Reaction to Gaza

I must admit that I was angry when I did this cartoon. Angry at the demonization of Israel. Angry at the lies. Angry at the government's lack of planning for the "day after". Angry at the political curtailing of the operation.

So did the cartoon make you laugh? Or did the anger come through?

Or are you one of those who think that Israel actually did "mercilessly flatten all of Gaza from one end to the other"?

TV Election Ads (1988)

Today's Golden Oldie is from October 1988.

Back then we only had one TV channel in Israel. And it was non-commercial. So when elections rolled around everyone who watched television watched the string of campaign ads run, one after the other. We were a totally captive audience. If you didn't know that we were a totally captive audience with nowhere to switch to, then the cartoon would make no sense.

* * * These days we've got cable and satellite and commercial TV. The other night the election campaign for the next Knesset began. I switched to channel one (the old, non-commercial station) and dutifully watched the long string of campaign ads run, one after the other.

Slogans

I did this cartoon while Israel still had its defense forces in Gaza. It seems strangely dated now. The resolve of our government seems in doubt, there's a new man in the White House, too much quiet about Iran, and an Israeli election about to take place.

I wonder how this cartoon will look in the future. It's less than a month old and already it feels like a Golden Oldie!!

* * * The "Don't Tread On Me" slogan is from a flag used in the American War of Independence.

Doomsday Defense (1994)

I did this cartoon exactly 15 years ago this month. The nuclear threat against us has obviously ripened. The world seems ready to see what we plan to do, and frankly so am I. * * * QUESTION:If Israel were to be nuked and then (with our secret post-destruction capabilities) we were to shmear our attackers out of existence (after we are all dead) would the media and the UN condemn us for a disproportionate use of force?

YOUR ANSWER?:

Speaking Terms

Now that the Main Stream Media has treated the world to a picture of Israel as out-of-control, inhumane, and indifferent to civilian casualties ...they'll be gearing up to cover the visit of President Obama's envoy to the area ...and the search for "peace". A good reason to revisit the Naive Newsman and his attempt to be accepted as a professional journalist.

Back in 2009

The pullout of Israeli forces from Gaza just before Obama's inauguration has been a subject of analysis and heated discussion in Israel ...meanwhile, I decided to guess at how history might judge what just happened here at the start of 2009.

So do you agree with Mr. History's simplistic assessment?
And what do you think happpens next?!

Arafat (1994)

Today's Golden Oldie is from January 1994.

Prior to 1948, when the State of Israel was created, a "Palestinian" was a Jew who lived in Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel.

After failing to destroy us in war, the Arab nations encouraged the Arabs of Bethlehem, Gaza, Hebron, Jerusalem, Nablus, etc. to see themselves as a coherent Arab nationality called "Palestinian". This promoted the fiction that there had once been a state called Palestine and that the Arabs were its natives ...and since Jews were no longer the "Palestinians", that meant that the Jews were foreign to the land. Oppressors. Outsiders. Settlers. Colonialists. The tactic worked ...but by 1994, our Arab neighbors were having trouble controlling the dangerous and violent Frankenstein's monster that they had created.

Arafat's heritage is now a two-headed beast ...Hamas, the Iranian stooge and the unrepentant terrorist PLO of Abbas. An the threat to the nations of the region is even greater now than it was back then.

President Obama

I was personally surprised and encouraged by the sense of history and American patriotism being generated by the way Obama's Presidency has begun. Those that feared him thought he was a radical or a secret Muslim. Those that supported him thought he was a revolutionary or someone who would fight for "their side". Seems to me like everybody might have been wrong.

It's starting to look like what we've got is an American President who is an intellectual with a serious sense of history, rather than one of the string of "good old boys" who have occupied the White House since ...gosh who was the last intellectual to occupy the White House?

Nu?

A New President (1988)

Today's Golden Oldie is from twenty years ago.

Back then we were wondering what the President-elect had in store for us when he took office. Back then the President-elect was George Bush (the father) and his Secretary of State was going to be James Baker. Hence the Baker joke in the cartoon.

Now the President-elect is Barack Obama and his Secretary of State is going to be Hillary Clinton.

Time just keeps marching on ...doesn't it?

So what's your guess about what the Obama Presidency is cooking up for us?

The Naive Newsman

I'm introducing a new character in today's cartoon ..."the Naive Newsman". He is "naive" because he does not know the politically correct rules of today's journalism ...He naively thinks that his job is to just present the truth. I've drawn him with his hair messed up ...he's frustrated, but he's doing his best, trying to learn the business.

The off-screen voice coaching him on "what not to say" is that of his director.

I don't know if I should continue using the Naive Newsman in the future. Your thoughts?

Palestinian Pit Bull

I find the Media's coverage of our war to end eight years of attacks from Gaza really interesting.

Back in the old days, when journalists worked for newspapers and not in front of cameras ...back when they thought in concise headlines instead of short soundbites ...there was a piece of newspaper wisdom that went: "Dog Bites Man" is not News, News is when "Man Bites Dog".

So Israel being attacked from Gaza is just not newsworthy? Unimportant? Not part of the story? But our fighting back is?!

Your thoughts?

the Y2K Bug (1999)

Today's Golden Oldie is from January 1999.

The big worry at the start of the new year of 1999 was what, back then, we called the Y2K (or Millennium) Bug.

The problem was that programmers tried to save space by using 2 digits to represent the year in the software they produced. 85 instead of 1985, 86 instead of 1986, etc. But with the approach of 2000, would computer programs think that 00 meant 1900?!! Yikes.

Doobie, being a dog, has a more objective view of human society than Mr. Shuldig.

So where were you ten years ago? Were you worried about the Y2K bug? Nu?

The Enemy of My Enemy

I am troubled by the tendency to portray the PLO as, somehow, a partner in the search for peace. Both the PLO and Hamas are dedicated to the destruction of Israel and both incite their children to see Jews as demonic. Both organizations celebrate and support the "Cult of Death" Islamic suicide bomber war to annihilate us.

* * * The above paragraph was depressing. Right? ... So after thinking it, I wrapped it in a joke and draw it up as a cartoon called "The Way It Is..."

So don't you prefer the cartoon to the paragraph?

Prisoner Release (1989)

Today's Golden Oldie is from January 1989.

As I write this (in January of 2009) the anti-terrorist war in Gaza is raging on, and (other than Hamas-supplied propaganda videos) we have no idea about how the endeavor is progressing ...so I thought, for today's Golden Oldie, I'd just check and see where we were twenty years ago this month.

Turns out that a President named George Bush had just taken office in the United States ...and it was time to release Jonathan Pollard (the cartoon speaks of the Pollards because, at that time, Jonathan's then-wife was also being held).

Exactly twenty years have gone by since I drew this cartoon. Another President George Bush is in office, Pollard is still a prisoner, and the stain on the American Justice system grows darker with the passing of time.

Free Jonathan Pollard!

Human Shields in Gaza

Here is Hamas "Member of Parliament" Fathi Hammad, bragging about the Hamas use of human shields.Translation by MEMRI. Click on the arrow to play the video.

Fathi Hammad: "[The enemies of Allah] do not know that the Palestinian people has developed its [methods] of death and death-seeking. For the Palestinian people, death has become an industry, at which women excel, and so do all the people living on this land. The elderly excel at this, and so do the mujahideen and the children. This is why they have formed human shields of the women, the children, the elderly, and the mujahideen, in order to challenge the Zionist bombing machine. It is as if they were saying to the Zionist enemy: "We desire death like you desire life."

Your thoughts?

Israel Breaks the Rules

Many many years ago I was a young gag cartoonist trying to break into the business. One day I found myself cooling my heels in the small reception room of a magazine publisher in New York. I sat in the room with my portfolio of work, doodling with a pencil on the pad I always carried with me ...waiting to meet with the editor. The minutes dragged on and my boredom increased.

The room was dominated by a large fish tank in which swam only one fish! It was bluish in color with an amusingly pugnacious look on his face. I walked over to the aquarium to take a closer look. The top of the fish tank was not covered, and so I could look down into the water from above. Absent-mindedly I tapped the water surface with the eraser end of my pencil ...and the fish jumped, snapped, and SANK HIS TEETH INTO THE WOOD OF THE PENCIL!! He then let go and dropped back into the water. I staggered back, in shock. I looked at the deep teeth holes in my pencil and was thankful that I had decided against tapping the water surface with my finger.

When I was ushered in to meet with the editor I was still shaking. "What kind of fish is that in the reception area?" I asked. "Oh that's a Piranha" was the answer.

When I did today's cartoon I drew the fish to look like the piranha fish that attacked me in a New York reception room more than forty years ago.

Piranha

Trapping the Terrorists (1982)

Today's Golden Oldie is from June 1982.

The two PLO fighters are each sporting the sinister-looking dark glasses and two-day beard that were Yasser's signature look. I always drew Arafat's dark glasses to look like black round cartoon bombs.

The Israeli army was fighting Arafat's forces in Lebanon. We had the terrorists on the ropes. Like Hitler before him, Yasser Arafat was trapped in his bunker. Back then we didn't think that the world would force us to let him go. But they did.

I posted this cartoon today while the IDF is fighting Iran's Hamas terrorist forces in Gaza. Once again the terrorist chieftains are "trapped in their bunkers". And this time an angry Israeli public demands that our leaders stand up to International pressure and not "let them go".

Do you think that they will?

Palestinian Victims

The terrorizing of Arabs by Arabs is a big ho-hum for the Media and ignored by the progressive activists in the anti-Israel crowd.

Here's the story as reported in the Jerusalem Post a few days ago on Jan 4, 2009

Hamas Moves on Fatah 'Collaborators'
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

The Hamas government has placed dozens of Fatah members under house arrest out of fear that they might exploit the current IDF operation to regain control of the Gaza Strip.

The move came amid reports that the Fatah leadership in the West Bank has instructed its followers to be ready to assume power over the Gaza Strip when and if Israel's military operation results in the removal of Hamas rule.

Fatah officials in Ramallah told The Jerusalem Post that Hamas militiamen had been assaulting many Fatah activists since the beginning of the operation last Saturday. They said at least 75 activists were shot in the legs while others had their hands broken. Wisam Abu Jalhoum, a Fatah activist from the Jabalya refugee camp, was shot in the legs by Hamas militiamen for allegedly expressing joy over the IDF air strikes on Hamas targets.

"Hamas is very nervous, because they feel that their end is nearing," a senior Fatah official said. "They have been waging a brutal campaign against Fatah members in the Gaza Strip."

Meanwhile, sources close to Hamas revealed over the weekend that the movement had "executed" more than 35 Palestinians who were suspected of collaborating with Israel and were being held in various Hamas security installations. -more

* * * A friend told me he thought he'd seen this story in the New York Times. My question is "did you see this story on TV or in a newspaper?" I'm curious.

Gaza (1988)

Today's Golden Oldie is from August 10, 1988.

Ten days earlier, on July 31, King Hussein of Jordan relinquished all claims to the "occupied territories" i.e. Judea and Samaria (on the West Bank and formerly controlled by Jordan), and the Gaza Strip (on the Mediterranean and formerly controlled by Egypt).

The King had dropped a hot potato in our laps. There was no longer a "Jordanian Option" for governing the "Palestinian" areas. In September of 2005 Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip, forcibly expelling all Jews. Israel would no longer occupy the territory ...and our kids would no longer be sent to patrol the mean streets of Gaza.

* * * Kids who were not born yet when I did today's cartoon are now in Gaza, not patrolling as occupiers, but fighting to defend the Jewish State against the unprovoked, and continuous cross-border Gazan missile attacks on Israel's towns, cities, and kibbutzim.

the Chess Player

Hezbullah's leader Nasrallah may not be taking action at this time, but he's got advice for others. MEMRI reports that in statements posted on the Hezbullah website, Nasrallah:

Urges Egyptian officers "to Rebel Against Their Regime's Policies, Calls For Demonstrations in Arab and Muslim World to Pressure Governments"

...and he's also got a plan of action for the Egyptian man in the street:

"Let the Egyptian people go out on the streets in their millions. Can the Egyptian police arrest millions of Egyptians? No they can not! We all call upon the Egyptian people, because they are the ones facing this regime… People of Egypt, you must open this Rafah crossing with your bare chests if you have to, and I do not hypothesize here. I'm talking from a position of [one who has] participated [in] the resistance, which fought for 33 days... sacrificed and gave [the lives of its] martyrs. [According to] what we know and what we hear about the officers and soldiers of the Egyptian Armed Forces, [they are] still proud of their Arabism, [and] continue to oppose Zionism, despite the decades [that have] passed since the (so-called) Camp David peace agreement... "-Nasrallah's full plan

* * * We are now in the second week of war with the Hamas forces in Gaza. When elected, Hamas vowed to protect the Palestinian people.
They are now hiding behind them.

Iranian Fist Fight

The Iranian hand in the current Gaza War is pretty much ignored in the West's coverage of the conflict.

Iran's puppet forces in Gaza (Hamas), and Iran's puppet forces in Lebanon (Hezbollah)threaten, not only the Jewish State, but also the three Sunni Muslim Arab states on Israel's borders (Egypt, Lebanon, and Jordan) ...and our neighbors know it!

Some interesting news out of Iran (as reported by MEMRI on December 31st):

Student Organizations Issue Ultimatum to Egyptian, Jordanian Diplomatic Representations: Get Out By Noon Tomorrow
"The Iranian student organizations issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the director of the Egyptian interest office in Tehran, Amro Al-Zayyat, demanding that Egypt either condemn the Israeli offensive and open its borders to let supplies enter Gaza, or remove its representatives from Iranian soil by noon on January 1, 2009. The organizations said that they intended to take over the Egyptian representation, and threatened that the fate of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak would be the same as that of the late Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.

An identical ultimatum was issued to Jordan's representatives in Iran. In addition, the secretary-general of the Association of Independent Islamic Students Organizations, Mehdi Tousi, said that the Iranian student organizations intended to demonstrate on January 1, in front of the Jordanian representation in Tehran, and reported that "many students from across the country are now en route to Tehran." It was also reported that on December 31, firebombs were thrown at the Jordanian representation." -more

New Years Day (1979)

I drew today's cartoon exactly thirty years ago today.

In 1979 the standard Dry Bones cartoon had six panels rather than four. Doobie the dog played a bigger role back then ...and he was chubbier and younger-looking in 1979 (as was I).

The main point of the cartoon is the fact that for a cartoonist like me, New Years Day means that for several days following I've got to remember to write the correct date with my signature.

I'm already practicing writing (c)2009!