Climate Change

There's an old pitch that carnival barkers shouted to entice gamblers to bet on a roulette wheel. It seems appropriate for the current situation (as viewed from Israel).

It is "Round and round she goes, and where she stops, nobody knows!".

Sunday Mail

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'.

Item One: the Spring Speaking Tour
The schedule is now being set up. If your Church, Synagogue, or organization is interested in being a stop on this Dry Bones cross-country trek, please contact Rabbi Pesach Lerner:
plerner@youngisrael.org Item Two: eBook help
I want to offer a free pdf cartoon ebook to fans. I need technical advice about formats, resolution, etc. If you can help please write to me at:
blog@mrdrybones.com

Nightmare Scenario

It's one AM.

Earlier, I saw a newscast of Gaddafi's insane ramblings about how Al Queda is behind the Libyan rebellion. Just before I trudged off to bed, I sketched this cartoon about what if Whacko Gaddafi were telling the truth and nobody believes him. I showed it to the LSW (Long Suffering Wife). She loved the cartoon. Which is why it is now one AM in the morning, she's asleep in bed, and I'm posting this cartoon instead of the one that was already done.

So what do you think of the cartoon?

Africa (1983)

Today's Golden Oldie is from 1983.

Back then, Apartheid still held South Africa in its grip while the mad tyrant Gaddafi ruled in Libya to the north. As of this writing Gaddafi (crazier than ever) is still clinging to power in Libya.

* * * Background to the cartoon:
In 1973 Israel was hit by a successful Egyptian surprise attack. We call it the "Yom Kippur War". They call it the "October War". Israel recovered, turned the tide, and pushed invading Egyptian troops back. The Arab States, displeased by Israel's survival pressured African States to cut ties with the Jewish State.

According to Mongabay.com:

"after the October 1973 War twenty-nine African states severed diplomatic relations with Israel. Malawi, Lesotho, and Swaziland were the only sub-Saharan countries to maintain diplomatic relations with Israel.

The African "embargo" of Israel began to collapse after the 1978 Camp David Accords and the establishment of diplomatic relations between Egypt and Israel. Following Zaire's lead in 1982, Liberia (1983), the Cote d'Ivoire (1986), Cameroon (1986), and Togo (1987) renewed diplomatic ties with Israel" -more

Human Rights

Yup. In May of 2003 the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations elected the ambassador of Gaddaffi's Libya to be its president.

The vote was 33 to 3 in favor.

* * * Note:
Bookings are filling up for the "Dry Bones Z Street Young Israel Spring Tour"!! If your Church, Synagogue, or organization wants to come aboard as one of my stops please write to Rabbi Pesach Lerner at:
plerner@youngisrael.org

Purim (1991)

Today's Golden Oldie is from twenty years ago this month!

Back then Mr. Shuldig was sadly saluting yet another Purim and yet another threat from yet another Tyrant who thought to destroy us.

* * * Twenty years later, same story, same holiday, and the same Mr. Shuldig wishing the same "L'Chayim" to us all!

Purim 2011

The countries around us are burning with insurrections. Main Stream Media presents it as the birth of democracy. America seems powerless, lost, and is projecting weakness. The world condemns and delegitimizes us. Persians are sending warships...

...and it feels like Purim has come early this year.

Spring 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!!
The planned U.S. Dry Bones tour in May 2011 is now being set up. 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

It's Simple

I figure that it's about time that we took a fresh look at some of the "accepted wisdom" about the Middle East, Islamism, and the Delegitimization problem. So I started with "Land for Peace" and the offensive, politically incorrect generalization that it is based on. It is the never publicly-admitted truth that it's the Jewish State that wants Peace, and the Arab States that want something else. That what they really want is land.

Shocking that the politically correct supporters of "Land for Peace" don't understand its implications.

What Did We Get ? (1980)

Back in 1980, 31 years ago, I asked a question in a cartoon.

Now, in 2011, we're asking the very same cynical question.

Watching From Israel

The events in the Middle East (as reported by the Media) are wonderful, exciting, fast-moving, and optimistic. It is the inspiring story of the sudden birth of democracy in the Middle East. One could only wish that it were true.

For an alternate view, and to see a moment of clarity pierce through the fog of Media wishful thinking, click on Interview with a Harvard historian.

The Egyptian (2005)

Today's Golden Oldie is from August 2005. The blog was just a few days old and I wrote a column called "The Egyptian". At the time we had just pulled out of Gaza. The face in the cartoon was Mubarak's, but the Egyptian I wrote about was someone else. I thought of him again today. Here's the column and cartoon as I did it back then:

We in the Jewish world are all debating the pullout from Gaza. A ghastly mistake for Israel? A first step to peace? What will this mean for Sharon? What will this mean for Israel? What will this mean for the Palestinians? For Hamas? For The West

Hey, there’s way more than two sides to any story (at least in the Middle East) and in a curious way the Egyptian side of the tale is being ignored. The Egyptian government has been fighting Islamic terrorists for years. Terrorists have struck with devastating results, both in carnage and in damage to Egypt’s Tourism industry.

But for me, Egypt's problems took a personal twist when, in July 2005, just two months ago, the new Egyptian ambassador to Iraq was kidnapped and killed. The news was posted on Al Jazeera. The murder was a slap in the face to Mubarak’s regime, but it was a sad moment for those of us who knew Ihab al-Sheriff as a friend. He represented Cairo in Israel before being posted to the "new" Iraq. He was an intelligent, creative man, and an avid and talented photographer. He made many friends in Israel. I was one of them. His death was a shock to those of us who thought there was nothing left that could shock us.

Once, in his Tel Aviv office I took note of a lava lamp standing on his desk. He laughed, thinking that I thought of Egyptians as militaristic and had mistaken it for a model of an Egyptian missile. Two days later a limo from the Egyptian Embassy turned up at my home delivering the lava lamp as a present from Ihab, and presumably from the people of Egypt.

On a number of occasions I had argued with Ihab about the threat of the Islamic Terrorists and he lectured me about the dangers of "the Occupation," neither of us dreaming that the debate would eventually end with one of us paying the price.

Ihab took many photographs in Israel and confided to me that some day, when he retired from government service, he wanted to publish a book of photos entitled Israel through the Eyes of an Egyptian.

Then later, in the same month that Ihab was murdered, the Islamic terrorists carried out a successful attack on Egypt's Sinai resort hotels.

Now the terrorists in Gaza have a border with Egypt that is neither guarded by Israeli troops nor blocked by Israeli Settlements . . . and I just began to wonder what that means to President Mubarak and to the future of a secular Egypt.

In the Dry Bones cartoon I drew the face of Mubarak, but the Egyptian I was thinking of was my friend Dr. Ihab al-Sheriff.

Annual Event

Today is Valentine's Day. An annual event.

Another annual event is today's meeting of the Israel Leadership Mission of the Conference of Major Jewish Organizations. I plan to be there (I've been invited to be on a panel.)

But my mind turned to a third annual event.

It will be the annual hate-fest called Israeli Apartheid Week. Organizers are hard at work at this very moment. It will hit in March with a wave of viral antisemitism. Too bad there's no vaccine to protect the public. Yet.

(But I'm working on it).

Warning Sign

The idea that a new government in Egypt might simply cancel Egypt's Peace Agreement with Israel has been greeted with disinterest by both the international community and the U.S. administration. It is a worrisome warning sign. Especially about the durability of any deal cut with the Palestinians.

Return Policy

I was supposed to post a "Golden Oldie" today, but I just couldn't resist doing another cartoon about the events in Egypt.

One Way or The Other

The American administration's initial knee-jerk total support for the "Mubarak must go!"demonstrators, followed by a switch to a "Mubarak needs to stay a while" position, coupled with the administration's previous tossing the Iranian demonstrators to the wolves has injured believability in America as an ally, or as a serious supporter of Democracy in the Middle East.

Communicating (2004)

Today's "Golden Oldie" cartoon is from 2004.

My new definition of a Golden Oldie is a cartoon done before the age of the blog. Which, for Dry Bones, began in August of 2005. Technology is moving and evolving so quickly that the idea of passing on our cultural messages with a CD seems archaic.

So we are now proud to announce our newest ways for you to follow us and get your daily Dry Bones Cartoon:

At Twitter:
http://twitter.com/drybonescartoon

At Facebook:
http://facebook.com/drybonescartoon/

Mideast Experts

I decided to take a break from watching Egypt to remember all those Middle East "Experts" who just didn't have a clue!

Egyptian Elections

Current developments in Egypt are obviously a turning point in history. Its full importance will be really understood only by those who will look back at this time and the drama being played out on the streets of Cairo and other Egyptian cities.

As for us, we wait for the next step
...and the future that it will bring us.

Election Trap

Here in Israel, we are seeing idealistic and optimistic Egyptians being interviewed by Israeli reporters at demonstrations in Cairo. I couldn't understand why those inspiring and pro-democracy interviews seemed both familiar and sad.

And then it hit me. 1984. The barrier between Israel and Lebanon had been replaced by a "Good Fence" gate. Lebanese citizens flooded into Israel. We saw idealistic and optimistic Lebanese being interviewed by Israeli reporters. We were all thrilled with the prospects for peace and real change. But I remember one depressing interview. A Lebanese schoolteacher said that he was visiting Israel while it was "still" possible to do so.

The "Good Fence" - 1984
The Good Fence is now a barrier between Israel and the forces of Hezbollah, the Islamist Iranian puppet in Lebanon.

Question

Sadly, for his entire Presidency, Mubarak squelched all sport and cultural exchanges with Israel, and prevented Egyptian tourism to the Jewish state. If he had allowed Egyptians to see and visit the free and democratic state next door, the "pro Democracy" riots would have broken out years ago ...but the Moslem Brotherhood would not have been waiting to pick up the pieces.

* * *

A thought: If the demonstrations sweeping the Middle East are the natural outpouring of a desire for freedom, why is it that they all seem to be targeting pro Western regimes? How come we're not seeing thousands of demonstrators in the streets of the cities of the Iranian-aligned Syrian dictatorship?

* * *

And what do you think?

Armchair Pundit

With all the current news out of Egypt I'll skip the Golden Oldies and give you the benefit of my armchair analysis.

And I'm willing to hear yours.