Egyptian Pro Democracy

As America and the West observe the "pro Democracy" demonstrations in Egypt it would be well to remember that "Democracy" is not just about majority rule. It's equally a system of recognizing and protecting the rights of minorities.

Prior to the current outbreak of anti-Mubarak rioting in Egypt I drew this cartoon about the violence against the minority Christian populations of Egypt and the Middle East.

The occasion was recent murderous attacks on Egyptian Christians in which:

1. The Egyptians blame the Gazans:

Egypt: Militant group in Gaza behind church attack
(AP) January 23 2011
CAIRO (AP) — "An al-Qaida-linked group in Gaza was behind the New Year's Day suicide bombing that killed at least 21 Christians and wounded about a hundred outside a church in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, the country's top security official announced Sunday" -more

2.The Gazans blame the Jews:

Hamas blame Israel for Egyptian church attack
(Ynet) January 23, 2011
"Hamas published an announcement accusing the Mossad of being behind the New Year's Day suicide bombing that killed at least 21 Christians and wounded about a hundred outside a church in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria." -more

3.And nobody blames Islam or Islamism.

* * * And now, back to watching the Egyptian street on Israeli TV.

Replay?

So is Obama a replay of Carter?
And will Egypt be a reply of Iran?
Your thoughts?

Lebanon (1983)

Today's cartoon is from 1983.

In the cartoon, King Solomon, my stand-in for the government of Israel, was worried about the Syrian desire to swallow the independent state of Lebanon.

* * * Today, twenty seven years later in 2011, The government of Lebanon has fallen into the hands of Hezbollah, the Iranian/Syrian puppet movement. America has lost another ally in the region.

Spinning the News

Typical soul searching about the Tucson Shooting:

"The recent shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords should cause us to examine the nature of disagreement between political groups — an underlying topic to the congresswoman's shooting. At the same time, we should also reconsider our gun control policies.

Many have noted the connections between Gifford's shooting and the idea that, as a country, we are unable to disagree without it devolving into name-calling and insults." -more

Typical "he was disturbed" analysis of the Jihadi shooter:

"Why would someone who used to be known as a seemingly rational person suddenly perpetrate a gruesome, irrational act of violence?" ...Dr. Hasan had easy access to potent brain-altering psychiatric drugs which he was probably prescribing widely to his psychologically traumatized soldier-patients, unaware of the serious dangers to them or to himself... Certain heavily-marketed psychiatric drugs are known to cause a number of serious adverse side effects including hostility, suicidality, sleep alteration, depression, mania and the potentially lethal “I don’t give a damn” attitude so common among adolescent users of antidepressant drugs." -more

Their Leadership (1991)

Today's cartoon is from 2001.
Ten years ago this month.

Now, in Gaza, the Hamas "leadership" terrorizes the local population.

Now, on the "West Bank" Abbas (instead of Arafat) continues the PLO policy of crushing local dissent and promoting incitement against Jews and Israel while abandoning "talks".

* * * So what do the "Palestinians" really think? What would local Arabs say about their "Palestinian Leaders", if they were allowed to speak openly? Well, there's this recent U.S. poll of East Jerusalem Arabs:

U.S. poll: 35% Palestinians in East Jerusalem prefer Israeli citizenship

WASHINGTON – "A surprising 35% of East Jerusalem’s Palestinian residents would prefer to live as Israeli citizens under Israeli rule if the city was permanently divided in a future settlement and only 31% would opt to live in an independent Palestine while 30% chose not to answer.

But as many as 39% said they believe most Palestinians would prefer Israeli citizenship.

These results likely to worry a Palestinian leadership were found in a recent U.S. survey of public opinion in East Jerusalem’s 19 Palestinian neighborhoods.

The survey, which observers consider credible, was conducted by Pechter Middle East Polls for the Council of Foreign Relations jointly with Dr. Nabil Kukali head of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Centre for Public Opinion.

The study further indicated that Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem choosing Israeli citizenship value the freedom of movement their blue Israeli residency cards give them in Israel, the higher income, health and welfare benefits obtained and better job opportunities.

As many as 40% said that if their neighborhood was transferred to Palestine they would relocate their homes to areas of the city under Israeli sovereignty. Only 29% said the reverse, that they would relocate their homes to areas transferred to Palestinian rule." -more

Splitsville

The Kadima opposition party is upset.
According to the Jerusalem Post:

Livni: Barak's split from Labor 'dirtiest act in history'
"After defense minister announces creation of new faction, Kadima leader says Barak feared taking responsibility, making decisions in government.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak's split from the Labor Party is "the dirtiest act" in history, opposition leader Tzipi Livni of Kadima told Army Radio on Tuesday.

Livni criticized Barak's comments on Monday justifying his resignation from Labor, saying: "For Barak to call whoever wants peace post-Zionist is unheard of." -more

And the Labor party that Barak left is not happy either.
According to Ynet:

Barak's move enrages Arab Labor members
" Party members from Arab sector consider leaving following defense minister's decision to quit: 'This is the biggest blow to Left in modern Israeli history'
Defense Minister Ehud Barak's decision to quit Labor has Arab party members fuming. "This is the greatest shock to the Israeli Left in the State of Israel's modern history," said Ar'ara resident Malcham Malcham, who served as an advisor on Arab Affairs to former Minister Ophir Pines-Paz.

"This move has direct implications on the Arab sector. It endangers democracy and bolsters the Israeli Right," he said." -more

May 2011 Speaking Tour

Posting a cartoon every weekday leaves no room for me to simply share news, ideas, and other stuff with you, so here's a Dry Bones feature called: 'Sunday Mail: Letters from Dry Bones'.

Special Notice!!
I am planning a U.S. tour in May 2011. I'll be preaching the notion that Antisemitism is a "Behavioral Virus", often virally spread through "secret codes" embedded in political cartoons.

It will be based on my work as an "artist in residence" at YIISA (Yale's Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism).

I promise to deliver a shockingly educational experience ...along with a few good Jewish jokes.

The tour is sponsored by Z Street and Young Israel.

If your Church, Synagogue, or organization is interested in being a stop on this Dry Bones cross-country trek, please contact Rabbi Pesach Lerner of Young Israel for details:

plerner@youngisrael.org

Puzzle Solution

The latest news

From YNet Israel:

Tens of thousands pray for Pollard's release
Ynet Jan 20 2010
"Encouraged by Netanyahu's official request to free convicted spy, Bnei Akiva organizes special prayer session at more than 80 branches in Israel. 'It's our national duty,' rabbi says" -more

and this from the Washington Post:

George Shultz calls for Jonathan Pollard's release
By Jennifer Rubin
"In a remarkable development in the Jonathan Pollard case, the former secretary of state and highly respected national security figure George P. Shultz has written to the president asking for Pollard to be released:

January 11, 2011
The President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President,
I am writing to join with many others in urging you to consider that Jonathan Pollard has now paid a huge price for his espionage on behalf of Israel and should be released from prison.
I am impressed that the people who are best informed about the classified material he passed to Israel, former CIA Director James Woolsey and former Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee Dennis DeConcini, favor his release.
I find the letter you received from former Attorney General Michael Mukasey of the Bush administration particularly compelling.

With my respect,
Sincerely yours,
George P. Shultz

"This is an extraordinary letter, because Shultz is not only a respected Republican and a strong defender of America's national security, but he served in the Reagan administration with Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, who wrote the letter that the court used to issue Pollard's sentence." -more

Your thoughts?

Tu BeShvat (2004)

Today's cartoon is from 2004 ...not really what you'd call a Golden Oldie, but it is from before I started the blog ...and today is Tu BeShvat.

So Happy New Year Holiday of the Trees! An important part of Israel's culture, as we fight against the desertification of the planet (and the nations of the world fight against us).

* * * Many of those who stand with us are not Jews, a subtext of today's cartoon.

the Blame Game

Joke: The guy who said "Every country gets the government that it deserves" was an antisemite.

Update: If I were to write the joke today, the punchline would add that he was also anti-American!

Question: So how do you think that history will judge President Obama? ...or us, for that matter.

Gas Masks (1991)

Today's cartoon is from January 1991.

Missiles were now hitting Israel, the first Gulf War was on, we all wore gas masks, and I did this cartoon with Mr. Shuldig at the drawing table in a gas mask, drawing a Dry Bones cartoon. It was sort of a letter from the front for our non-Israeli readers.

* * * Twenty years ago this month.

Dangerous

According to the AP:

White House condemns Hezbollah
The Associated Press
Friday, January 14, 2011; 2:39 PM
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. has strongly condemned Hezbollah for quitting Lebanon's pro-Western government and causing it to collapse. The White House promises to help Lebanon peacefully reconstitute a government. -more

And from the AFP:

Lebanon in crisis ahead of Hariri murder charges
BEIRUT — "Murder charges for ex-premier Rafiq Hariri's assassination are due on Monday, a day after the head of Hezbollah, members of whose group are expected to be named in the charge sheet, is to address Lebanon.

The long-awaited indictment and Hassan Nasrallah's speech come with Lebanon in deep crisis after the collapse of the government on Wednesday when Hezbollah and its allies resigned over the probe". -more

Not Just

The murder of Christians in Egypt goes largely unreported in the Main Stream Media. Here's some info from the folks at CAMERA:

Massacre of Christians in Egypt

"Priest Wasseem Sabeeh was halfway through Sunday Mass, in Our Lady of Salvation in Baghdad, when an explosion shook the church. Suddenly men with guns yelling Islamic prayers burst into the church. They fired at the priests, congregants, even murals of Mary and the saints.

Some parishioners screamed and ran out. Sabeeh, 27, and another priest, Thaer Saadallah, 32, hastily directed dozens of others into a room near the altar, then turned to plead with the men in suicide vests to stop the killing.

They shot Sabeeh at point-blank range, then shot Saddallah in the face. He fell on the steps of the altar, his vestments stained with blood." -more

Media Ignore Attacks on Bethlehem Church

"In a 2010 interview from Bethlehem aired on Christian TV (Daystar Television Network) on December 31, 2010, Pastor Khoury described numerous bombing and gunshot attacks on his church. Five minutes into the video clip, Khoury explained that his church is strongly opposed by Palestinian Christian adherents to “Palestinian liberation theology” — a religious-political ideology that supports and encourages violence against Israel and denies religious roots of Jewish nationalism." -more

Assailant Checked Victims for Crosses Before Shooting

"Al Masry Al Youm, an Egyptian newspaper that has provided detailed coverage of life of the Coptic Christian community in Egypt, offers a horrifying detail about the recent attack that has left one Coptic Christian in Egypt dead and several others wounded. According to the report, the assailant, allegedly ensured that his victims were in fact Christian by looking for green crosses tattooed on their wrists. Al Masry Al Youm reports: -more

And I recommend that you listen to an important interview with Dexter Van Zile, CAMERA's Christian media analyst. The interview is from last week. Jan 06, 2011: Just Click Here

TV (1991)

Today's cartoon is from January 13, 1991.
We're continuing our review of the days leading up to the first Gulf War.

Five days after this cartoon was published, SCUD missiles would hit Israel and the world would be watching on TV! We in Israel would also be watching, but we would be wearing our gas masks, as would TV reporters on the scene.

To see the TV broadcast we would see on January 18, 1991 click on the image below of Martin Fletcher reporting from Tel Aviv:

Codes of Incitement

Israel Apartheid Week (IAW) is an annual event. Its purpose is to virally spread the demonization and the delegitimization of the Jewish State. This year 40 festivals of hate will be celebrated simultaneously. It'll be in March, and they're already hard at work on preparations.

Last month the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA) announced the plan:

"This year, Apartheid Week will take place concurrently in over 40 cities worldwide, including Toronto, Montreal, New York, Philadelphia, Bay Area, Chicago, Washington, London, Oxford, and cities in South Africa. Complete with lectures, multimedia presentations, cultural performances, art showings film screenings and demonstrations, our understanding of apartheid Israel is developed throughout the Week, with every event and speaker adding insight into our analysis." more

History (1991)

Today's cartoon is another cartoon from 1991.

Mr. Shuldig (my alter ego) sensed that 1991 was an important turning point in world history. What he, and I, did not know was that in a few days there'd be war, that we'd be responding to air raid sirens, wearing gas masks, sitting in rooms sealed with plastic sheeting, and watching missile attacks on our cities as reported live on TV!

And yet here we are twenty years later, in 2011. We did live through it, and as Mr. Shuldig predicted, we are looking back at an "interesting period of history".

Fear of Flying

According to the University of California, San Francisco

UCSF scientists speak out against airport full-body scans
"Four UCSF scientists sent a letter last April to the President’s Office of Science and Technology Policy, expressing concern about the health risks of full body scanners being implemented at U.S. airports. The co-signers were David Agard, PhD, John Sedat, PhD, (emeritus), and Robert Stroud, PhD, all professors of biochemistry and biophysics, and Marc Shuman, MD, professor of medicine (hematology/oncology)." -more

And then there's this report out of Vancouver Canada:

Full-body scanners are waste of money, Israeli expert says

"A leading Israeli airport security expert says the Canadian government has wasted millions of dollars to install "useless" imaging machines at airports across the country.

"I don't know why everybody is running to buy these expensive and useless machines. I can overcome the body scanners with enough explosives to bring down a Boeing 747," Rafi Sela told parliamentarians probing the state of aviation safety in Canada.

"That's why we haven't put them in our airport," Sela said, referring to Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport, which has some of the toughest security in the world."

Sela, former chief security officer of the Israel Airport Authority and a 30-year veteran in airport security and defence technology, helped design the security at Ben Gurion." -more

Repackaging

The Islamist war against the Jewish State has been successfully repackaged as an Israeli war against the "Palestinians". Even Zionist organizations now refer to the conflict as the "Israeli Palestinian problem". * * * I did the cartoon after reading a quote from Israel's Makor Rishon Hebrew Newspaper:

Which Side Is the Tiny,Threatened Minority?
- Uri Elitzur (Dec 31, 2010)

"We in Israel are 6 million Jews surrounded by 250 million Arabs, and beyond them a billion Muslims.

We are the tiny, threatened minority - and the Palestinians are an integral part of the vast, threatening majority."

I came across the quote at an important source called the "Daily Alert"

If it isn't one thing (1991)

Today's cartoon is from January 6, 1991.

The saying goes "If it isn't one thing, it's another!" The truth is that it's usually one thing and another! Back in 1991 the world was going through major geopolitical upheavals. We were witnesses to historic changes. We had no idea what would happen next.

* * *

Twelve days later Iraqi missiles would hit Tel Aviv. As the Boston Globe would report on January 18, 1991:

Iraqi missiles strike Israel; no decision on retaliation Tel Aviv, Haifa hit; 7 injured

WASHINGTON -- "Iraq, after absorbing massive US air strikes for 24 hours, launched a missile attack on Israel last night, heightening the possibility that the Jewish state would be drawn into the one-day-old Persian Gulf war.

Initial reports indicated that the missiles, which landed in Tel Aviv and the northern port city of Haifa, injured seven persons and destroyed an apartment building.

Following the attack, the region braced for the possibility of a massive retaliation by Israel against Iraq. Late last night, Israel said it had not decided whether to retaliate."

Flotilla 2011

According to the Iranian Student News Agency:

Iranian clerics: Gaza-based aid flotilla, factor of Zionist regime's collapse

TEHRAN (ISNA)-"Iranian cleric Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi said Asian aid convoy's movement towards Gaza Strip is one of the factors of collapse of Zionist regime.

The flotilla carrying 130 people from India, Pakistan, Iran, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, Bahrain and Azerbaijan as well as Kuwait, Lebanon and Jordan is to reach Gaza Strip.

The convoy originating from India has also reached Iran and is now in Syria to arrive in Gaza Strip." - more

and this from the IDF:

Turkish IHH Continues to Incite Hatred Against Israel

"The Turkish organization IHH, which played a central role in May's flotilla to Gaza, continues to lead its campaign to incite hatred against Israel both in Turkey and abroad, reported the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (ITIC) on Thursday (Dec. 30). According to the report, IHH spokespeople have been using their heroic myth of the Mavi Marmara in the campaign and advocating for every Palestinian demand, including that of the return of Palestinians to "Jaffa, Tel Aviv and Haifa." -more

Roller Coaster (1991)

Today's cartoon is from January 1991.

It marked the start of the last decade of the 20th century. Events were moving at breathtaking speed. Those war clouds over the Gulf would soon drift our way, and before the end of the month we Israelis would be trying to live normal lives while wearing gas masks!

But we didn't know that yet.

* * * Twenty years ago this month!

Israel Has Gas

The latest news (Jan 1, 2011):

Israel strikes it rich with world’s biggest oil find

"Israel energy is set to become fully independent for the first time in history thanks to its recent discovery of the biggest offshore gas field in the world in 10 years.

The find will help to boost the status of the Jewish state as the pre-eminent power source in the Middle East.

Tests were finished yesterday and showed that there was gas totalling approximately 450 billion cubic metres in the Leviathan oil field that is located approximately 130 kilometres from the northern coast of Israel.

The announcement has sent the stock exchange in Tel Aviv skyrocketing to a new record high as claims were made that the gas in the new oil field could well be worth around $US 95 billion

A severe lack of natural resources in Israel has always been a problem for the state as it looks to fight a number of wars with its neighbouring Arab states throughout the last 50 years. The new find may change all of this and put Israel in the position of a major energy exporter." -more

* * * Your thoughts?