Mardi Gras of Hate

I like to use Mr. History. He seems able to see and describe a situation with the cold objectivity that only the passage of time can deliver. * * * If you don't know what Israel Apartheid Week is, then get it from the horse's mouth at ApartheidtWeek.org ...and yes, this year it's the eight days leading up to Purim, the holiday that celebrates our ability to survive the genocidal plans of our enemies. Appropriate timing. * * * One of the fascinating things about the coming anti-Israeli hate-fest will be the growing participation of Jewish Defamers of Israel in the libeling of the Jewish State.

Jewish Roadblock (1989)

Today's Golden Oldie is from 1989.

I drew this Dry Bones cartoon exactly twenty years ago today. In the cartoon I wrote that we were facing the rise of the "Shi'ite Jihad against the world". Shi'ism is the Iranian brand of Islam. If I were to do the cartoon today, I'd use the phrase the rise of "Iranian Islamofascism" instead.

* * * Allowing Jews to live in the Judean and Samarian districts of the West Bank is commonly called a "roadblock to peace". Today's Golden Oldie hints at the idea that throughout history, we have been a "Jewish roadblock to evil". Not a role that we seek, but rather one that we seem unable to escape.

Your thoughts?

Amnesty Researchers

Amnesty International is a London-based "Human Rights" group which operates in 150 countries. On Sunday night it issued a 38-page report after what one assumes was extensive research into the Gaza War. Thinking about what that research must have been like prompted me to do today's cartoon. * * * According to Malcolm Smart, Amnesty's Middle East director:

"As the major supplier of weapons to Israel, the USA has a particular obligation to stop any supply that contributes to gross violations of the laws of war and of human rights. The Obama administration should immediately suspend US military aid to Israel," -more

* * * Your thoughts?

Terror Attack in Egypt (1993)

Today's Golden Oldie is from 1993.

I picked it because the latest news out of Cairo is about an Islamic terror attack on a group of innocent tourists visiting Egypt.

To see another cartoon about that November 1993 attack click here.

Waiting For Bibi

Here in Israel we are watching to see how Bibi Netanyahu will play the hand that we dealt him. Watching our politicians being forced to squirm and deal after Knesset elections is something of an Israeli national pastime. Local chit chat is full of speculation about what kind of government Bibi will put together.

For a moment, however, I tore myself away from the coalition guessing game to focus on how our next Prime Minister will be treated by the international media. And that does not require any guessing.

Business Class Seats

The world is getting so crazy that sometimes I can do a cartoon that simply reports the facts and people will think it's a joke.

Below is the eBay ad for ...that's right, two El Al Aircraft Business Class Seats being offered at $400 for the pair.

your thoughts?

Israeli Voters (1973)

Today's Golden Oldie is from 1973.

I started doing Dry Bones on January 1, 1973, which means that the cartoon feature is now celebrating its thirty-sixth year! That's "twice chai".

The number 36 has special significance in Jewish numerology. Hebrew uses the letters of the alphabet to represent both words and numbers. The Hebrew word for life is chai and is spelled with the letters chet and yud. Chet is 8 and yud is 10, thus chai can be read both as the word "life" and the number "18".

"Twice chai" is "36" ...spelled with a lamed and a vav. .

Tradition teaches that the creator will allow the world to continue as long as at any given time there is a minimum of thirty-six good people in the human race.They are called the lamed-vavniks.

So this is a special year for me. It's Dry Bones at thirty-six! "Twice chai".

Congratulate me!

KABOOM!

The economic catastrophe is rapidly spreading around the world! Even here in Israel, the threat of annihilation by a nuclear-armed and missile-equipped Islamist regime in Iran is now being pushed aside in the news by reports of the growing economic crisis and the sudden dramatic rise in local unemployment figures.

Bezeq (1984)

Today's Golden Oldie is from February 1984
Twenty Five years ago this month!

The cartoon marked the Israeli government's setting up a telephone company to handle what previously had been handled by the government. In the cartoon, the innovation was observed by two angels watching the Holy Land from a cloud. The new company, however, was totally owned by the government. It was called Bezeq (from the Hebrew word for lightning).

Twenty-one years later, in 2005, Bezeq was "privatized" when 30% of its shares were sold to a private group for $972 Million.

* * * The Knesset has still not been "fixed".

Economic Viewpoint

I heard an economic expert on TV this evening explain that what we're in for "will be worse than the Great Depression". Thinking about what he said led me to do today's cartoon. Yikes!

Voting In Israel

For you non-Israelis I thought you might like an "Inside View".

Below is a photo of the inside of an Israeli voting booth. On the table is a tray of the little slips of paper that serve as our ballots. A cubbyhole for each. And each represents a different political party. Notice the blank slip of paper on the bottom left corner of the tray. To its right is the blue envelope into which you put your choice.

A question for you Israelis out there ...when you were in the voting booth and looked at the assorted slips of paper in the tray, did you consider casting a blank ballot?

Election Results (1981)

Today's Golden Oldie is from 1981.

Instead of providing a clear "winner" the two major parties ended up in a virtual tie. It was one of those times that our largely ceremonial President (then it was Yitzhak Navon, now it's Shimon Peres) was faced with a dilemma about deciding which party had "won" the election and therefore should be asked to try to put together a coalition government.

Today is another one of those times.

Interestingly, back in 1981 Peres was one of the two choices that the President had. In 2009, 28 years later, Peres is himself the President with the tough choice to make.

In 1981 it was between Menachem Begin and Shimon Peres. In 2009 it's between Tzipi Livni and Bibi Netanyahu.

Election Reform

The "Vote NO" Election Reform idea was sent in by a loyal reader. I drew it up because it appealed to me as an accurate reflection of the current mood of Israeli voters.

...The punch line (that deciding which candidate was the least competent would be equally difficult) was an afterthought. So if you voted in the Israeli Knesset Elections of February 2009, tell me, did you vote for leadership you believed in ...or (like me) did you base your vote on who you wanted to prevent from taking power?

Hmmm?

Likud Wins!! (1977)

Today's Golden Oldie is from way back in 1977.

Up until that time the idea that some political party other than Labor could or would win an Israeli national election was ...as indicated in the cartoon, unthinkable!

Today in Israel we are having our national elections and, according to the polls, the Labor Party may come in fourth!!! Yikes!

How times have changed!

So whom are YOU rooting for in today's elections?

Palestinian Incitement

Today is Tu B'Shvat, the New Year of the Trees. Israeli kids are all out planting trees. The holiday is one of healing and hope for the future.I'm taking the occasion, however, to peek at how Palestinian kids are being educated.Above: On TV, from his hospital bed the dying bunny speaks his last words to Saraa his little friend (as translated by MEMRI):

"Saraa, my will is that you tell our beloved children never to forget Jerusalem, Saraa. You must pass this legacy on to our beloved children. They must never forget Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa, the prisoners, or the refugees.

"Remind them, Saraa, that we have a land to which we must return, by means of the steadfastness of the resistance and the mujahideen, by means of the steadfastness of knowledge and the fear of God. Tell them that Assud died as a hero, as a martyr. Tell them that Assud died a martyr's death, Saraa."

"We should teach our children that we have a land to which we must return: Jaffa, Acre, Haifa, and Tel Aviv. We will return to all these cities, Allah willing.

"Saraa, I implore you... I entrust you with the legacy of protecting Jerusalem, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the blessed land of Palestine. Listen to me, Saraa: I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and the Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah."

Assud dies.

Saraa: Assud... Assud... No, Assud... Don't die, Assud...

-more

* * * Your thoughts?

UNRWA Employees

In response to popular demand, I've used the Naive Newsman character again to further explore the fantasy world of TV News reporting of the Mideast "conflict". * * * Meanwhile, in the real world, U.S. Representative Steven R. Rothman of New Jersey has proposed Congressional legislation to "Ensure Terrorists are Not Employed by or Receive Benefits from UNRWA". The following paragraph is from the text of the proposed bill:

"UNRWA has employed staffers affiliated with terrorism, including Said Sayyam, the Hamas Minister of Interior and Civil Affairs, who was a teacher in UNRWA schools in Gaza from 1980 to 2003; Awad al-Qiq, the headmaster of an UNRWA school in the Gaza Strip who also led Islamic Jihad's engineering unit that built bombs and Qassam rockets; Nahed Rashid Ahmed Atallah, a prior senior UNRWA employee from 1990 to 1993 who was responsible for the dissemination of assistance to refugees while he was also an operative of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine; and Nidal Abd al-Fattah Abdallah Nazzal, a Hamas activist employed as an ambulance driver by UNRWA, who confessed in 2002 to transporting weapons and explosives to terrorists in an UNRWA ambulance;" -more

King Hussein RIP (1999)

Today's Golden Oldie was published on February 9, 1999. The occasion was the passing of Jordan's King Hussein two days earlier on February 7, 1999. I think that the cartoon successfully sums up how we Israelis felt.

King Hussein
(1935 - 1999)

Israeli Elections

Israel is eight days away from Knesset elections. Our Main Stream Media, trying to ape their American counterparts, is covering it like a Presidential campaign, i.e. as a race for Prime Minister.

We, the Israeli electorate, however, will not be voting for Prime Minister ...We will vote for the political party of our choosing ...and there are many parties from which to choose.

...but the Media, especially our Television News shows insist on seeing it as a race between individuals: Tzipi Livni (Kadima Party), Ehud Barak (Labor Party), and Bibi Netanyahu (Likud Party). The sudden rise in popularity of Avigdor Lieberman (Israel Beiteinu Party) has thrown our media mavens into a tizzy ...up until now they've been demonizing Netanyahu as the right wing threat and here comes Lieberman, to the right of Bibi! Yikes!!

Iranian Revolution (1979)

Today's Golden Oldie is a cartoon that I drew thirty years ago this month.

At the end of January 1979, the Ayatollah Khomeini had returned to Iran. The country was then rocked by ten days of student riots and demonstrations.

Today's Dry Bones cartoon was done during what is now called the "Ten-day Dawn" -- the days leading to the collapse of the Shah's regime on February 12, 1979.

The following is an official Iranian interview with Iranian Defense Minister Defense Brigadier on the 30th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran and the "Ten-Day Dawn":

"at the time of the revolution I was only a 22-year-old student, and our love for Imam [Khomeini] had drawn us to the scene, as we wanted to see our land governed by Islamic laws. That was our main objective, to see an Islamic Iran.

What we have achieved today was like a dream to us back then, and we could not even imagine that it would one day become reality. God delivered on his promise; that is 'to guide those who work for his cause'. Today, we stand witness to the deliverance of God's promises in various political, cultural, industrial and other fields.

Today the Iranian nation has become a role model for the freedom-loving people of world." -more

* * * The punchline of the cartoon refers to the Chinese Communist use of student violence in 1966 to intimidate, brutalize, and force a radical transformation of Chinese society, and which was called the Cultural Revolution.

Turkey

According to Der Spiegel at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan

"didn't mince his words during a debate with Israeli President Shimon Peres. He called the recent Israeli operation in the Gaza Strip a "crime against humanity" and "barbaric." He said a "curse" would fall on Israel for their actions during the 22-day military operation and then stalked out of the session after complaining that the moderator was not giving him the chance to respond to Peres. In a meeting with the United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki-moon he even called for Israel to be excluded from the UN." -more

The Hebrew press here in Israel is running with the story of a major crack in Israel/Turkish relations ...So I wondered what was going on in the Turkish media.To find out, I turned to the MEMRI Turkish Media Blog, where I read that Turkey's state-run Anatolian News Agency has released what purports to be a transcript of an alleged phone conversation between the two leaders following the incident:

Peres: Such things happen between friends. I am very sorry for today's incident. Firstly, my respect towards the Turkish republic and you a prime minister has never changed.

Erdogan: Firstly, of course. There is no doubt that such arguments can happen between friends. But nobody can even speak to a tribe leader so loudly and in front of the international community, and not to the leader of the Republic of Turkey.

Peres: I raised my voice. In fact my friends tell me that I have a quite voice. This has nothing to do with my relationship with the prime minister of the Republic of Turkey. I am very sorry for what happened today.

Erdogan: I heard that you are going to hold a press conference.

Peres: Not today, but tomorrow.

Erdogan: If you express these sincere feelings, which I believe you will, in tomorrow's press conference, I assume this problem will be mostly overcome.

Peres: Of course I will publicly express these remarks.

Erdogan: Thank you very much for your call Mr. President.

Peres: I thank you and wish you a nice flight.

So did we apologize? And if we did ...what for?
Your thoughts?