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]

Politically incisive cartoons in this Belgian publication.
Scroll down to see the cartoons.

http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/698

[gazmac2]

The ADL are in fact undermining the state they support and doing a great disservice to Jewish people, period.

Anti-zionism is not anti-semitism - how many times do people have to say this. In fact the ADL and the state of Israel are the ones with the suspect views on race by assuming that all Jewish people support the state of Israel and that all attacks upon that state are outbreaks of anti-semitism - which of course makes anti-zionist Jews that peculiar thing in the minds of the ADL: 'self-haters'.

Enough already.

I wonder if any of the ADL crowd think that a cartoon that uses stereotypes of Arab/Muslim people, like the most recent smash hit doing the rounds in Israel at the moment is racist:

http://gazasolidarity.blogspot.com/2009/03/racism-israeli-style.html

...or is the only racism they are concerned about that which is supposedly directed at Jewish people.

[chaiwallah]

I totally agree.

[Dez3]

I agree!

[MagisterLudi]

Though most Muslims reject Islamism and its propaganda, anti-Semitic messages from satellite channels like the Hamas-run Al-Aqsa are helping to bring a message of hate and intolerance to Europe. The effects of such hate preaching can already be felt in Germany.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,553724,00.html

[MagisterLudi]

re. "Anti-zionism is not anti-semitism"

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.''

[LincolnParkChicago]

If this is in it's correct context, then King was wrong.

What is being done in the name of Zionism today, and for decades now, is criminal. It is not antisemitic to protest against what is being done to the Palestinians. What passes for Zionism today is criminal. It is not necessarily antisemitic to say that it is criminal.

[zuzuzpetals]

Absolutely agree, gazmac2.

Zionism is a shameful tragedy for the Jews.

Because of Israel's behavior in Gaza, Jews are in danger of losing the spiritual and ethical meaning of what it means to be a Jew.

Albert Einstein was hardly anti-semitic and was vocally opposed to Zionism. "Chosen" doesn't mean you are entitled to put your boot on everyone else's neck--it means you have an obligation to be moral lights in the world.

[MagisterLudi]

Blatantly anti-Semitic literature is on sale in Cairo, just like many other Arab capitals. The BBC News website's Martin Patience reports on the apparent inconsistency in the Egyptian reaction to the Danish cartoons caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4701162.stm

Luckily this time Oliphant picked a safe subject for his opinion. And this is good.
Let's what happens if he dares to lampoon the other party. Oh wait, he also reads BBC. Better not.

[Palemoon]

Back during the Cold War, there was a great deal of anti-Soviet literature for view and sale, what's the difference? That we can hate as equally as well as anyone? Kinda funny, we put down others all day, every day. But someone says something bad about us, especially Bush, that it was somehow worse than 9/11. We can dish it out, but as you prove so glowingly Master of the Game, the US sure can't take it when it's dished right back.

[MagisterLudi]

Palemoon.
Lesson in logic,.

Cartoons--- violence--no good.

Hope it's easy enough.

[Palemoon]

By the way, you folks do realize the USA's biggest national security risk and eventual loss, was the very country we became compelled to support. We'd sell F-15's and F-16's to this certain country, and because of their ancestral loyalties to their former homes making up the Soviet Union of the time, they would invite Soviet advisors to come study everything we were giving them. Analyze it's flight performance, find it's weak spots so that they could then create a plane to exploit those weaknesses. One of the developments from this intelligence sharing agreement was the Mig-29.

[MagisterLudi]

ADL posted their opinion and this is where it'll end.

Now let's see what happens when the shoe in on the other foot ( pun intended).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4684652.stm

[Palemoon]

It already happened, in 2005, non violent discussion about Oliphants anti-semitic artwork that was carried by the San Fran Chronicle. What happened in 2006 was altogether a different thing entirely.

Imagine what would happen if a muslim person created artwork like the famous Piss Christ. There would be riots in the streets in Christian countries too.

[EHarold]

How is that anti ******? Really grow a pair.Quit bombing innocent civilians and treating them like they live in a concentration camp then maybe will quit with this whole "anti ******* behavior" Sometimes the truth huts.

[leftcoastliberal]

I think the US should cut off all aid to Israel until they withdraw from the occupied territories, but I don't see why people can't criticize Israel without comparing it to NAZI Germany. Oliphant's cartoon is counterproductive in that its guaranteed to make supporters of Israel dismiss legitimate criticism out of hand.

[vinny]

From the Anti-Defamation League's guide for Israel Activist:

"Today, decades after the actual founding of a Jewish state, Zionism continues to be the guiding nationalist movement of the majority of Jews around the world who believe in, support and identify with the State of Israel."

[barrycourage]

And your point is...?

[MagisterLudi]

I wouldn't even guess what means, vinny. Neither do you.

[DC]

It might be best if Israel did not use a religious symbol on its national flag as a symbol of a state.

Mixing religion and nationalism has always been a recipe of destruction.

[MagisterLudi]

Lesson:
1.Shield of David is a historical symbol. King David, ever heard of him?
2.Re. mixing religion and nationalism-- hm... Iraq, Iran and Syria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, certainly provide a cautionary note.
3. Israel was founded by largely socialist group of people. Even today it has social program that put US to shame-- strong unions, pensions, medical care for ALL it's citizens-- Jewish or not.

Deal with it.

[MagisterLudi]

Let's support cartoonist freedoms:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/18/new-york-post-chimp-carto_n_167841.html

[MagisterLudi]

Cartoon is a cartoon. He can print whatever he wants. I truly have no problem with that.

And for consistency

Our M-lim posters here, please comment on Danish cartoons, Theo van Gogh and Please do it as a reply to this post.

Petty liberals--please retract comments about the Obama chimp cartoons. Do it as a reply here.

Then we all can celebrate liberty,

[MrJoyboy]

No comparison between the "Obama chimp cartoons" and the Oliphant cartoon. The latter is legitimate editorial opinion.

[Hadok]

There seem to be many on the left of the political spectrum who are not uniformly enamored by the politics/policies of the nation of Israel. I suspect there are many on the right, non-urban perhaps southern and "fly-over" American families whose sons and daughters readily enlist in the military who likewise would see defense of the nation of Israel to be of low priority.

I have often wondered - If worst came to worst, if Israel were attacked in earnest by some of its enemies, and if the President and/or Congress elected to go to war in the mideast strictly in the defense of Israel -- would the public support it? Would America be willing to sacrifice its sons and daughters in defense of Israel?

[vinny]

Anti-Defamation League's blind, uncritical support for Israel is anti-semetic.

[MagisterLudi]

Now this is what happens when the situation is reversed.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/feb/03/pressandpublishing.media
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7240481.stm

[MagisterLudi]

Lucky for for Oliphant he didn't draw any Islamic symbols lately. He's familiar with Theo Van Gogh story.

[Palemoon]

If you had bothered to read the article, you'd know that he ran afoul of the Arab-Americans already back in 2005 raising the ire of the Arab-American Anti Discrimination Committee. It was a cartoon about the tsunami, portraying the Arab peoples as unconcerned and inhumane for not doing more.

[Dez3]

It is also lucky that he doesn't live in Gaza!! He might meet the same fate.

[OliverTwist]

The cartoon is an appropriate criticism. Events like the Holocaust have helped people to be more aware that they have a responsibility to speak up when atrocities are being planned and committed, even when those atrocities are being planned and committed by a Jewish religious state formed in part because of the Holocaust.

The cartoon may actually be too forgiving because it will be read by some to imply that the Israeli atrocities are mindless when there is ample evidence that the atrocities of repeated infrastructure destruction and leadership extermination are aspects of a well planned extended program aimed at keeping the Palestinian society crippled indefinitely.

The Israelis need to deal with the evil of the horrible things they have done and plan to do in the future. They should accept the criticism and stop doing what they are doing. It is time for them to think about the wellbeing of other people as well as themselves. There are benefits to such thinking and to the actions that will follow.

[MagisterLudi]

"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.
The ramifications of this type of 'cartoon' combined with the false stereotypes that Oliphant perpetuates, are tantamount to fueling further mistrust and bitterness towards the Muslim and Arab worlds.
It should also be noted that Oliphant has a history of cultural stereotyping in his caricatures. "
http://www.adc.org/index.php?id=2415

Anyone supports this protest by American Arab Committee?

[S1m0n]

Absolutely. There's no place for racial stereotypes in political cartoons unless the racism is the point.

Neither of which is the case in the Oliphant cartoon above. It contains no racial stereotypes, either pro or con.

[MagisterLudi]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/cartoons/martinrowson/0,,1703304,00.html

[NickfromCali]

The Chronicle is noted to worship one person above all...US Senator and Israel apologist Dianne Feinstein

[MagisterLudi]

So nickfromCali, you condemn THAT Oliphant's cartoon lampooning Arabs, But not THIS cartoon lampooning Jews.

Thank you for proving my point.

[MagisterLudi]

This is what passes for logic with nickfromCali.
Playing 6 degrees of Kevin Baco... sorry... 6 degrees of Israel.
Cartoon-Pat Oliphant--­S.F. Chronicle-­-Feinstein­--Israel.
Hey. and only in 5 steps! Genius.