What Next?

According to the Boston Globe:

Kerry expected to play pivotal role in any Mideast talks
"WASHINGTON — "Secretary of State John F. Kerry is playing a backstage role as President Obama meets this week with senior Israeli and Palestinian leaders on the first foreign trip of his second term. But once the initial excitement of the presidential trip subsides, it will be up to Kerry — who has a deep reservoir of credibility with both adversaries in one of the region’s most intractable disputes — to try to build momentum and jump-start long-stalled peace talks, according to American, Israeli, and Arab specialists."-more

John Kerry

Cartoon Sickness

Cartoons are oten infected by antisemitic viral images. For further info, go to a secret site I've set up to explain. The link is secretcodeshiddenwar.com

Islamic Colonialism

Islamists are now making their move to capture and colonize sub-saharan Africa.

Islamophobia

Islamists are conductiong an effective effort to conquer the world for their god , to repress women, to destroy the Jews, and to repress and subject everyone else. They are now makig a major African move in Mali.

So I'm either simply stating the facts of life in our ties, or I'm an out of control hysteric, a racist who hates people of color, and a dangerous Islamophobe.

Your opinion?

Copy Cats

Has the Palestinian Settler Movement story made it to the media outlets where you live yet?

Horror Show

The cold-blooded murder of a 4 month-old infant is described as the killing of another "settler".

The constant, unrelenting demonization of Jews by the Palestinian media, in the Palestinian educational system, and in their public pronouncements and ceremonies, is merely what Israel's Prime minister "described as incitement that encourages attacks".

Below, from the Washington Post:

Israeli troops scour West Bank villages for killers of 5 Jewish settlers
By Janine Zacharia
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, March 12, 2011; 6:25 PM
"JERUSALEM - Israeli troops fanned out into Palestinian villages Saturday to search for the killers of five family members stabbed to death in a Jewish settlement as Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called on Palestinians to end what he described as incitement that encourages attacks." -more

Occupied Territories (1977 2009)

Click on the cartoon below to open a larger, more readable version of this full page Dry Bones Special:Click on cartoon for larger version

I've received many requests for a reposting of this cartoon. I first drew it in 1977 about Menahem Begin, and then redid in 2009 for Bibi Netanyahu. Click on the cartoon above to open a larger image of the "Bibi" cartoon.

To see the original 1977 "Begin" cartoon, click on Dry Bones cartoon classic.

President Obama seems stuck with the dopey old idea that withdrawing from territory will placate those who lust for our destruction and that America can help by negotiating on behalf of the Islamic states that refuse to accept the idea of a Jewish State within their sea of Moslem dictatorships and theocracies.

Jerusalem Boycott (1980)

Today's Golden Oldie is from August 27, 1980.

Back in 1980, capitulating to Arab threats, the nations of the World bowed their heads and moved their embassies out of Jerusalem, Israel's capital city.

In 1995, the US Congress voted to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, but the move was never carried out for political reasons. In June, President Obama postponed moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem for an additional six months. Meanwhile the U.S. is represented in Jerusalem by the U.S. Consulate ...which does not recognize that it is in Israel.

The U.S. Consulate's Jerusalem website has no reference whatsoever to Jews or to Israel, promotes Palestinian causes, and has an Arabic version of the site but no Hebrew version.

Years ago I had my U.S. Passport renewed in Jerusalem. In order to avoid using the word "Israel" they did not stamp the place of issuance as "Jerusalem, Israel" ...instead, they stamped it as having been issued in "Jerusalem, Jerusalem".

Your thoughts?

Shepherd Hotel

The Obama administration is upset and angry about a Jewish philanthropist's plan to build on a plot of land in East Jerusalem. A plot of land which he bought way back in 1985.

. . . and which has resulted in a local dispute you probably have not heard about. Israeli Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman has issued an order to place a photograph of the previous owner of the property in Israeli embassies and consulates. The "professionals" at the ministry are upset at being forced to comply. So here's the background to the story.

On the property stands the abandoned "Shepherd Hotel". Unmentioned in the controversy is the fact that the building and land were previously owned by the family of the Islamic Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini. So why does Lieberman want to put up the photos?

Well there's this:

"Al Husseini was the notorious Nazi who mixed Nazi propaganda and Islam. He was wanted for war crimes in Bosnia by Yugoslavia. His mix of militant propagandizing Islam was an inspiration for both Yasser Arafat and Saddam Husein: He was also a close relative of Yasser Arafat and grandfather of the current Temple Mount Mufti." -more

and there's this:

"Husseini spent World War II in Berlin at Hitler's side. Husseini established a division of Muslim Nazis "the Hanzar" division and played a first-hand role in instigating the genocide of Europe's Jews, Serbs and Gypsies. After World War II, he actively recruited Nazi officers into the Arab governments of the Middle East." -more

So here's a few more photos of the man who managed to blend Nazi philosophy into Islam, and the former owner of the hotel that Obama is desperate to keep out of "Jewish hands":

Your thoughts?

The East Bank

I've always been fascinated with people who play blindfold chess. They actually play chess without seeing the chess board or the pieces. Of course the "trick" is that, with intense concentration, the player pictures the playing field in his/her head.

Most people who accept the politically correct pronouncements of the main stream media are even more amazing than players of "blindfold chess"! They offer assessments of the situation without ever seeing (or understanding the need to see) the "playing field".

* * * If you pooh pooh the threat to the Kingdom of Jordan posed by the Palestinian terrorist organizations, you're probably too young to remember the events of Black September.

West Bank Dictionary

The terminology that the media uses conveys so much! And we, the consumers of their news reports, are often so uninformed and/or unthinking that we swallow the hook embedded in the tidbits that they feed us. So it is that, on the West Bank, Jews live in "settlements" while Arabs live in towns, villages, and cities. And while we're at it there's the term "West Bank" itself.

Like most folks, I'm comfortable with "West Bank" as a neutral, innocent, geographical phrase ..while the use of "Judea and Samaria" is politically motivated and is what the "settlers" and right wing Israelis call it ...right?

Actually that's wrong! It's another rewrite of history that we've swallowed. Consider the following:

"They (Judea and Samaria) are the definitive and proper political and geographic names for the region and have been in general use since Clearchus, a disciple of Aristotle. These two areas have no other names. These names were used during the League of Nations Mandate period. They appear in British government documents, United Nations documents including the UN Partition Plan of 1947. They appear in U.S. State Department documents, including a July 18, 1948 map. Even as late as 1961, the Encyclopedia Britannica refers to “Judaea” and “Samaria” in an article on “Palestine” (Vol. 17, p. 118).

Trans-Jordan illegally invaded Judea-Samaria in 1948 and as a result of its aggression occupied that region. It then unilaterally annexed the area on April 4, 1950, which was recognized by only two nations, the United Kingdom and Pakistan.

The Arab League, their Muslim supporters, anti-Israel elements and anti-Semites, deliberately sought to rob the region of its correct political and geographic name. They had to fabricate a brand new name for they could find no other name for the territory. Mislabeling was their technique of disinformation and de-legitimization. The “West Bank” was the name concocted by King Abdullah I of Trans-Jordan and his British advisors, allowing the king to annex land outside of his artificially “created” kingdom. He then changed the name of his kingdom twice, first to “The Hashemite Kingdom of the Jordan” but that was quickly rejected since it gave the appearance of a kingdom only along the banks of the Jordan River. The name then was changed again to the “Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.” The term “West Bank” eradicates all Jewish historical connection to the area. It is a sad commentary that many in the West, including the political left, many Israel’s supporters, some Israelis themselves, as well as the naive and self-delusional who think the name does not matter, have acquiesced to this unilateral change of names and use it in common parlance. But the name does matter." -more

Below: I've circled the Judea and Samaria regions on this detail of a French map of the area from 1791.

Your thoughts?

Obama's Plan

Question: If a two-state solution means a Palestine with no Jewish towns or cities in it, does that mean that all Palestinian towns and cities inside Israel will also have to be uprooted and expelled?

Just asking.

When Bibi Meets Obama

Click on the cartoon below to open a larger, more readable version of this full page Dry Bones Special:Click on cartoon for larger version

Bibi is about to meet with Obama.
For the occasion, at the request of a reader, I've redone a Dry Bones cartoon classic that, more than 30 years ago, back in 1977, gave Jimmy Carter an accurate history lesson in Occupied Territories.

If the reports leaking out of Washington are accurate, the new President seems stuck with the old misconceptions that withdrawing from territory will placate those who lust for our destruction and that America can help by negotiating on behalf of the Arab states that refuse to negotiate directly with the Jewish State of Israel.

The teacher in the 1977 'toon was Menahem Begin, then Israel's feisty Prime Minister. The teacher in today's cartoon is Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu, Israel's current Prime Minister.

Arafat (1994)

Today's Golden Oldie is from January 1994.

Prior to 1948, when the State of Israel was created, a "Palestinian" was a Jew who lived in Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel.

After failing to destroy us in war, the Arab nations encouraged the Arabs of Bethlehem, Gaza, Hebron, Jerusalem, Nablus, etc. to see themselves as a coherent Arab nationality called "Palestinian". This promoted the fiction that there had once been a state called Palestine and that the Arabs were its natives ...and since Jews were no longer the "Palestinians", that meant that the Jews were foreign to the land. Oppressors. Outsiders. Settlers. Colonialists. The tactic worked ...but by 1994, our Arab neighbors were having trouble controlling the dangerous and violent Frankenstein's monster that they had created.

Arafat's heritage is now a two-headed beast ...Hamas, the Iranian stooge and the unrepentant terrorist PLO of Abbas. An the threat to the nations of the region is even greater now than it was back then.

The Enemy of My Enemy

I am troubled by the tendency to portray the PLO as, somehow, a partner in the search for peace. Both the PLO and Hamas are dedicated to the destruction of Israel and both incite their children to see Jews as demonic. Both organizations celebrate and support the "Cult of Death" Islamic suicide bomber war to annihilate us.

* * * The above paragraph was depressing. Right? ... So after thinking it, I wrapped it in a joke and draw it up as a cartoon called "The Way It Is..."

So don't you prefer the cartoon to the paragraph?

International Justice (1998)

Today's Golden Oldie is from ten years ago this month. July 1998.

Saying that Israel is judged by a double standard is a waste of time. We know it. They know it. So in this cartoon I tried to wring a wry laugh out of the unfair and ugly situation.

A classic goal of much of Jewish Humor.

Sheik Yassin returns to Gaza (1998)

Back in June 1998, only ten years ago, we announced that we would allowed Hamas "religious" leader Sheik Yassin back into Gaza! On June 15th today's "Golden Oldie" was published. Eleven days later on June 26, the NY Times ran the following story:

Hamas Sheik Back in Gaza After Touring Arab Capitals

By SERGE SCHMEMANN
Published: June 25, 1998

" Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the founder and spiritual leader of the militant Palestinian group Hamas, returned to Gaza tonight after a medical trip that turned into a triumphant and reportedly lucrative four-month tour of Arab capitals.

The 62-year-old Islamic cleric, a quadriplegic with failing eyesight and hearing, was released from an Israeli jail in October in exchange for Israeli agents seized after a botched attempt on the life of a Hamas official in Jordan.

At his home in Gaza City, the sheik's motorcade was greeted with festive gunfire from Hamas bodyguards, and a placard reading, ''The Islamic nation is proud of Sheik Ahmed Yassin, who returned to the nation its dignity and glory, and from his wheelchair moved the whole nation.''

In a brief statement to about 100 followers, the sheik said: ''I am returning after several months to Gaza, to my Palestinian homeland. We are determined to continue the struggle. We will never accept the occupation of our homeland, and we will use all our means until we remove the occupation and our people go back home.''

The sheik's return had been a matter of some suspense, as Israel debated whether to allow him back or not after a tour in which he issued militant statements and reportedly netted tens of millions of dollars for his Islamic movement, which adamantly opposes the Palestinian peace agreements with Israel and whose secretive military wing is responsible for most of the suicide bombings in Israel in recent years." -more

Your thoughts?

Trouble in Tibet

I thought it would be interesting to check with the anti-Israel media today to see how they are reporting the troubles in Occupied Tibet and the current "Free Tibet" campaign.

The BBC, so quick to inflame the public with condemnations of Israeli actions, reports the suppression of Tibetan protests with this headline and lead paragraph:

China Denies Tibet Death Reports

"Tibet's governor said the security forces did not use lethal weapons. A senior Chinese official has denied that troops used lethal force to quell protests in Tibet's main city, Lhasa.

Qiangba Puncog, the Tibetan regional governor, insisted calm was returning to Lhasa, as a deadline for protesters to hand themselves in approached." -more

Reuters News Agency's headline and lead paragraph read:

China Says Using Restraint to Quell Tibet Unrest

"BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Monday it had shown great restraint in the face of violent protests by Tibetans, which it said were orchestrated by followers of the Dalai Lama seeking to wreck the Beijing Olympics in August." -more

And Al Jazeera, in today's coverage calmly explains Chinese settlements and the movement of massive numbers of Chinese settlers into the occupied territory of Tibet this way:

"For several years government economic subsidies have brought an influx of Chinese migrants, under a policy groups like The Free Tibet Campaign group say is part of an increasingly successful ploy to make Tibetans the minority people in many areas of Tibet." -more

Your thoughts?

On China? and Media bias?

Reductum Ad Absurdum

A technique that I often use is called "reductum ad absurdum" ...it means showing that an idea is flawed by carrying it to its logical (and absurd) conclusion.

Today's cartoon is, however, something entirely different. Amazingly, the first three panels of the comic strip are a direct quote from a real question and answer session with the spokesperson for the Secretary-General of the UN.

Question: You read a statement about the situation in Gaza before and I know it's difficult to change terminology, but we have a new Secretary-General now, so let me try it again. A year and half after the last Israeli withdrew from Gaza, the UN system still refers to Gaza as an Occupied Palestinian Territory. The only people who are not Palestinian in Gaza currently are UN people. Do you mean that Gaza is occupied by the UN?

Spokesperson:Definitely not.

Question: So who is it occupied by?

Spokesperson: Well…

Correspondent: I think there are some Israeli soldiers on the border…

Question: Not borders, who is Gaza occupied by?

Spokesperson: Traditionally, this is the terminology we have used. Yes?

Question: But the situation on the ground changed since Israel withdrew from Gaza

Spokesperson: I will look into this.

Correspondent: Thank you.
-more.

The unbelievable briefing session was reported at a website called ZioNation and brought to my attention by a loyal reader ... but it was so improbable that I was sure it was a hoax and had to check with the Official UN text.

So how in the world am I supposed to poke fun at the UN's insane and irrational anti-Israeli bias when they're so good at doing it themselves? What happens to "reductum ad absurdum" in a world that has so totally lost its senses?!

First Intifada (1988)

Today's Golden Oldie was published exactly twenty years ago. The organized Arab anti-Israeli violence called "The Intifada" had just been launched and this cartoon reflected Israeli surprise, confusion, and concern about what was happening.

The cartoon was drawn 20 years after the Israeli occupation of Judea and Samaria in 1967 ...which was 20 years after Jordan, then called Trans Jordan, had previously invaded and occupied the territories in 1948.

And now, in 2008, another 20 years have passed since I drew the cartoon!!