Double Standard

Condemnation:

Rav Elyashiv Joins Rav Shteinman in Condemning Letter Forbidding the Rental of Homes to Arabs
"Two municipal chief rabbis decided on Thursday to remove their signatures from a religious ruling forbidding Israeli Jews from renting homes to gentiles. ...The attorney general’s office stated today that it would look into possible criminal aspects of a religious ruling to forbid renting homes to gentiles signed by a number of leading rabbis....Earlier on Thursday, the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial decried the rabbis’ letter, deeming it a “severe blow to the values of our lives as Jews and human beings in a democratic state.” -more

Reaffirmation

Pal. Authority: Death Penalty for Selling Land to Jews
Monday, September 20, 2010

"JERUSALEM, Israel - Israel's peace partner reaffirmed on Sunday that Palestinians convicted of selling land to Jews would face the death penalty for "high treason."

PA officials claim the death penalty deters Arabs from selling land to Jews living in Judea and Samaria, which they envision free of Jewish residents in a future Palestinian state." -more

Tenth Anniversary (1982)

Today's cartoon is from December 30, 1982.

The very first Dry Bones cartoon was published on January 1, 1973. In two days, on January 1, 2011, Dry Bones will celebrate its thirty-eighth year of continuous publication.

Pogroms

Pogroms were wild outbreaks of marauding lynch mobs driven by the fever of viral antisemitism. The Nazis, on the other hand, had better PR and began with boycotts.

Nazi Boycott - Then

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BDS Boycott - Now

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I'm planning a U.S./Canada speaking tour for May 2011. The goal will be to do something about the delegitimization problem. What can one Jewish joke-telling cartoonist do? Stay tuned for further information.

Numbers (1980)

Today's cartoon is from December 31, 1980.

The celebration of the civil New Year is discouraged in the Jewish State. Back then Mr. Shuldig and I celebrated by putting on a party hat, blowing a party noisemaker, and changing the number 1980 to 1981 in the (c)Date of the cartoon.

* * * This week, thirty years later, we're about to change the number 2010 to 2011. Part of the fun of doing this blog is the ability to stroll through history by rummaging through these Golden Oldies with you guys.

Jonathan Pollard

The news (media rumor mill?) here in Israel reports that our Prime Minister is going to openly ask Obama for Pollard's release. It's not often that I have nothing to add. This is one of those times. The abandonment of Jonathan Pollard by our community and political leaders both in Israel and America is an embarrassment.

Delegitimizing Joke

How long do you think they'll keep pushing the old joke that anti-Zionism is anything but antisemitism?

Speaking of old jokes, today's cartoon is based on an old joke that "everybody knows". Hmmmm. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I've gotten so old that nobody knows all those old jokes. If true, I've got tons of great old jokes that I could pass off as new!!

So tell me?

Did you know the "gums will have to come out" joke?

Kissinger Daze (1975)

The "Kissinger Festival" of Dry Bones cartoons continues.

In 1973 and 1974 my fear and loathing of Henry Kissinger was a mainstay of my work. By 1975 my editors at the Jerusalem Post were hinting that I was overdoing it. Friends joked and teased me about my "fixation" on Henry. In this Golden Oldie from 1975 I had my alter ego, Mr. Shuldig, trying to resist the compulsion to do yet another "Kissinger cartoon". Any understanding of Dry Bones in the seventies would have to feature the "Kissinger" cartoons, so I think that, like Mr. Shuldig in today's cartoon, I'll not stop. The festival continues!

* * * Cartooning note: In the seventies I drew eyes as without pupils (as in the first 5 panels). In the last panel of the cartoon Mr. Shuldig's pupils gave him a pop-eyed look to readers of the day. Today the Shuldig in the first five panels has a dazed look. An annoying stylistic change. Whenever I post a Golden Oldie from this period I fight the compulsion to "dot" the eyes! But my goal is to share my thirty seven years of history with you. As we lived it. And as I drew it. Dots or no dots!

FaceBooked!

The speed with which technology is evolving is breathtaking. Those of us who were familiar with record players and typewriters see the rapid change more clearly than most.

And the social changes based on the ever-new technologies is even more radical.

Yesterday I sat in my kitchen in Israel munching breakfast and watching a movie ...on a computer ...from a website that was "streaming" an American TV cable station. The movie was "2001 A Space Odyssey". The LSW (Long Suffering Wife) and I reminisced about when 2001 was in the future.

But I'm the last to complain. Folks younger than my socks are now reading and enjoying Dry Bones cartoons in countries around the world! ...of course many of them are reading the 'toons on their phones!!

And there's the Dry Bones Facebook Fan Page at www.facebook.com/DryBonesCartoon

Yikes!

Kissinger Rumors (1974)

I've decided to continue the "Kissinger Festival" of Dry Bones cartoons (and am still thinking about doing a down-loadable PDF). Today's golden Oldie is from 1974. I don't know the exact date.

Israel is like a large family. It's hard to keep a secret from "the public". In 1974 I did this cartoon about an outrageous Yom Kippur War rumor. Thirty-six years later, in 2010, the rumor was confirmed.

Holiday Mail

I came across this interesting piece of trivia about today, December 20, 2010. According to the US Postal Service:

"The Postal Service is projecting Monday, December 20 as the busiest mailing day and Wednesday, December 22 as the heaviest delivery day this holiday season." -more

* * * And a Merry Christmas to all our Christian friends.

PSSSST!

Today's cartoon asks the question "If an American diplomat speaks in a forest and there's nobody from Wikileaks to leak us the truth, is there a noise?"

So what's next? Will the Americans be smart enough to start covertly feeding bogus leaks to leak sites? I say leak sites because the "latest news" is that some Wikileaks people have jumped ship and are about to set up a rival leak site to Wikileaks. It will be called Openleaks. At the time of this writing they are not "up" yet, but the URL is Openleaks.org

But can we believe the "latest news"? Wikileaks isn't leaking anything about it. And then again, why do we believe that Wikileaks' leaks are true?

Explain Kissinger (1973)

Today's cartoon is another Kissinger from the 1973 Yom Kippur war period.

I'd been drawing the Dry Bones cartoons for less than a year. In this cartoon from 1973 was a new character named Mr. Shuldig. He was billed as a "problem solver". In this cartoon he is asked to explain Kissinger's motives, and can't.

Back then Mr. Shuldig, like pretty much everybody in Israel at the time, was a smoker.

As to Kissinger's motives, 37 years later we are beginning to get a glimpse through released Nixon tapes and transcripts:

Israpundit explains: "

"Recently declassified White House transcripts (featured in an editorial in the Israeli daily Haaretz) show former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger blaming Israel for the problems in the region, accusing Israel of being “deliberately provocative” and attempting “to create maximum commotion in the Middle East.”

In the newly released documents Kissinger refers to the Golan Heights as “Syrian territory” and the Syrians as “my friends.” He confides to an Algerian diplomat that “a (new Arab-Israeli) war wouldn’t be so bad for us. … We could show (Israel) we are tough.” Us? This strongly suggests Kissinger identified with the Arab side in the Arab-Israel conflict." -more

In a public speech in 1974, Moshe Dayan said of Kissinger:

"It is painful to think that someone who fled Nazi persecution as a young boy in 1938 should do so much damage to the Jewish State. Yet, a closer look shows that Kissinger has, at best, a tenuous connection with his Judaism. Rabbi Norman Lamm, former chancellor of Yeshiva University, spotted this early. In his article “Kissinger and the Jews” (Dec. 20, 1975), a devastating critique, he writes, “Dr. Kissinger is an illustration of how high an assimilated Jew can rise in the United States, and how low he can fall in the esteem of his fellow Jews.”

Airport Security Measures

Think about it! Drug smugglers called "mules" already swallow condoms or balloons filled with drugs.

Here's a story from the Bermuda Sun:

"Seeing "nothing but dollar signs", the mules can swallow up to a kilo of liquid cocaine - which has a street value in Bermuda of about $30,000. They line their stomachs with liquid cocaine pellets stashed inside latex, even though the tiniest of tears can cause the liquid drug to seep out and kill them.

This form of drug smuggling - known as body packing - is on the increase across the world and overdoses and deaths are not uncommon.

Narcotics officer Sergeant Hayden Small spoke to the Bermuda Sun about the police service's "growing concern" and suggested swallowers could already be getting onto the island." -more

Henry Kissinger (1973)

Today's cartoon is from 1973. We had successfully fought back against the massive Egyptian surprise attack that had initially overrun Israeli forces in Sinai on Yom Kippur 1973. But we were now having hassles with America, and much of it seemed to be traceable to this Jewish guy who was advising President Nixon on how to deal with the Jewish State.

I don't like doing caricatures and am not good at it. I also prefer to show discussions about the issues between two guys having coffee, King Solomon and his Adviser, Mr. Shuldig and his dog Doobie, etc.

Henry Kissinger was a notable exception. I became totally fixated! I was carried away with my dislike, distrust, and suspicions about him. I ended up doing more than seventy anti-Henry Kissinger cartoons! Today's Golden Oldie is the very first Kissinger cartoon I ever did.

* * * Latest revelations about this "Court Jew" show him to be even more contemptible and dangerous than I thought. Here's the breaking story as reported yesterday (Dec 13, 2010) by Arutz Sheva:

Shocking Nixon-Kissinger Tapes: ‘So What if Soviets Gas Jews’ "White House adviser and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger once told President Richard Nixon, "And if they put Jews into gas chambers in the Soviet Union, it is not an American concern. Maybe a humanitarian concern,” according to newly-released tapes from the Nixon library.

The shocking statement from Kissinger, a Jew, was followed up by an agreement from Nixon, who said, "I know. We can't blow up the world because of it."

Kissinger also advised Nixon when he was president during the campaign to free the Jews from the Soviet Union, “The emigration of Jews from the Soviet Union is not an objective of American foreign policy." -more

* * * I'm toying with the idea of running a series of my "Kissinger" cartoons. Your thoughts?

Same Old Same Old

According to the Media Line:

South American Nations Recognize Palestinian State
December 12, 2012

"South America is proving to be a wellspring for support for Palestinian sovereignty after Argentina and Uruguay announced they would join Brazil in recognizing an independent Palestinian state. Moving at a faster pace than the Palestinians themselves, Brazil stated its recognition of the state of Palestine on Friday, and on Monday, Argentine President Cristina Kirchner said in a letter to Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud ‘Abbas that, “The Argentine government recognizes Palestine as a free and independent state within the borders defined in 1967.” Uruguay followed, saying it would begin its recognition of the Palestinian state in 2011." -more

* * * If you don't quite understand the background to today's cartoon, check out the Wikipedia entry on Nazis in South America:

"Ratlines were systems of escape routes for Nazis and other fascists fleeing Europe at the end of World War II. These escape routes mainly led toward havens in South America, particularly Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, and Chile." -more

Oh Captain My Captain

First Observation: America's prestige is sinking. South America, North Korea, China, Iran, unemployment, Afghanistan, Iraq, and the economy all cast worry-some shadows onto this Presidency.

Second Observation: No one is neutral on President Obama. He's either America's hope or nightmare.

Putting the two together: gave me the cartoon.

Interactive Television (1995)

Today's Golden Oldie cartoon is from 1995.

Fifteen years have gone by and Mr. Shuldig and I are still shouting at the TV. And the TV is still not shouting back.

Eighth Night

Tonight is the lighting of the eighth candle.

Happy Chanukah!
Hag Sameah!

Good News Bad News (1990)

Today's cartoon was drawn twenty years ago, back in November 1990.

Over the years I've done many "good news, bad news" cartoons.

The "good news" is that in November 2010, I wouldn't write that the world is united against us.

The "bad news" is that it took the response to the horrifying forest fire of the past few days to make us feel less isolated. See yesterday's cartoon called Catastrophe.

* * * Today's television news featured funerals and remembrances of the heroic victims who lost their lives in the fight against the blaze.

Catastrophe

Our Hanukka holiday joy was dashed as Israelis watched the seemingly unstoppable raging fire destroy our precious forest land and threaten homes, villages and kibbutzim. The sight of international aid coming to our rescue, especially that of the Turks, and the water-dropping foreign aircraft was the only relief from the depressing and frightening images on our TV screens.

According to the AP:

Israel battles forest fire with foreign help
"HAIFA, Israel – Responding to an unprecedented Israeli distress call, aircraft from Turkey, Greece, Cyprus and Britain dumped sea water and flame retardant Friday, battling a woodland inferno that has killed dozens, displaced thousands and ravaged one of the Holy Land's most prized forests.

As the country mourned the dead, Israelis — long known for their high-tech society and vaunted rescue missions abroad — were stunned at their firefighters' helplessness in quelling the blaze, the worst forest fire in the nation's history." -more

And according to Bloomberg:

Planes Arrive From Greece, Bulgaria to Aid Israel With Fire

Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) -- "Planes from Greece and Bulgaria arrived in Israel today with firefighters and equipment to help contain a forest blaze near the port city of Haifa that has killed about 40 people and forced the departure of 14,000 others.

The planes landed at the Ramat David air base southeast of Haifa, an Army spokeswoman said, speaking anonymously according to military regulation. Spain, Croatia, Turkey, France, Russia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, the U.K., Egypt and Romania have also pledged to send aircraft, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said.

Israel expects about 20 planes from those countries to arrive during the course of the day, said Menachem Caspi, one of the firefighter commanders. The planes will have to work over the next few days until the blaze is fully extinguished, he said in a televised press conference from Haifa today." -more

Wikileak Revelations

The rapidly unfolding picture of the Middle East revealed by Wikileaks raises questions about Obama's Middle East policy. The cables show Saudi Arabia's king and other Arab leaders repeatedly urging the United States to attack Iran's nuclear program.

"Cut off the head of the snake," the Saudi ambassador to Washington, Adel al-Jubeir, quotes the king as saying during a meeting with General David Petraeus in April 2008."-more

When the secret reports were released, the first thing I thought was "Did Obama ever bother to read these cables?". The next thing I did was to draw this cartoon ...and added the punchline that if he hadn't read the cables before, he was, for sure, reading them now.

It would appear that Israel and most of her Arab neighbors are now drawn together by the Iranian threat. It would also appear that Obama chooses to ignore the new situation.

Your thoughts?

Festival of Lights

Eight little lights of freedom . . .and tonight we light the first one.

Happy Chanukah! Hag Sameah to us all!