights to the Jews, and their actions in that regard play no small part in their inability to excercise those rights today. People who cannot acknowledge that dynamic cannot claim to be making a balanced assessment of the conflict.

[nicole44]

Not to bring up old news but remember the pic about the monkey and the bail-out? I think this falls in the same boat. If you are looking for raci$m, you can find it in anything. I think today people are so hyper-sensative that they are just itching to call others a raci$t or hom.ophobe­. And I think that this new way of thinking is dangerous to our society, it causes people to be silenced in fear of being mis-labled because you do not see things the way others do. This is a new tactic I have been noticing and it desturbs me to no end.

[discourse jockey]

Ah, I get it. You're being saracstic about comparing those two cartoons. Good one.

For a second there I thought you had actually said that interpreting the monkey cartoon as racist was as implausible and purely politically motivated as fantasizing antisemitism into a cartoon that obviously criticizes the Israeli GOVERNMENT.

[nicole44]

I am saying it's all about someones perspective, listen I saw this as in the same boat, clearly on different levels but same boat none the less. It's about perception and sensitivity. I don't think its out of line to see them like that both had symbols that are a part of the negative history of each group, ape and the hitler image. and people who want to see things certian ways will. I'm not saying that either one was right or wrong. My point was perception.

[discourse jockey]

ROFLMAO. Nice try though.

[JacksonJones]

I think that is right. By failing to make clear who the monkey is supposed to be or what is supposed to be symbolized by the Star and marching person each cartoon makes itself suceptible to implications of racism.

[veritasor]

Human Rights Watch Presents Evidence Israeli War Crimes
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/3/25/713099/-Human-Rights-Watch-Presents-Evidence-Israeli-War-Crimes

If US does not disassociate from Israel, it would be a grave national interest mistake, like Iraq.
Peace in Middle East is coming because American people are fed up with the lies and control!

[MagisterLudi]

"It is odd that the Hamas leadership is calling for an end to the crimes being committed by the Israeli killing machine and the genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza, and is condemning the Security Council’s procrastination.
Yet when an Arab delegation together with a number of Arab ministers worked continuously for days in New York, pushing for a resolution that called for an immediate ceasefire, a number of Hamas officials attacked these people.

Contradictions, complete disregard for people’s safety, and political games for the sake of satisfying allies, have divided the Palestinians and even Hamas itself.

http://www.alarabiya.net/views/2009/01/13/64112.html

[MagisterLudi]

Amnesty International group on Tuesday accused Hamas of carrying out a "deadly campaign" against its Palestinian opponents and critics in the Gaza Strip,

"Hamas forces in the Gaza Strip have carried out a deadly campaign of abductions, killings, torture and death threats against those they accuse of 'collaborating' with Israel, as well as opponents and critics," the human rights group wrote in its latest report, released on Tuesday.

The rights group said that most of the victims were kidnapped from their homes and then released, either dead or wounded, in isolated areas or in local morgues. Others were shot dead at the hospital while being treated for their wounds, according to the report.

Amnesty International succeeded in gathering testimonies from a number of victims, but said many others refused to come forward for fear of retribution from Hamas.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1063097.html

[MagisterLudi]

Amnesty International: Hamas War Crimes Report:

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE21/001/2009/en/9f210586-f762-11dd-8fd7-f57af21896e1/mde210012009en.html

[Melanie226]

If the U.S. does disassociate themselves with Israel, then they will have no true ally in the Middle East, and frankly, Israel would continue to exist, because it is largely American Jews that provide funding for Israel.

Peace will only happen in the Middle East when the Palestinians love their children more than they hate Israel.

[Soundofthunder]

The cartoon's message is clear: Israel is devouring Gaza, led by the sort of jackbooted mentality that once upon a time rounded up and euthanized Jews by the millions in Germany.

If we aren't watchful, in time we become the thing we most revile, Israel included.

SOT

[stepintothelight]

And where was the outcry from this bunch after the monkey cartoon? These self centered closet Z io NIST need to learn ... If you keep quiet while it happens to others ... well ... eventually your number comes up!!!

[Imhotep]

What's more telling--Oliphant's cartoon or the Zionists going nuts when the truth is told? Peace

[MagisterLudi]

Going nuts?
A few comments by ADL and thats it.
Ybviously you weren't paying attention during Danish cartoon world wide riots> What with burning of Amecian, Danish, Norwegian embassies, billion dollars worth of damage.dea­th of dozens, cartoonists having to go into hiding.
Hey, no one does "going nuts" quite like followers of the prophet.

[discourse jockey]

Granted, they are somewhat less professional about it. The Israeli government and its cheerleaders are far more insidious. What with the autoresponse mode, equating any criticism of the Israeli goverment to antisemitism.

[MikeDu]

The cartoon isn't anti-semitic, what it is is a sad commentary on the direction of the current Israeli state. Considering the palestinian population under Israels heel are semitic peoples, its Israeli government actions that are anti-semitic. Oliphant isn't the one holding a large proportion of its semitic population in mega-ghettos.

[peterg76]

It's looks pro-Semititc to me.

[DodgeCounty]

Remember, any slight criticism of Israel is antisemitic.

[joeinvt]

It's a good thing he didn't criticize the Prophet or there would be a fatwa out on him. Remember any slight criticism of Islam invokes the death penalty.

[Manchurian]

But only from fundamentalists who are as out of the mainstream of Islam as the fundamentalists of other religions are with their respective religions.

Fundamentalists never seem to have much of a sense of humor, apparently because rigidity of thought affect the ability to see and enjoy the absurd.

[Manchurian]

And BTW, I'm not saying fundamentalists aren't dangerous, I'm just saying they don't reflect the attitudes of the mainstream.

[peterg76]

And the Christians were the same way a few centuries back.

[freeintellect]

The major difference in all of this is that Jewish groups like the ADL are not impotent like the Muslim groups, if someone is truly antisemitic they could ruin their career. In the Arabs and Muslim case they have no organization and they are also being bombed by the same people mocking them. If you can't see these differences you just want to label Muslims as savages.

[MagisterLudi]

"In the Arabs and Muslim case they have no organization and they are also being bombed by the same people mocking them. "

REALLY??? A dnw hat do you call the stuff below:

Pim Fortuyn, Theo Van Gogh, Danish Cartoon attacks,, S. Rushdiefatwa,, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Beslan, London, Bali, Mumbai etc. The list is almost endless. Whose going to take responsibility for these?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4684652.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4684652.stm
http://www.city-journal.org/html/eon_11_15_04td.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2888859.stm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumbai_attacks

[joeinvt]

Tell that to Salmin Rushdie.

[MagisterLudi]

And Theo Van Gogh, Pim Fortuyn and people of: Mumbai. London, Beslan, Bali etc.