the Dry Bones Blog

Endangered Species

2012-01-27T06:00:00.000+03:00

Recent developments, according to the (Irish) Independent:

Dozens killed in attacks on Nigerian Christians
"A FRESH wave of violence against churchgoers in Nigeria has left at least 27 people dead and heightened fears over security in Africa 's most populous country.
The religiously motivated massacres -- three since last Thursday -- targeted Christians in Mubi and Gombe, towns in the north-east where a state of emergency was declared by President Goodluck Jonathan last week. Some 17 other deaths have been reported in other regions .
There is growing concern that the government's inability to tackle the rising levels of sectarian violence, blamed on radical Islamic group Boko Haram , may result in hundreds of people fleeing their homes.
The group is now carrying out weekly attacks on churches and police stations in northern and central areas.
Islamic clerics who speak out against the violence have been assassinated."-more

And from Ecumenical News International there's this:

Sudan churches encounter more hostility after independence
Christians and churches in Sudan are facing increased restrictions and hostility, since the secession of the southern part of the country six months ago, according to some church leaders.
The leaders are highlighting arrests and abduction of Christians and threats directed at clergy, while warning of more challenges when the country implements Sharia (Islamic law).
“Restrictions in Sudan are not new, but we are worried things are getting harder since the secession of the south. With Sharia law we expect things to get even harder,” the Rev. Mark Akec Cien, the Sudan Council of Churches, deputy general secretary of the told ENInews on Jan. 20 in a telephone interview."-more

Israeli Traffic Signs (1975)

2012-01-26T06:00:00.000+03:00

October 10, 1975

The Israeli Cartoon Museum has decided to produce a travelling exhibit of Dry Bones cartoons. So the LSW (Long Suffering Wife) and I have been going through the more than 7,000 Dry Bones cartoons to select what should go into the show and catalog. The LSW suggested that I share some of our selections with you. So here's one of them. It's from 1980, is one of her favorites, and is Today's Golden Oldie.

Proliferation

2012-01-25T06:00:00.001+03:00

To REALLY understand what's going on right now, you'd have to look at it from a distance, but the entire planet is in on this one, so there's no "distance". The only other way to look at it objectively is from the perspective of history, but we haven't lived through it yet.

Of course after we have lived through it, this period in human history will be easily explained, and it will have a name. If I had the time, I'd run a contest to guess what that name would be. If I DID run such a What-name-will-future-historians-give-to-this period?" contest, (which I'm not) what would your entry/suggestion be?

Hmmm?

Getting Religion (1980)

2012-01-24T06:00:00.004+03:00

Dec 9, 1980

Ho Hum

2012-01-23T06:00:00.000+03:00

The 2012 falling of Egypt into the hands of the Islamists seems to be greeted with a big ho hum.

Advocacy Journalism

2012-01-20T06:00:00.006+03:00

The latest, according to Globes, Israel's Business newspaper:

Netanyahu denies calling "NY Times," "Haaretz" Israel's biggest enemies
"Jerusalem Post" editor Steve Linde claims the prime minister told him "Haaretz" and "The New York Times" are the country's biggest enemies. . .
. . .The Jerusalem Post" editor Steve Linde told a conference in Tel Aviv of the Women's International Zionist Organization (WIZO) on Wednesday, that Netanyahu made the remark to him about the newspapers at a private meeting "a couple of weeks ago" at the Prime Minister’s Office in Tel Aviv.
In a recording of Linde's speech provided to the "JTA", Linde said, “He said, ‘You know, Steve, we have two main enemies.' And I thought he was going to talk about, you know, Iran, maybe Hamas. He said, ‘It’s The New York Times and Haaretz.’ He said, ‘They set the agenda for an anti-Israel campaign all over the world. Journalists read them every morning and base their news stories … on what they read in The New York Times and Haaretz'."
Linde said he and other participants at the meeting asked Netanyahu whether he really thought that the media had that strong a role in shaping world opinion on Israel, and the prime minister replied, “Absolutely."-more

Your thoughts?

Optimism Pessimism (1992)

2012-01-19T06:00:00.002+03:00

May 15, 1992

Unfair

2012-01-18T06:00:00.000+03:00

Not only don't we fight fair, but neither does the Iranian government!

The Iranians are claiming that the CIA and British intelligence" did it, instead of our guys! According to Russia Today:

Iran ‘has evidence’ CIA masterminded nuke scientist murder
"Iran has sent two “letters of condemnation” in the wake of Wednesday’s killing of yet another Iranian nuclear scientist. Tehran is demanding a response from Washington and London for the attack, which was “guided” by the CIA and “assisted” by MI6.
We have reliable documents and evidence that this terrorist act was planned, guided and supported by the CIA," the Iranian foreign ministry said in a rare letter handed to the Swiss ambassador in Tehran, according to state television.
The Swiss Embassy has represented the USA in Iran since ties between the two countries were severed shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Another letter was sent to the British Embassy, claiming the British Foreign Intelligence Service, MI6, aided the CIA-led operation. The letter notes that the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists "started exactly after the British official John Sawers declared the beginning of intelligence operations against Iran," as quoted by the official Iranian Republic News Agency."-more

Do you think that's fair?

P.O. (1973)

2012-01-17T06:00:00.003+03:00

July 11, 1973

Today's Golden Oldie cartoon is from 1973. Thirty-nine years ago!! It was the first year of Dry Bones publication.

...And the Israeli Postal Service never really improved. It just got replaced by Fax machines, email, DHL, and Federal Express!

Choosing Sides

2012-01-16T06:00:00.001+03:00

So when they choose sides, why is it that the one they never pick is Israel?

We Can Do It

2012-01-15T06:00:00.004+03:00

Israel’s enemies try to erase the pre-1948 history of the Jews in the Land of Israel. But China has not yet been infected with this denial of Jewish History.

We propose to inoculate the 1.3 billion Chinese against this modern libel with exciting, popular, online, and free to download apps and eBooks …in a form and with content that will appeal to both the Chinese establishment and Chinese university students alike.

Yup! A unique project to bring China and the Jews closer together through educational, digital, Chinese-language, graphic works written and drawn by award-winning Dry Bones cartoonist, scholar, and political analyst Yaakov Kirschen (me)

We can do it ...but we need your help!

Instructions for Donors

1. Tax-deductible donations to Dry Bones Project should be made out to “REPORT, Inc.”
2. Important: Include a cover note stating that these funds are to be directed to Dry Bones Project.
3. Checks and the accompanying cover letter should be sent to:
REPORT, Inc.
PMB 309
100 Springdale Road, Ste A3
Cherry Hill, NJ 08003>
U.S.A.

Pay Pal
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For Further information, or to let us know that you've sent in a donation, please contact us at blog@mrdrybones.com For details visit http://drybonesproject.com

The special website is at http://drybonesproject.com

Iran's Problem

2012-01-13T06:00:00.002+03:00

The latest report from the Washington Post:

Iranian scientist involved in nuclear program killed in Tehran bomb attack
"TEHRAN — A scientist linked to Iran’s nuclear program was killed in his car by a bomb-wielding assailant on Wednesday, a bold rush-hour attack that experts say points to a further escalation in a covert campaign targeting the country’s atomic officials and institutions.
The precision hit in a northern Tehran neighborhood killed the 32-year-old chemical engineer employed at Iran’s main uranium-enrichment facility and brought to four the number of Iranian scientists killed by bombs in the past two years. No one asserted responsibility for the bombing, which prompted a swirl of accusations and denials as well as renewed concerns about worsening tensions between Iran and the West.
An Iranian nuclear expert was killed Wednesday by a magnetic bomb attached to his car, state media reported. Officials were quoted as accusing Israel in the attack, suspected as part of a covert effort to set back Iran's nuclear program.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday that Iran's threats to close the Strait of Hormuz were provocative and dangerous. She also denied the U.S. had any role in the killing of an Iranian scientist.
Iranian officials immediately accused the United States and Israel of orchestrating the attack on scientist Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, who was killed along with his bodyguard when an assailant on a motorcycle slapped a magnetic bomb on his car as he commuted to work, according to Iranian news reports. Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimiblamed the attack on “Zionists” and “those who claim they are against terrorism,” the semiofficial Fars News Agency reported."-more

Your thoughts?

Lech Walesa (1982)

2012-01-12T06:00:00.002+03:00

January 19, 1982

Today's Golden Oldie cartoon is from January 1982. Lech Walesa, a leader of the "solidarity" movement was being held in prison by the Polish Communist government.

Here we are, exactly 30 years later, Lech Walesa is the former president of a free and Democratic Poland!

...and, according to a report published just yesterday:

Walesa is ‘angry with democracy’
10.01.2012 1
"Solidarity legend Lech Walesa has declared that he is “angry with democracy” and that Poles are not sufficiently “engaged” in politics. The former president made the remarks in an extensive interview with Polish commercial radio station Radio Zet."-more

Your thoughts?

Winds of Change

2012-01-11T06:00:00.001+03:00

I decided to introduce a new character.
He's called the Whetherman (because his predictions are based on "whether" one event or another happens).

He could be a useful cartoon device because we live in a time of wild changes and so much of the future does depend on whether one or another of possible next steps takes place.

I don't know if I'll use him again, but it was fun to try him out.

Appeasement (2002)

2012-01-10T06:00:00.000+03:00

January 14, 2002

Today's Golden Oldie cartoon is ten years old. I've been trying to decide how old ä cartoon has to be to be an "oldie". I think that I've decided on ten years.

So here's what I did 10 years ago this month ...in January of 2002.

Owning Iran

2012-01-09T06:00:00.001+03:00

Developments in the Iran "situation" seem to be moving quickly.

"How does an American President campaigning for reelection handle the snowballing Iranian threat?" is a question that all of the players are assessing, and that includes the Iranians, the Saudis, the Israelis, and the campaigning President himself.

Poker

2012-01-06T06:00:00.001+03:00

I don't play poker.
I don't know how to play poker.
I never learned to play poker.

Somewhere in Israel's defense and intelligence world our political and strategic experts are assessing our risks, figuring out the odds, and working out a game plan for Israel's survival in the rapidly changing situation.

I wish them well
but I wouldn't want to have their jobs.
It's too much like poker.

Pivotal Events (1977)

2012-01-05T06:00:00.002+03:00

November 18, 1977

Today's Golden Oldie is from 1977. Thirty five years ago!

The words of the Bob Dylan song rang in our ears; "The times they are a-changin!" Our economy was being freed and Anwar Sadat was about to open the door to real peace with Egypt. The dream was about to become real.

* * * So thirty five years have passed and peace and normalcy with the people and nation of Egypt is a dream that never really blossomed and seems about to die. Sad.

His Passing

2012-01-04T06:00:00.000+03:00

I was working on this cartoon when I got a call informing me about the passing of a close friend of mine. His name was Newt Becker. You probably don't know his name, but you should. Newt was an innovative educator, a philanthropist, an inventor, a strategist, and my friend.

Many of the most important pro-Israel organizations had been set up or supported by Newt. Unlike others, he didn't want his name immortalized, and avoided having his picture taken with "important people". Newt invested in medical advances, backed cutting edge alternate energies, and helped people who needed his help. I'm proud to say that for the past 5-6 years Newt anonymously supported the Dry Bones operation.

I'm even prouder to say that he was my friend.

Same Old News (1982)

2012-01-03T06:00:00.000+03:00

January 6, 1982

It's always amusing when I find Golden Oldies that could be published today without change. I get a smile out of seeing that, somehow, the news never changes.

Today's Golden Oldie is from 1982. Thirty years ago! And the cartoon is saying that, somehow, the news never changes.! Thirty years ago!

By the way, heavy rains are continuing as I write these words, Bus fares and fuel prices went up this week, Europe is mad at us, and the Palestinians are about to launch an effort to have the U.N. meet to condemn us.

I haven't yet seen the "crop damage due to rains" story in the local papers yet. But I will.

Yikes!

Ugliness

2012-01-02T06:00:00.001+03:00

The ugliness of "Religious" Jews spitting at women and Jewish demonstrators calling Israeli police "Nazis" is difficult to bear. I did today's cartoon hoping for a wry chuckle.

Happy 2012

2011-12-30T06:00:00.000+03:00

A Happy 2012 to all of us!

New Year (1999)

2011-12-29T06:00:00.002+03:00

January 1, 1999

In 3 days it'll be the first day of 2012.
Today's Golden Oldie is from the first day of 1999.

Mr. Shuldig and his dog Doobie are my favorite characters. I can allow Shudig to express gushy, sweet, and optimistic thoughts knowing that Doobie's blunt realism will rescue the cartoon from a sugary overdose.

* * * Speaking of "Dog Years", there is an online site on the topic. It begins with:

"A widely held belief is that one dog year is the same as 7 human years. Although that could be used as a very rough guide, it ends up being misleading, especially when used to calculate younger or older dogs. That could be a problem in certain situations such as figuring out pet insurance, or the health of a dog (whether a veterinarian checkup is needed, etc)." -more (includes a dogyear/humanyear calculator

Taliban Fighters

2011-12-28T06:00:00.000+03:00

Israel's struggle against anti-Zionist, anti-female, anti-Israeli, intolerant fundamentalist Jewish thugs goes on.

The latest, from YNet:

Hundreds protest women's segregation in Beit Shemesh
"Hundreds gathered in Beit Shemesh Tuesday for a demonstration protesting the growing demand by radical religious elements to exclude women from public life in Israel.
"Public outcry against the radical demand to shun women from public events and for segregation between the sexes on busses, sidewalks and even in lines in the supermarket, became especially strident over the weekend when seven-year-old Na'ama Margolis was spat on in a Beit Shemesh street by haredi man who claimed she was not dressed "modestly enough."-more

Boom! (1985)

2011-12-27T06:00:00.002+03:00

February 4, 1985

Today's Golden Oldie is from 1985.

The "BOOM!" in Israel these days is the snowballing story of a cultural war against Israeli society by elements of the population that want public buses and sidewalks to be segregated between men and women.

It is portrayed by the media as a battle for Israel's future.
They may be right.

The "latest" as I write this:

Haredim riot in Beit Shemesh after segregation signs removed
Dozens of haredim riot, hurl stones as officers, municipal inspectors remove signs calling for women's exclusion; some signs already put back up; municipality to install hundreds of security cameras.
"Police forces accompanied by Beit Shemesh municipal inspectors removed public signs calling for segregation between men and women in the city on Sunday. This prompted dozens of haredim to crowd around the officers. They hurled stones and cursed the officers. Some haredim called police "Nazis." There were no reports of injury."-more

Mr. Shuldig's Plan

2011-12-26T06:00:00.001+03:00

Mr. Shuldig, with his plan to end 2011 in a "positive" mood.

China Search

2011-12-24T19:00:00.000+03:00

Happy Holidays to all!

There is, at present, a unique opportunity to improve Jewish-China and Israel-China relations. I am looking for a donor, probably hedge fund manager, CEO, board chairman, etc., who has the ability to fund our taking advantage of this unique opportunity . We are tax-deductible in the U.S.

The Dry Bones China Project can, with a donation of about $50,000 deliver its first unique "product" to China in June. If you are that donor please contact me at blog@mrdrybones.com

If not, would you contact someone who does fit that description?

If you'd like to make a donation of any amount just click on Donate.

Thanx
blog@mrdrybones.com
Yaakov Kirschen

Segregated Buses?!

2011-12-23T06:00:00.001+03:00

The latest furor in Israel is about demands by "Haredim"(falsely identified as "ültra Orthodox"). What they now want is buses segregated by sex. i.e. women to the back of the bus. So I did this cartoon suggesting that they wear blindfolds. Funny, no?

"No" says the LSW (Long Suffering Wife). She says it's been done. She says that some Haredi men have been spotted wearing veils!! I pooh-poohed the notion, but did a google image search, just to check. Turns out she was right.

Men in Veils?

20th Century Farewell (1999)

2011-12-22T06:00:00.000+03:00

November 28, 1999

Today's Golden Oldie is a Hanukkah cartoon from December 1999. A Farewell to the 20th century.

Those of you who get freaky about when the 21st century actually began, please control yourselves, relax, and have a Happy Hanukkah!

Pass it On!

2011-12-21T06:00:00.000+03:00

Tonight's the "second candle" and we'll be with grandchildren.

The plan is to pass on our civilization ( cleverly hidden in "gold foil"-wrapped chocolate Hanukkah coins).

Hag Sameah! Happy Holiday

Hanukkah (2000)

2011-12-20T06:00:00.000+03:00

December 11, 2000

Today's Golden Oldie is a Hanukkah cartoon from from December 2000. Tonight is the lighting of the first candle.

Happy Holiday, Hag Sameah!

Have a Happy

2011-12-19T06:00:00.000+03:00

Hannuka, Chanukah, Chanukkah . . . however you spell it, it stands for our eight-day "Festival of Lights".

And it begins tomorrow night!

Have a Happy!!

Hag Sameah!

China Update

2011-12-18T06:00:00.001+03:00

Funding: The Dry Bones Project (DryBonesProject.com) needs funding to carry out its unique strategic plan ... a way to use graphic novels to engage and enlist the Chinese in a common struggle; the battle to reject the willful denial of history, and to strengthen China/Israel relations.

The question::the pertinent question is "Will the works produced by the Dry Bones Project be allowed into the restrictive and tightly controlled Chinese internet and academic environment?"

The answer seems to be yes: We just received a letter from Professor Wang Hongxu ... Secretary General of the Center of International Strategic Studies at the Central Party School run by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China ...Its main task is to offer policy recommendations and advice to the Central Communist Party.

Dear Yaakov,
This project is really exciting. I fully support you and hope you success! I think you will succeed!"
Wang Hongxu
Central Party School
Beijing, China

If you could be our funder, please contact me, Dry Bones cartoonist Yaakov Kirschen . If you are not a potential angel, maybe you know someone who is or who could be?

To help with a donation please click on DONATE

Thanx
blog@mrdrybones.com
Yaakov Kirschen

Attacks by Jewish Youth

2011-12-16T06:00:00.001+03:00

According to a report from the New York Times:

Israel gets tough on Jewish settlers
"After two days of Jewish settler violence that has shocked much of Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that some radical Israelis would be treated the same way as suspected Palestinian militants - detained for long periods without charge and tried in military courts.
The disclosure of the new laws followed an urgent meeting of the country's top legal and security officials and showed how worried Mr Netanyahu and his lieutenants have become about militants of the far right who attack not only Palestinians in the West Bank, but also the Israeli army there." -more

Good News Bad News (1996)

2011-12-15T06:00:00.001+03:00

December 02, 1996

Today's Golden Oldie is from December 1996. Fifteen years ago this month.

I've always had two weaknesses. One is a love of "Good News, Bad News" jokes and the other is a compulsion to go for a laugh when the situation seems frightening.

This King Solomon cartoon about a threat from Syria is an example of both.

What the ?

2011-12-14T06:00:00.001+03:00

In the digital world in which we all are now forced to live, the old rule "if it ain't broken, don't fix it" is no longer honored.

Your thoughts?

Rabies (1976)

2011-12-13T06:00:00.001+03:00

December 10, 1976

Today's Golden Oldie is from December 1976. Thirty Five years ago!!

In 1976 there was a rabies scare in Jerusalem. Sad to say I was unable to resist going for a joke, using Doobie, Mr. Shuldig's dog, shown misreading the story in the Jerusalem Post.

Telephone Talk

2011-12-12T06:00:00.001+03:00

The LSW (Long Suffering Wife) just informed me that we've signed up for another three years with our mobile phone provider (those crooks) and that they offered us a new phone. Either an iPhone or a Blackberry. She turned down the new phones.

I'm happy with the phone I've got. I don't want a new phone . . . but everyone showing off their new phones and apps is really starting to bug me!! The LSW says that it bugs me because I'm turning into a grouch!

When I showed her this cartoon she said that it proved that she was right,

WANTED

2011-12-10T15:05:00.001+03:00

Wanted: The Dry Bones Project is searching for an angel/donor!

The Dry Bones Project needs funding to carry out its unique strategic plan. It is a way to engage and enlist the Chinese in a common struggle; the battle to reject the willful denial of history. We need financial backing for this plan which educates against the erasing of the thousands of years of history of the Children of Israel in the Land. It builds a linkage between the two ancient civilizations (that of the Chinese and that of the Jews) which have each survived centuries, to reach these dark, dangerous, and rapidly globalizing times.

If you are who we are looking for, if you could be our funder, please contact me, Dry Bones cartoonist Yaakov Kirschen . If you are not a potential angel, maybe you know someone who is or who could be?

To make a U.S. Tax-deductible donation, or to donate through Pay Pal, please click on DONATE

Thanx
blog@mrdrybones.com
Yaakov Kirschen

Mysterious Mishaps

2011-12-09T06:00:00.001+03:00

Who knows what's really happening? But here's some speculation from the Miami Herald (datelined Jerusalem):

Iran explosions prompt speculation of secret attacks
JERUSALEM -- "A series of mishaps at Iranian nuclear facilities and weapons sites may be part of a covert organized attack on Iran's nuclear weapons program, according to Western intelligence officials.
An explosion last week outside Iran's third largest city, Isfahan, is thought to be the most recent strike, though details on the intended target are still unclear. A sprawling military base and nuclear facilities are outside Isfahan, and intelligence officials across the Middle East said there was strong evidence that the explosion had done some "significant structural damage."
"We have seen enough evidence to know something has happened, but we are unclear on what at this point," said one Western diplomat whose work includes the region, speaking only on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. "There are a number of parties interested in sabotaging and weakening the Iranian regime."
The second such incident in as many weeks cast doubt on Iranian claims that these were "accidents" and "coincidences," and it set off speculation of a coordinated attack by Israel, whose officials long have threatened a strike against Iran's nuclear program. Israeli officials denied direct involvement, but the growing number of mysterious or unexplained blasts and deaths has many suspecting an official program of sabotage." -more

Research (1981)

2011-12-08T06:00:00.000+03:00

December 29, 1981

Today's Golden Oldie is from December 1981. I found it while rummaging through cartoons I drew thirty years ago this month.

I like it when one of my cartoons makes me smile. This one did. I did not remember doing it at all.

Question: did it make you smile?

Second question: is the cartoon "silly and sweet" or "deeply cynical"?

Offending American Jews?

2011-12-07T06:00:00.001+03:00

Since the creation of the State of Israel the question of aliyah from America has been a touchy topic. The old and bitter joke was "Definition of a Zionist: Someone who gives money to an organization to send another Jew to live in Israel". So Israel has tread lightly on its call for the in-gathering of America's Jews to the homeland.

So what's happening now is an angry reaction to our call to Israelis living in America to come back home!

Wow!

In an op ed piece in the NY Times entitled "Come Home to Israel", an offended Roger Cohen shares his insight with statements like

"I know several Israeli expatriates or would-be expatriates and their feelings are consistent. They are troubled by the illiberal drift of Israeli politics, the growth of a harsh nationalism, the increasing influence of the ultrareligious, the endlessness of the “situation,” and the tension inherent in a status quo that will one day threaten either Israel’s Jewishness or its democracy."

He also chides the Jewish State for failing to recognize that

"President Barack Obama is offended (by ongoing settlement expansion in the West Bank against his express request)."

Problem is that Roger can't seem to accept that Obama is America's president. He is not Israel's leader.

In the old days, American Jews were upset about Israeli Aliyah activists trying to "steal" their kids. Now they're upset about our attempts to bring our own citizens back home??!

Wow!

If you're interested here's a link to the NYTimes piece.

Your thoughts?

Vanunu (1986)

2011-12-06T06:00:00.002+03:00

December 01, 1986

Today's Golden Oldie is from December 1986. Twenty Five years ago!!

In 1985, Mordechai Vanunu, a technician at Israel's top-secret facility at Dimona, brought his camera to work and took about 60 photos of the place. These photos were then published in a London Sunday Times' exposé about Israel's "nuclear weapons program".

In 1986 he was tried in a secret trial. The country was shocked! So was I! Most people were shocked about what he had done. I was shocked that nobody asked how he was able to saunter around taking snapshots of the place.

Vanunu was convicted and was released in 2004, after 18 years in prison.

* * * The Guardian is now beating the drums for the guy in a piece published just last month (November 2011):

Mordechai Vanunu deserves freedom from Israel
"Vanunu's attempts to leave Israel have been dragging on for more than seven years now. He was released from prison in 2004, after serving 18 years, and told that he must wait another six months before he could leave the country and must not talk to any foreigners in the meantime. Since then, a cruel game of cat and mouse has been going on, with Vanunu periodically arrested and detained for technical breaches of his conditions." -more

Holiday Travel

2011-12-05T06:00:00.001+03:00

Below is from a letter to President Obama written by Dr. John Eibner
CEO of Christian Solidarity International:

"Dear Mr. President,
Today, Christian Solidarity International (CSI) issued a Genocide Warning concerning the 12 million-plus members of endangered non-Muslim minorities in North Africa and the broader Islamic Middle East.
Conditions for genocide against non-Muslim communities exist in varying degrees throughout the region stretching from Pakistan to Morocco. The crisis of survival for non-Muslim communities is especially acute in Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Sudan, Iran and Pakistan. Saudi Arabia is already a “religiously cleansed” state.
CSI’s Genocide Warning reinforces similar alerts issued earlier this year by senior statesmen:
We cannot accept and thereby facilitate what looks more and more like a particularly perverse program of religious cleansing in the Middle East." – French President Nicholas Sarkozy, January 7, 2011.
"Massacres are taking place for no reason and without any justification against Christians. It is only because they are Christians. What is happening to Christians is a genocide.” – Former Lebanese President Amine Gemayal, January 3, 2011.
“The most recent developments [i.e., deadly Islamist attacks against Egyptian Christians in May 2011] fill us with dread. …The aim of the Islamists is to stoke up hatred and violence.” – Former Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel, June 27, 2011.
Five months after the pogroms referred to by former Chancellor Schüssel, the U.S.-financed Egyptian army joined radical Islamists in attacking non-violent Christian demonstrators in Cairo, killing at least 25 people.
Most acts of Islamic supremacist violence against non-Muslim minorities receive little media attention in the United States. Take, for example, just a few of the cases that have come to the notice of CSI since the beginning of the so-called “Arab Spring”:
Egyptian Christian teenager, Ayman Nabil Labib - murdered by schoolmates after refusing to remove a cross necklace.
Iranian Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani - sentenced to death for having allegedly converted from Islam to Christianity."
Catholic priest, Fr. Mark Rybinski - murdered in Tunisia.
27-year-old Pakistani Christian nurse Shaista Samuel– raped by Muslims and subjected to pressure to convert to Islam.
Libyan Jew, David Gerbi - prevented from reopening the synagogue in Tripoli by Islamist mobs declaring: "There is no place for Jews in Libya!
CBS Reporter Lara Logan - sexually assaulted in Tahrir Square in Cairo by a mob of Muslim men chanting "Jew! Jew!"
Iraqi Christians Hanna Polos Emmanuel and Bassn Isho - kidnapped and shot dead near Kirkuk.
These and most other acts of violence against non-Muslims in the Islamic world are not, for the most part, committed by members of Al Qaida or related terrorist networks. Instead they are perpetrated by both state and non-state actors, many of whom are military allies of the United States. They are all inspired by a deep seated culture of Islamic supremacism - kindred in spirit to white supremacism and anti-Semitism. -read full letter

Dry Bones China Project

2011-12-03T21:15:00.004+03:00

Flash! Announcing a new Dry Bones Project!!

Israel’s enemies try to erase the pre-1948 history of the Jews in the Land of Israel. But China has not yet been infected with this denial of Jewish History.

For details visit http://drybonesproject.com

Is Syria Nato's Next?

2011-12-02T06:00:00.003+03:00

Is NATO going to do it again? Is Syria NATO's next target?

Here's the view from Iran.
According to the Tehran Times:

"Russia is sending its warships to Syrian waters in a move aimed at preventing any foreign attacks against Syrian territories.
According to Russian sources, the recent move conveys the message that Moscow will block any NATO-led attack under the guise of “humanitarian intervention,” The Nation reported.
Russia has been voicing support for Syria, which it says is currently going through a civil war.
The Western military alliance, NATO, has been making efforts to demonize the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his forces, while downplaying attacks by opposition forces.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has also recently warned the West against any 'Libya-style' military intervention in Syria." -more

The Way We Were (1976)

2011-12-01T06:00:00.001+03:00

November 28, 1976

Today's Golden Oldie is from the winter of 1976. Thirty Five years ago!!

I lived in Jerusalem back then and there is nothing that seemed as bone-chillingly cold as those winters in Jerusalem. Part of the problem was that Jerusalem's stone buildings were built to be cool in the summer heat, but when a snowy Jerusalem winter blew in, they were even cooler. Another part of the problem was that we all kept warm with small heaters that burned what we, in our local English dialect called "neft". It wasn't until years later that I learned that "neft"was actually kerosene!

They way we got our "neft"was to shlep a "jerry can" to a gas station or to wait for the neft delivery truck which had a tank from which patrons would fill their jerry cans, jugs, and bottles.

In the cartoon a frigid Mr. Shuldig is trudging home buttoned up against the cold, and musing on the inflation that was ravaging the country at the time.

Holiday Spirits 2011

2011-11-30T06:00:00.001+03:00

When I was a kid in Brooklyn, Christmas started with Santa coming to town in the Macy's parade on Thanksgivings Day. Now it apparently begins with something called Black Friday. I don't know anything about that, I've lived in Israel for forty years. The Christmas season seems, from a distance, at least, to have turned into the shopping season.

And this year, with the economic crisis, Dickens' three ghosts ("The Spirit of Christmas Past", "The Spirit of Christmas Present", and "The Spirit of Christmas Future") have morphed into the three shopping spirits; "Buy", "Save", and "Charge it".

In any case, my best wishes go to our readers who are, or who will soon be, out there Christmas-shopping.

White Powder (2001)

2011-11-29T06:00:00.001+03:00

November 19, 2001

This Golden Oldie is from 2001.

Ten years ago America was caught in a massive anthrax scare. Everyone seemed to be on the lookout for anthrax-laden mail. According to the BBC of Wednesday, November 7 , 2001:

"In media offices, abortion clinics, and government offices around the United States, mail handlers are donning white gloves for fear of the dreaded white powder - anthrax.
But still the FBI has no conclusive evidence as to whether the recent attacks have been state-sponsored, or the work of America's own radicals.
It is a complex investigation made worse by the fact that more than 2,500 anthrax scares in the United States have turned out to be false alarms."-more

* * * This year Hanukkah begins at sunset on Tuesday, December 20, 2011, and ends at sunset on Wednesday, December 28, 2011.

2012

2011-11-28T06:00:00.001+03:00

You've probably heard the ridiculous idea that because the Mayan calendar supposedly ends in 2012, some people believe that the world will end in 2012.

If not: check this idiocy out by clicking here.

a trip to 2011

2011-11-25T06:00:00.002+03:00

When I was a kid the future was a wonderful place. Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, streamlined personal rocket ships, gleaming cities.

So now I'm living in the actual future!!

I love to do Time Traveler cartoons. I think of myself as the guy who got sent into the future and has come back to 1958 with his report. (and it's always a shock to the scientists who are running the operation back in the fifties).

Peace With Egypt (1973)

2011-11-24T06:00:00.001+03:00

November 16, 1973

This Golden Oldie is from November 1973. We were about to begin peace talks with Egypt.

Current riots and unrest in post-Mubarak Egypt prompted me to post this thirty-eight year-old cartoon today.

This cartoon was done when the strip was less than a year old (I had begun drawing Dry Bones on January 1, 1973).

Mistake Dept: Back in 1973 most Israelis were smokers, as was Mr. Shuldig. I usually drew him speaking with a cigarette dangling on his lips. I just noticed that in panel three of the cartoon I forgot to draw in the cigarette.
Too late to fix the error.
Yikes!

Thanksgiving Day

2011-11-23T06:00:00.002+03:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

Note: The American Thanksgiving is on the fourth Thursday of November, but there's also a Canadian Thanksgiving Day which is held on the second Monday of October.

This year, Canadian Thanksgiving fell on Monday, Oct 10, 2011 ...so a belated Happy Thanksgiving to our Canadian friends too.

We Beat Inflation (1986)

2011-11-22T06:00:00.000+03:00

November 07, 1986

Today's Golden Oldie is a cartoon that I drew 25 years ago this month. It's from November 7, 1986. At the time, I was doing a special cartoon for the Jerusalem Post every Friday. It was, appropriately, called the Friday Dry Bones.

Back then we suddenly discovered that we Israelis had apperently beaten our runaway inflation into submission. We didn't, as the cartoon shows, know how we did it, but we had done it. And the Israeli Shekel has remained a strong currency to this very day.

My alter ego, Mr. Shuldig, who had been running a comic "anti-inflation" campaign at the time, appears in this cartoon in his "Spirit of the New Israel" caped superhero costume. Notice the "S" for Shuldig on his forehead.

a Simple Dry Bones plan

2011-11-21T06:00:00.002+03:00

The idea of declaring Judea and Samaria as an independent Palestinian state has not worked.

So we are proud to present our simple and obvious plan.

An agreement between the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the State of Israel to jointly administer the area called the "West Bank". Palestinians resident in the Hashemite kingdom can return to the jointly administered area. Jewish settlements remain. Right of return for Palestinians living abroad is carried out in the unified for peace Palestinian entity. Local control is given to Palestinian and Jewish municipalities. International affairs in the hands of the Jordanian/Israeli partnership.

Jordan, with Syria on one side and Iraq, in danger of falling to Iran, on another ...with a growing Palestinian presence in their country should find the idea attractive.

Comments?

the Devil Explains

2011-11-18T06:00:00.001+03:00

I'm playing with a new set of characters. The Devil teaching his young students about human beings and how they behave.

your reaction?

Bin Laden (2001)

2011-11-17T06:00:00.001+03:00

November 30, 2001

This Golden Oldie is from 2001.

Ten years have gone by and it turned out he wasn't in a cave in Afghanistan.

MAD or Crazy

2011-11-16T06:00:00.002+03:00

The Telegraph reported on Ahmadinejad in a piece entitled "Divine mission' driving Iran's new leader" in a report which began:

"When an aircraft crashed in Teheran last month, killing 108 people, Mr Ahmadinejad promised an investigation. But he also thanked the dead, saying: "What is important is that they have shown the way to martyrdom which we must follow."

and goes on to cover Ahmadinejad's UN appearance:

"World leaders had expected a conciliatory proposal to defuse the nuclear crisis after Teheran had restarted another part of its nuclear programme in August.
Instead, they heard the president speak in apocalyptic terms of Iran struggling against an evil West that sought to promote "state terrorism", impose "the logic of the dark ages" and divide the world into "light and dark countries".
The speech ended with the messianic appeal to God to "hasten the emergence of your last repository, the Promised One, that perfect and pure human being, the one that will fill this world with justice and peace".
In a video distributed by an Iranian web site in November, Mr Ahmadinejad described how one of his Iranian colleagues had claimed to have seen a glow of light around the president as he began his speech to the UN.
"I felt it myself too," Mr Ahmadinejad recounts. "I felt that all of a sudden the atmosphere changed there. And for 27-28 minutes all the leaders did not blink…It's not an exaggeration, because I was looking.
"They were astonished, as if a hand held them there and made them sit. It had opened their eyes and ears for the message of the Islamic Republic."
Western officials said the real reason for any open-eyed stares from delegates was that "they couldn't believe what they were hearing from Ahmadinejad".
Their sneaking suspicion is that Iran's president actually relishes a clash with the West in the conviction that it would rekindle the spirit of the Islamic revolution and - who knows - speed up the arrival of the Hidden Imam." -more

TV News (1981)

2011-11-15T06:00:00.000+03:00

November 20, 1981

For today's Golden Oldie, I thought I'd rummage around and see what I was up to thirty years ago this month. I found this cartoon which had been published on November 20, 1981.

The Israel that Mr. Shuldig lived in (back in 1981) had only one TV Channel!

Yikes!

the Syrian Army

2011-11-14T06:00:00.001+03:00

It continues to look like the West refuses to recognize that there is a religious war currently gripping the world ...and that refusal to see the obvious is what makes Western strategies so laughingly out of step with reality.

Another aspect of the current situation is revealed by to understanding that Assad's Syria is a client state of Iran. So the suspension of Syria's membership in the Arab League is simply drawing the lines between the Sunni Arabs and the Iranian Shiites.

Turning Point

2011-11-11T06:00:00.005+03:00

History can be seen as slow evolution and subtle change, or it can be seen as a series of major "turning points". I think that history will note the world's ignoring of the Iranian threat as one of those turning points!

The Russians are Coming! (1991)

2011-11-10T06:00:00.001+03:00

November 13, 1991

Today's cartoon was published on November 13, 1991.
20 years ago this month.

1991 was the peak of the Aliyah from the Soviet Union. In 1990-1991 more than 350,000 former Soviet citizens came to Israel.

Greek Dancing

2011-11-09T06:00:00.001+03:00

The economic Euro trouble means that for Greece to remain in the Eurozone they've got to become less Greek?

Thinking of a dancing fun-loving Greece brought to mind, for me at least, the image of Anthony Quinn as Zorba the Greek. I assume that nobody remembers Zorba these days, but for those of you who do, below is a shot from the movie.

Anthony Quinn as Zorba

Targeting Terrorists (2001)

2011-11-08T06:00:00.002+03:00

November 08, 2001

Today's cartoon was published on November 08, 2001.
Exactly 10 years ago.
To the day!

And it's another one of those "I could run it today, as it is, without any changes" cartoons!!

Your thoughts?

Shale Oil

2011-11-07T06:00:00.001+03:00

The latest:

Oil Shale Initiative in Valley Where David Slew Goliath Could Turn Israel into an Oil Giant
"New technology developed by Israel Energy Initiatives could make it possible for Israel to profitably produce oil from deposits previously inaccessible. Based on this technology, Israel may have 250 billion barrels of recoverable oil -- nearly equaling the 260 billion barrels of Saudi Arabia. The Israel Energy Partnership is educating U.S. business and Jewish community leaders about this potential development." -more

In the last panel of today's cartoon, Mr. Shuldig displays his best "I think somebody is trying to sell me something" face.

Occupy Wall Street

2011-11-04T06:00:00.002+03:00

Okay, so what do you think is behind it all?

Who do you think is carefully planning and secretly orchestrating the movement?

...Or do you think it's a totally spontanious and leaderless snowballing mass movement??Nu?

After Gilad Schalit !

2011-11-03T06:00:00.002+03:00

The continued incarceration of Jonathan Pollard is an ugly stain on America's honor.

Back Home

2011-11-02T06:00:00.001+03:00

I'm back home in Israel. A few hours ago I returned from my lecture tour in China.

While in China I got the news of Gilad Schalit's release. My immediate reaction was to sketch this cartoon in my notebook... but China's policy of internet-blocking prevented me from either posting the cartoon or even seeing the Dry Bones blog!

As I say, I just got back, so I scanned the cartoon from my notebook and posted it.

And now I'm going to bed.

BOO!

2011-10-31T06:00:00.001+03:00

Happy Halloween! This is one of the cartoons I posted before leaving for China on a university speaking tour sponsored by SIGNAL (the Sino Israel Global Network Academic Leadership).

I plan to return home to Israel on or about November 1st.

American Life

2011-10-28T06:00:00.003+03:00

This Halloween cartoon is one of the cartoons I posted before leaving for China on a university speaking tour sponsored by SIGNAL (the Sino Israel Global Network Academic Leadership).

I plan to return home to Israel on or about November 1st.

Expert Opinon

2011-10-26T06:00:00.000+03:00

This is one of the cartoons I posted before leaving for China on a speaking tour sponsored by SIGNAL (the Sino Israel Global Network Academic Leadership). I'll be the keynote speaker at the inaugural event of the first-ever Israel Studies Program in the history of China ...and am appearing at a number of other universities and think tanks.

I plan to return home to Israel on or about November 1st.

Are We In a Depression?

2011-10-24T06:00:00.000+03:00

Are we in an economic depression? Are we unwilling to admit it? Those questions sparked today's offering, which is one of the cartoons I posted before leaving for China on a university speaking tour sponsored by SIGNAL (the Sino Israel Global Network Academic Leadership).

I plan to return home to Israel on or about November 1st.

Roundup Time

2011-10-19T06:00:00.001+03:00

The Arabs have never been able to establish a coherent civilization uniting the lands of the Syrians, Phoenicians, Iraqis, Egyptians, Berbers, and the other nations and peoples across the Middle East that they conquered. The Ottoman Turks and the Persian Iranians are, however a different story.

The Arabs are now in turmoil and disarray ...and the Turks and Persians are moving to grab and control the pieces.

* * * Today's cartoon is one that I posted before leaving on my speaking tour of Chinese universities and think tanks. * * *
Tonight is Erev Simhat Torah.

Hag Sameah!!

Next cartoon on Monday, October 24.

the China Israel Connection

2011-10-17T06:00:00.006+03:00

The modern State of Israel and the modern state of China were created within 15 months of each other in the 1948-49 period. But both Chinese and Israelite history go back through thousands of years before 1948-49, each in our own homeland.

The first-ever Israel Studies Program in the history of Chinese universities is about to celebrate the inauguration of its first Academic year. The program was created and established by SIGNAL (Sino-Israel Global Network & Academic Leadership) at the International Relations School at Sichuan International Studies University(SISU) in association with the Center for Jewish & Chinese Studies (CJCS) based at SISU.

I'm proud to have been asked by SIGNAL to be the keynote speaker at the inaugural event at SISU. I am also pleased that SIGNAL has invited me to lecture at universities and think tanks across China throughout the second half of October. If all goes right, as you read this, I'll be heading east to Shanghai, Beijing, Henan and Chongqing.

I expect to be back in Israel on Nov. 1st.

* * * I left some cartoons to automatically post while I'm away. Enjoy

Sukkot 5772

2011-10-12T06:00:00.001+03:00

Hag Sameah!
Happy Holiday
to us all!!

(Next Cartoon on Monday October 17).

Sukkot (2004)

2011-10-11T06:00:00.003+03:00

September 20, 2004

Today's Golden Oldie was published in 2004 ...but it was a rerun ...another one of the very few cartoons that I repeated a cartoon. So 2004 was the second time that I ran the cartoon, but I just can't find the original. 2004 was before I had the blog, which, for me, defines it as a "golden oldie". So here's one of my favorite cartoons! Again!

Tomorrow is Erev Sukkot, the eve of this week-long holiday. To browse my previous postings about Sukkot just click on the word Sukkot.

CERN

2011-10-10T06:00:00.003+03:00

You probably blinked and missed two news items recently out of CERN.

The first item was that physicists at CERN had reported that they had observed neutrinos moving faster than the speed of light!! CERN is the European Laboratory for Particle Physics in Geneva, Switzerland and the speed of light is the fastest that anything can move, according to Einstein's theories.

That first CERN news item was discussed in a piece in the Chicago Tribune headlined "Was Einstein wrong?"

"...a cornerstone of Einsteinian theory is that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light, about 186,000 miles a second.
If that is wrong, and something can outstrip light speed, then 100-plus years of physics — everything from the subatomic to theories of how the universe evolved — suddenly is up for revision. The universe doesn't work the way we thought it did. We don't really know what we thought we knew.
"It would be amazing, everyone would be jumping up and down like crazy," Cal Tech theoretical physicist Sean Carroll told us. "It would certainly be the most surprising discovery in the last 100 years." -more

* * * The second CERN news item that week was the news that the CERN project had officially made Israel the fifth associate member of the project, joining the United States, Russia, India, and Japan. According to the Jerusalem Post:

"Israel last week officially became a formal associate member of the Center of European Nuclear Research (CERN) particle accelerator project, lending the country significant prestige in the global academic and research community...
...Israel was named one of five countries recognized unanimously as “being worthy” of joining the project. CERN has even ordered parts from Israeli industry and sent experts to visit on a regular basis. It took two years for the final invitation to be received. Israel’s high level of theoretical and practical know-how – much greater than Israel’s proportionate size – was greatly appreciated at CERN and is responsible for Israel’s path toward recognition as a official member..." -more

Yom Kippur (2004)

2011-10-06T06:00:00.002+03:00

August 23, 2004

Today's Golden Oldie was published in 2004 ...but it was a rerun ...one of the very few cartoons that I repeated a cartoon. So 2004 was the second time that I ran the cartoon. That was before I had the blog, which, for me, defines it as a "golden oldie". So here's one of my favorite cartoons! Again!

Tomorrow is Erev Yom Kippur. Have an Easy Fast! Next cartoon on Monday.

Germany in the Eurozone

2011-10-05T06:00:00.000+03:00

If Germany left the Eurozone, then Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal and the others would be in balance, the Euro would fall to its real value and the German Mark would be re-established as a stronger currency alongside the British Pound.

Or is there something that I don't understand?

3-day weekend (1980)

2011-10-04T06:00:00.002+03:00

September 15, 1980

Today's Golden Oldie is from 1980.

Now, as back in 1980, we've just had a three-day Rosh HaShana weekend. Shana Tova!

Obama, Pollard, the Jews, and Joe Biden

2011-10-03T06:00:00.005+03:00

The Story, breaking as I write this:

Biden: Pollard pardon over my dead body
"The NYT reported Saturday that in a recent meeting between Biden and 15 rabbis in Florida – meant to bolster the Jewish community's support of the presidential campaign – the vice president was asked about the Obama administration's reluctance to release Pollard, who was imprisoned in 1986, after he was convicted of spying for Israel.
“President Obama was considering clemency, but I told him, 'Over my dead body are we going to let him out before his time,'" Biden reportedly told the group. “If it were up to me, he would stay in jail for life.” (Ynet)

And more details here:

Biden prevented Pollard clemency, NYT reports
October 2, 2011
(JTA) -- "President Obama was considering clemency for convicted spy for Israel Jonathan Pollard until Vice President Joseph Biden prevented it, the New York Times reported.
“President Obama was considering clemency, but I told him, ‘Over my dead body are we going to let him out before his time,’ ” Biden said during a meeting with rabbis in Boca Raton, Fla., according to the newspaper. “If it were up to me, he would stay in jail for life,” he reportedly added.
Pollard was sentenced to life in prison in 1987 for spying for Israel. He is scheduled for mandatory parole in November 2015. In recent months, Obama has received a flood of appeals from Congress members and former government officials to grant Pollard clemency.
Pollard recently successfully underwent kidney-related surgery.
Obama is relying on Biden for help in his reelection campaign with American-Jewish voters, the New York Times article said." -more

The Holidays

2011-09-27T06:00:00.002+03:00

Tomorrow evening is the start of Rosh HaShana 5772 and ushers in the fall holiday season. When I was a kid in Brooklyn we called it the High Holidays. No cartoons on Thursday or Friday. Next Dry Bones on Monday.

Shana Tova!
Happy Jewish New Year
to us all!

PLO Blunder

2011-09-26T06:00:00.002+03:00

There has been much discussion of the bid for UN recognition of a "Palestinian" State. I see it as a learning experience, as presented in today's cartoon.

Credit Ratings

2011-09-23T06:00:00.002+03:00

the story:

Sept. 21 (Bloomberg)
". . . Italy’s rating was lowered yesterday by one level on concern that weakening economic growth and a “fragile” government mean the nation will struggle to reduce the euro- region’s second-largest debt burden. Italy was lowered to A from A+ with a negative outlook four months after the company warned of the risk of a downgrade. S&P today cut the creditworthiness of state-owned lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti. . . Italy follows Spain, Ireland, Portugal, Cyprus and Greece as euro-region countries whose credit rating have been cut this year" -more

Wye (1998)

2011-09-22T06:00:00.001+03:00

November 27, 1998

Today's Golden Oldie is from 1998.

The Wye Agreements:

"The Wye talks opened on October 14, 1998 and after 9 days of tough negotiations regarding the extent of the next stage of Israeli withdrawal, the Wye River Memorandum was signed. Israel would relinquish 13 percent of the land of which 10 percent would be turned over to Palestinian control and the rest would be turned into nature reserves. In return, Arafat agreed to take measures to prevent acts of terrorism against Israel, to apprehend individuals suspected of perpetrating acts of violence and terror, and to punish all persons involved in acts of violence and terror. It was also agreed at Wye that the Palestinians would collect all illegal weapons from the Palestinians and that the Palestinian police would be reduced from 36,000 to 30,000 men."
-more

The Betrayal of Jonathan Pollard at Wye:

"Both before and again during the Wye summit negotiations in the fall of 1998, President Clinton promised to release Jonathan Pollard. Pollard was the deal-maker at Wye which enabled the accords to be completed.
At the last minute, with the eyes of the world focused on the Wye Accords signing ceremony which was about to take place in Washington, Clinton reneged on Pollard's release," -more

* * *
It's now thirteen years after Wye.
Your thoughts?

Simple Truth

2011-09-21T06:00:00.000+03:00

I like to do cartoons about specific events or news items. Our Prime Minister will be speaking at the UN today. I suppose he'll try to tell the world the truth as he sees it.

"So" I thought, "I'll do the same."

UN Resolution (1991)

2011-09-20T06:00:00.002+03:00

September 27, 1991

On November 10, 1975, the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution declaring Zionism to be racism. Sixteen years later, in September 1991, because of American pressure, the resolution was repealed.

Today's cartoon is from that September in 1991.
20 years ago this month.

According to the New York Times:

U.N. Repeals Its '75 Resolution Equating Zionism With Racism
"The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly today to revoke the bitterly contested statement it approved in 1975 that said "Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination.
The official count found 111 nations in favor of repealing the statement and 25 nations, mostly Islamic and hard-line Communists, voting against. Thirteen nations abstained. Seventeen other countries, including Egypt, which recognizes Israel, and Kuwait and China, did not take part in the voting.
For the United States, the heavy vote in favor of repeal was a demonstration of its diplomatic power. After President Bush called for the repeal in September in a speech to the General Assembly, United States embassies around the world were instructed to put maximum pressure to secure the repeal. " -more

And now we've sent our Prime Minister to that same UN, to stand alone and, on our behalf, to speak to the governments of the world.

Latest News

2011-09-19T06:00:00.001+03:00

I didn't know what subject to deal with today.

Reading the newspapers at my local cafe revealed the current possibilities; the "double dip" recession, Islamist Turkey, the Palestinians, Palestine at the UN, Bibi standing isolated speaking to the world at the UN, the Eurozone crisis, starvation in Africa, the lynch attempt at the embassy in Cairo, etc. etc. etc.

While going over the topics I absent-mindedly doodled a picture of Mr. Shuldig reacting to the news. I looked at what I had done and laughed.

I traced it for today's cartoon.

School for Journalists

2011-09-16T06:00:00.002+03:00

Not long ago I came up with a new character. I called him the Naive Newsman.

I haven't used him for a while, but last night, while discussing the growing isolation of Israel with a friend, I blurted out angrily that "The real enemy is the media!" ...which reminded me of the Naive Newsman. And I began to think of the kind of training he had. And out popped today's cartoon.

To see his earlier appearences click on Naive Newsman.

Egyptian Peace (1974)

2011-09-15T06:00:00.002+03:00

Published in 1974

Today's cartoon is from 1974.
Dry Bones was only one year old and Israel had a "Peace Treaty" with Egypt!!

The goal was to have cultural relations, sporting events, trade relations, and more. Sure the public was still infected with a degree of anti-Israeli hatred ...but we'd show understanding, and with the help of the Egyptian government, in time, the Arabs of Egypt would come to appreciate their cousins next door; the Israelites of the land of Israel.

So we waited patiently, and with understanding, for thirtyseven years while the Egyptian government blocked normalization. Egyptian tourists were barred from visiting us, antisemitism was allowed to flourish, cultural exchanges never happened and the Egyptian government rode the tiger of a population that they could control but would not educate.

And now their "Israel-loving" President, his sons, and other senior regime figures are on trial for their lives and the population seethes with Islamist-sponsored hatred and cheers, once again, the burning of Israel's flag in Cairo.

Manufacturing Jobs in America

2011-09-14T06:00:00.001+03:00

The first thought I had while listening to some recent American campaign speeches was "The American manufacturing know-how that built the mighty industrialized Capitalist American powerhouse was trumped by out-sourcing its manufacturing, so now they want to manufacture something new . . . jobs!!"

My second thought was "Hey, that would make a good cartoon!"

Harsh Truth (1977)

2011-09-13T06:00:00.003+03:00

December 1, 1977

Today's cartoon is from 1977 and the harsh truth that shocked me thirty-four long years ago is still true.

In spite of the basic premise of American foreign policy, most of our neighbors don't want Peace with the Jewish State . . . and most U.S. policy makers still don't seem to get it.

Turkey Unmasked

2011-09-12T06:00:00.002+03:00

About Turkish occupation of Armenian lands there's this current news item:

Armenians Press For Court Ruling Against Turkey in US
September 11, 2011
"US Armenians, pressing for a court decision against Turkey for violating the property rights of Ottoman Armenians during World War I, have complained that the Turkish government has ignored a lawsuit brought against Turkey in a Los Angeles court.
Plaintiffs argue that Turkey seized land belonging to their relatives when its owners fled Anatolia during what Armenians call a genocide campaign. The land in the southern province of Adana, which is now occupied by the İncirlik Air Base used by the US military, was then sold without the permission of the Armenian owners, according to the lawyers of the plaintiffs. The complaints target Turkey and two Turkish banks, the Central Bank of Turkey and Ziraat Bank.
Turkey had 60 day to answer the complaint, which expired on Aug. 19, 2011, but it has so far refused to answer. Lawyers for the plaintiffs announced that on Sept. 6 the Turkish government is in default for ignoring the lawsuit.
The default notice was entered on Sept. 1, 2011." -more

And the recent news about Turkey's disproportionate bombing response to Kurdish Freedom Fighters as reported by the BBC:

Turkey reports heavy PKK losses after week of bombing

Aug 23, 2011
"The Turkish army says it has killed up to 100 Kurdish rebels in a week of air and artillery strikes on suspected PKK bases in northern Iraq.
A statement on the army website said that, according to its estimates, between 90 and 100 were killed and more than 80 wounded.
The PKK has confirmed three deaths, while local reports say a family of seven were killed by the bombing.
Turkey began the strikes after deadly PKK attacks on its soldiers."-more

Turkey Boycott

2011-09-09T06:00:00.002+03:00

The sudden anti-Israel tactics and threats by Turkey's Islamist government is certainly no joke. But I couldn't resist going for a laugh in today's cartoon.

Nu? So did I get a laugh out of you?

911 (2001)

2011-09-08T06:00:00.001+03:00

September 14, 2001

Ten years have gone by since we in Israel were shocked by the unthinkable.

Turkey's Rage

2011-09-07T06:00:00.002+03:00

When dealing with the anti-Israeli rage being whipped up in Turkey it would be wise to remember just exactly who the Turks are.

For those who don't know what the punchline of today's cartoon refers to:

"The Armenian Genocide was carried out by the "Young Turk" government of the Ottoman Empire in 1915-1916 (with subsidiaries to 1922-23). One and a half million Armenians were killed, out of a total of two and a half million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.
Most Armenians in America are children or grandchildren of the survivors, although there are still many survivors amongst us.
Armenians all over the world commemorate this great tragedy on April 24, because it was on that day in 1915 when 300 Armenian leaders, writers, thinkers and professionals in Constantinople (present day Istanbul) were rounded up, deported and killed. Also on that day in Constantinople, 5,000 of the poorest Armenians were butchered in the streets and in their homes.
The Armenian Genocide was masterminded by the Central Committee of the Young Turk Party (Committee for Union and Progress [Ittihad ve Terakki Cemiyet, in Turkish]) which was dominated by Mehmed Talât [Pasha], Ismail Enver [Pasha], and Ahmed Djemal [Pasha]. They were a racist group whose ideology was articulated by Zia Gökalp, Dr. Mehmed Nazim, and Dr. Behaeddin Shakir.
The Armenian Genocide was directed by a Special Organization (Teshkilati Mahsusa) set up by the Committee of Union and Progress, which created special "butcher battalions," made up of violent criminals released from prison.
Some righteous Ottoman officials such as Celal, governor of Aleppo; Mazhar, governor of Ankara; and Reshid, governor of Kastamonu, were dismissed for not complying with the extermination campaign. Any common Turks who protected Armenians were killed."-more

Greece and Turkey (1999)

2011-09-06T06:00:00.001+03:00

Today's cartoon is from 1999. Back in 1999 the secular state of Turkey was an ally of Israel and was warming up to Greece. Now, in 2011, the big news is that an increasingly Islamist and belligerent Turkey is threatening Israel. The news that Turkey is threatening Cyprus about Oil drilling in the Mediterranean is under-reported.

There's this from the Cyprus Mail:

New Turkish threats over drilling
TURKEY’S EU Affairs Minister Egemen Bagis yesterday issued a number of threats at Cyprus in daily including one to send naval vessels to the drilling area.
Bagis was quoted in Zaman newspaper as saying that when explorations were made in the past, ships from the Turkish military fleet “were quick to make their way to the area”. -more

And could Turkey's political shift be pushing Greece and Israel together? According to an Armenian Source:

Israel, Greece sign MoU in security sector
PanARMENIAN.Net - "Greek Defense Minister Panos Beglitis and his Israeli counterpart Ehud Barak, with whom he met in Jerusalem on Sunday, September 4 afternoon, starting his three-day official visit to Israel, signed a Cooperation Memorandum in the security sector, defencegreece.com reported.
“I come as my country’s Defense Minister to state our political will as a government, as well as the majority of the country’s political forces, for the two countries, the two governments, the two peoples, to work together so that we can further develop and deepen our bilateral relations in all sectors of mutual interest and concern,” Beglitis said.
This is the first visit by a Greek Defense minister to Israel and part of a cooperation memorandum agreed last year between Prime Minister George Papandreou and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while it is also taking place at a moment when Israel’s relations with Turkey are worsening, shaping new balance factors in the region of the Eastern Mediterranean." -more

Your thoughts?

Islamist Turkey

2011-09-05T06:00:00.001+03:00

Get the full story from Barry Rubin who writes:

Two More Steps Toward Islamism
"In Washington DC they are still ridiculing the idea that Turkey’s government is Islamist, is working step by step to transform fundamentally that country’s state and society, or that it is closer to Tehran than to the United States nowadays or more friendly to Hamas and Hizballah than to Israel.
Yet anyone who actually talks to Turks or looks at daily life there—and that includes the U.S. embassy in Ankara—knew better.
First, a bombshell. No sooner have the heads of the armed forces resigned than the regime issues an arrest warrent for seven senior officers. The Turkish army is finished as a political force–partly thanks to the European Union insisting that it withdraw from a political role–while the courts are being neutralized and the media is being bought up. There is no institution left to prevent the current regime from Islamizing Turkey and fundamentally transforming its society." -more

the 2012 Campaign

2011-09-02T06:00:00.002+03:00

The 2012 U.S. Presidential contest seems to have started

... and one issue is drowning out all the rest. Jobs.

Presidential Betrayal (1991)

2011-09-01T06:00:00.002+03:00

Today's cartoon was drawn twenty years ago this week.

Back then, in 1991, it wasn't President Obama, the 44th President of the United States, who was betraying America's only real ally in the Middle East.

. . . back then it was George H. W. Bush, the 41st President.

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