Jerusalem Day 2015

Today's is a "Two in One" cartoon.
May 17, 2015 is Jerusalem Day, and just a few days ago the Pope "recognized" the "State of Palestine".
According to the International Business Times:

"As the Islamic State group expands its reach into Libya, the group also known as ISIS sits on the doorstep of a nation that has one of the largest Muslim populations in Europe: Italy. The militant group threatened to seize Rome in a video released this week" -more

According to Salon:

"News that the Vatican has officially recognized Palestinian statehood in a new treaty may have less of an impact on the relationship between the Holy See and Palestine than on the already fraught relationship between Pope Francis and an increasingly disgruntled Catholic and evangelical right here in the U.S."-more

For info about Yom Yerushalayim ( Jerusalem Day), Click Here.

Yizhak Shamir (1981)

March 06, 1981

Today's Golden Odie cartoon was published in 1981.

In 1981 Yitzhak Shamir was Israel's Foreign Minister. The news was that the Polish-born Jew was meeting with the Polish-born Pope. What a fascinating meeting that must have been for both men.

Shamir would go on to serve two terms as Prime Minister, the first from 1983 to 1984 and then 1986–1992.

Yizhak Shamir z"l, 1915-2012

Freezing Weather (1985)

Today's Golden Oldie is a Dry Bones cartoon done 25 years ago in January 1985.

Back then, we in Israel were treated to television coverage of freezing weather hitting Europe as we basked here in our lovely local weather. The news today, 25 years later, is that both Europe and much of the United States are in the grip of freezing weather ...and yes, it was a lovely, balmy day outside my front door.

* * *

Note: Back in '85 I was doing Dry Bones for an English-speaking Israeli audience. That meant that I could play with our Hebrew-polluted version of English. In Hebrew slang, the word for a "screw-up" is a "fashla". So in the next-to-last panel of this cartoon I did NOT make a typo. I did NOT mean to say Ethiopian Falashas, but was making a cross language "almost pun" joke. The off-screen member of the public shouting at King Solomon on his balcony was referring to the government's screw-ups in the rescuing of Ethiopian Jewry. Our Ethiopian "fashlas".

Oh and if I were speaking to another Israeli in English I'd never say "balcony". The correct word in our local pidgin English is "mirpesset".

Jewish Roadblock (1989)

Today's Golden Oldie is from 1989.

I drew this Dry Bones cartoon exactly twenty years ago today. In the cartoon I wrote that we were facing the rise of the "Shi'ite Jihad against the world". Shi'ism is the Iranian brand of Islam. If I were to do the cartoon today, I'd use the phrase the rise of "Iranian Islamofascism" instead.

* * * Allowing Jews to live in the Judean and Samarian districts of the West Bank is commonly called a "roadblock to peace". Today's Golden Oldie hints at the idea that throughout history, we have been a "Jewish roadblock to evil". Not a role that we seek, but rather one that we seem unable to escape.

Your thoughts?