Tisha Be'Av

I believe that the "metal detector riots"are a turning point. The two guys in today's cartoon are the same two guys as I used yesterday. . . facing the threat of a new future.

One way to prepare yourself for the task ahead is to buy a copy of Dry Bones Cartoons Fight Back. The book is on sale at Amazon and if you are a Dry Bones fan you'll enjoy every page. Click here to see it: http://amazon.com/author/kirschen In addition to "Fights Back" there's a bookshelf of other Dry Bones books. And if you buy a copy PLEASE leave a review. It would be really helpful

The Task Ahead

The two guys in today's cartoon are explaining the view of early Marxist Zionist Dov Ber Borochov. He argued that Russian society (and others) was built like a three-layered pyramid. The massive base was made up of the oppressed peasants. The tiny top layer were the Kings. With time the angry peasants would rebel and overthrow the King, so the Kings built a buffer layer to protect themselves from the peasants. The Jews were this in-between layer. When the anger of the peasants rose, their violence was directed against the Jews (who, by the King's rules were banned from professions which would allow them to escape the buffer layer above the peasant class). Peasants would direct their anger against the Jews instead of the King. After sufficient blood-letting, the murderous anti-Jewish pogroms were stopped by the King, restoring the stability of the pyramid, the safety of the king, feeding the antisemitic hatred of the peasants, and keeping the Jews in "their place" as tools of the King.

Our job is now to fight back against our being trapped in the Borochovian pyramid. One way to prepare yourself for the task ahead is to buy a copy of Dry Bones Cartoons Fight Back. The book is on sale at Amazon and if you are a Dry Bones fan you'll enjoy every page. Click here to see it: http://amazon.com/author/kirschen In addition to "Fights Back" there's a bookshelf of other Dry Bones books. And if you buy a copy PLEASE leave a review. It would be really helpful

The Russians are Coming!

According to Terra Incognita:

“THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING” TO THE GOLAN?“
by Seth J. FRANTZMAN
It is to be stressed that the nearest watch post is 13 kilometers far from the zone of separation between Israel and Syria near the Golan Heights. The zone has been approved in accordance with the international agreements,” said Operational Directorate of the Russian General Staff Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoy on Monday. This was part of the recent ceasefire agreement and Russia had told the US, Jordan and Israel about it’s new post. It is supposed to monitor the “de-escalation” zone.
The full deployment, set up on July 21 and 22, included “two checkpoints and 10 observations posts were established around another de-escalation zone near the country’s southwestern border with Israel and Jordan.” According to Asharq al-Aswat the arrangement removes Hezbollah from the immediate area and specifies that Iran will not be part of the monitoring. Other details have been posted online."-more

Simple Logic

Simple Logic

Slaughter of Jews

According to United With Israel

A 19-year-old Palestinian terrorist stabbed three family members to death Friday evening in the Jewish community of Neve Tsuf (aka Halamish) in Samaria. The vicious murder occurred as the family was enjoying their Shabbat meal and celebrating the birth of a new grandson.

An off-duty soldier who heard the commotion rushed to the scene and shot and wounded the terrorist – Omar al-Abed from the village of Kobar near Ramallah.

The victims were identified as Yosef Salomon (70) and his children Chaya Salomon, 46, and Elad Salomon, 36. Yosef’s wife Tova, 68, was seriously wounded and underwent surgery at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center.

Elad, who lived in central Israel, had come with his family to join in the festivities. His wife Michal managed to protect their five children while calling for help.

more

According to The Jerusalem Post:

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has asked the Trump Administration to help quell the rising tensions over the Temple Mount, known to Islam as the Al-Haram/Al-Sharif. According to Wafa, the Palestinian News and Information Agency, Abbas spoke by telephone with US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is also his senior advisor.

He urged the US to pressure Israel to remove the metal detectors it had placed at the entrances to the Temple Mount on Sunday as a security measure to prevent weapons smuggling to the site.

Abbas told Kushner that the situation is “extremely dangerous and might spiral out of control,” according to WAFA.

more

Muslim Anti-Security Riots

According to The Times of Israel:

The White House is “very concerned” over tensions surrounding Jerusalem’s Temple Mount complex, it said in a statement late Wednesday, urging Israel and Jordan to restore calm to the area after days of violent clashes.

Muslim worshipers have been protesting Israel’s decision to install metal detectors and other security measures at entrances to the holy site in the wake of a deadly terror attack near there on Friday, saying the move breaks the delicate status quo agreement between Jerusalem and Amman.

“The United States is very concerned about tensions surrounding the Temple Mount/Haram Al-Sharif, a site holy to Jews, Muslims, and Christians, and calls upon the State of Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to make a good faith effort to reduce tensions and to find a solution that assures public safety and the security of the site and maintains the status quo,” the White House press office said in a brief statement.It added that Washington would “continue to closely monitor the developments.”

On Wednesday, rioters clashed with Israeli police at sites around Jerusalem as part of a “day of rage” called to protest the metal detectors, the fourth straight day of violence stemming from the move.

Metal detectors were set up in front of entrances to the Temple Mount as part of increased security measures Sunday after police said three Arab-Israeli attackers who emerged armed from the compound and shot dead two police officers just outside on Friday had stashed their weapons on the holy site.

-more

Famous Rock and Roll singers are performing in Tel Aviv

Summer is here and a string of famous old Rock and Roll singers are appearing in Israel!
To illustrate what's going on I colored in a page from my coloring book "A Yiddish Who's Who (Shnorrers, Shnooks, and Others)".
I had fun coloring it in. You will too! Check it out at http://amazon.com/author/kirschen

If you like Dry Bones you'll LOVE coloring the cartoon pages of this book. And if you buy this book PLEASE leave a review at Amazon.
I'll thank you, the LSW (Long Suffering Wife) will thank you, and we'll all have a good laugh at the delightful Yiddishisms.

Murder on the Temple Mount

The July 21 1951 news report in the Guardian:

King Abdullah of Jordan was assassinated by an Arab yesterday at the entrance to the El Aqsa Mosque, in the Old City of Jerusalem. The assassin, who had hidden behind the main gate of the mosque, shot at close range and was himself immediately shot dead by the King's bodyguard.

The King, who was 69, died instantly. His elder son, the Emir Talal, is undergoing medical treatment abroad, and in his absence the younger son, Prince Naif, took the oath of allegiance as Regent at a meeting of the Council of Ministers. The King's body was flown to the capital, Amman, and will be buried in the Royal Cemetery on Monday. A state of emergency has been proclaimed throughout the country.

The assassin is reported to have been identified as Mustafa Shukri Ashshu, a 21-year-old tailor in the Old City. During the Arab-Jewish war he was a member of the "dynamite squad" attached to the Arab irregular forces which were associated with the ex-Mufti of Jerusalem and became bitter enemies of Abdullah. Information was received at the Jordan Legation in London last night that several men were concerned in the crime.

Jordan guards stopped all traffic between the Jordan and Israel sectors of Jerusalem and closed the frontier at noon, fifteen minutes after the assassination. A search was made in the Old City for accomplices. The Aqsa Mosque, where the King was murdered as he was about to attend noon prayers, is within half a mile of the Israeli border

-more

When WE were the Palestinians.

According to The Jerusalem Post:

This week commemorates the 70th anniversary of the voyage of the Exodus, a ship carrying over 4,500 Jewish immigrants from France to Israel following World War II.

The ship left the southern French port of Sete on July 11, 1947. A majority of the ship's passengers were Holocaust survivors who possessed no legal travel documents for their arrival in then-Mandatory Palestine. Upon nearing its arrival at Haifa's port, British soldiers boarded the ship, attempting to turn the vessel back. The British had already announced that the passengers would be deported back to France, although they were first held in internment camps in Cyprus.

While the ship returned to France, the immigrants on board refused to get off, braving a heat wave and food shortages. Though the British eventually headed the ship to Hamburg, where they forced the passengers to disembark.

Many of the ship's passengers reportedly settled in Israel later on. Among them was Noah Klieger, the French-born president of the Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball team. Klieger, who survived Auschwitz, went on to become a well-known journalist and writer in Israel, covering a range of topics from various Nazi trials - including that of Adolf Eichmann - to sports.

The story of "the ship that launched a nation" has been told time and again. The 1960 film 'Exodus' featuring Jewish-American star Paul Newman was based on the ship's story, as was Leon Uris' 1958 novel of the same name.

The Exodus' would-be immigrants were part of 'Aliya bet', or the second wave of immigration. Thanks to a declaration by the British in the 1939 MacDonald White Paper, Jewish immigration to the mandate was curbed at 75,000 over a five-year period in the wake of World War II. While over 100,000 Jews attempted to immigrate during this time, only about half were successful. The British turned many ships away, sending the passengers to their fate in Europe. Others were kept in internment or detention camps, including Atlit, which has since been turned into a museum.

Turkish Islamism

According to CNN:

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan -- delivering feisty and stirring messages on the one-year anniversary of a failed coup aimed at unseating him -- lauded the popular resistance that helped stop the coup, and promised to decapitate "traitors," a sign that his harsh crackdown against his foes over the last 12 months will continue.

Speaking to hundreds of thousands of people at a massive ceremony on Saturday in Istanbul, Erdogan urged vigilance against lurking enemies and declared that last summer's bloody ordeal emboldened the nation. "This experience has unified us, made us stronger," the President said. "This wasn't the first attack against our nation and it's not going to be the last attack either." "We know who is behind these terrorists. However, there's also the fact that if you do not combat and fight against these pieces we cannot fight and overcome those who are manipulating them. Therefore, we are going to behead these traitors."-more

I Confess. I Cheated.

I've got a confession to make.
Both my blog and Jerusalem Post deadlines were approaching fast and I didn't have a single idea.
My mind was a blank. So I cheated!
I grabbed a copy of my new book "Dry Bones Cartoons Fight Back" (The book is 148 pages of my best-ever "fighting back" cartoons.)
and I copied a cartoon from the book. .A cartoon that I did Twenty Three years ago in 1994.
I cut it down to two panels instead of four, colored it in, and sent it to the Post and used it for today's blog.
Please don't tell anyone that I cheated.

Here's the original as it appears in the book.

The book is on sale at Amazon and if you are a Dry Bones fan you'll enjoy every page. Click here to see it: http://amazon.com/author/kirschen In addition to "Fights Back" there's a bookshelf of other Dry Bones books.
And if you buy a copy PLEASE leave a review. It would be really helpful.

Boy is it Hot!

According to Arutz Sheva (Israel National News):

Near-constant heat wave shows no signs of letting up; Israelis spend another week waiting for a cool break.

The heat wave which began a few days ago will continue to oppress Israelis until the end of the week, forecasters said.

Wednesday will see a drop in temperatures, but the heat will remain oppressive around the country, with the eastern valleys and Arava regions experiencing heavy to extreme heat. On Wednesday and Wednesday night, temperatures are expected to be between 25-40 degrees Celsius (77 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit) in Kiryat Shmona, 25-33 degrees Celsius (77-91.4 degrees Fahrenheit) in Tzfat, 26-32 (78.8-89.6) degrees in Haifa and Tel Aviv, 24-34 (75.2-93.2) degrees in Jerusalem, and 23-37 (23.4-98.6) degrees in the southern city of Be'er Sheva.

The Environmental Protection Ministry expects "moderate" air pollution over all of Israel, with the eastern Negev and southern Judea regions experiencing moderate to high pollution on Wednesday evening and night. The heat will lessen slightly on Thursday, but temperatures will remain higher than average in Israel's mountainous and inland regions, and muggy along the coast. Air pollution on Thursday morning is expected to be low to moderate in all regions of Israel.Friday will see a rise in temperatures, and the heat will become more oppressive.

Temperatures will continue to rise on Saturday, when the heat wave reaches its peak.

PART TWO: The Story of Trees Continues

Click to read Part One

The story so far:

I was the political cartoonist of The Jerusalem Post.
I lived in Jerusalem and I was writing a graphic novel.
Because I was a completely secular and “rational” Jew I did not tell anyone that what I was writing and drawing was being "dictated to me" by “The Trees” (who referred to humanity as the rootless ones.)

Taking Dictation?:

The Jewish National Fund (JNF) is the American wing of the Israeli organization that plants trees in Israel.
The Israeli part of the operation is Keren Kayemet L’Yisrael (KKL).
JNF/KKL manages forests, pushes back the desert, and builds water reservoirs in the State of Israel. Israelis often enjoy holiday picnics and family outings in KKL forests. As a journalist I had been invited to take a JNF bus tour of their operations and facilities. I saw how seeds were sprouted, saplings pampered, and trees planted. And so when “The Trees” spoke to me I understood the world that they lived in and the images that they showed me. Having been on the journalist tour allowed me to maintain the fiction that I was the one writing the book, not “The Trees.”

On the days that “The Trees” were silent I attempted to write an outline of the book,
but I couldn’t.
I tried to estimate the length of the finished book,
but I couldn’t.
I attempted to write a chapter "on my own",
but I couldn’t.

Telling the story of Israel had always been difficult for me. There were three conflicting stories.
One story was the long and painful history of the Jewish nation.
A second story was the religious one, complete with bizarre Biblical “end of days” prophecies.
The third story was that of the modern state, the revival of our dead language, the ingathering of our brothers and sisters, the building up of our cities.
And so I was not surprised when ”The Trees” argued between themselves in their dictation to me. Maybe they weren’t dictating. Maybe it was all just my subconscious. It was a comforting thought, but I dutifully continued to watch as each page surprised me as it flowed from my pen.

A heavy Jerusalem snowstorm blew down neighborhood trees and damaged the little house we lived in. In reaction, my wife and I moved to a Tel Aviv apartment. Soon I would find myself sitting, every day, at a table in a local Tel Aviv café across the street from our apartment, furiously drawing page after page. The book was now nearing completion, but I had no idea of what lay in store.

To Be Continued . . .

You can buy the book from Amazon (Print copy or Kindle) at http://amazon.com/author/kirschen
Or you can order a signed copy to be mailed directly to you from my home in Israel http://store.drybones.com/
And if you buy a copy from Amazon PLEASE leave a review. It would be really helpful.

Heat Wave

According to YNET:

Heat wave threatens extreme temperatures throughout week
As if it wasn't hot enough, another heat wave is expected to sizzle throughout Israel in the coming week, increasing risk of heat-related dangers.

A heat wave is expected to bring extreme temperatures to Israel in the coming days, simultaneously driving Israelis to find a respite from the heat while increasing the dangers of heat stroke and dehydration from being outside.

According to Mateo-tech Meteorological Services, drier than average extreme temperatures are expected inland, while heavy humidity on the coastal plane is anticipated. Winds and choppy ocean conditions are projected for Sunday and Monday, with extreme heat expected to strike in the Negev and Arava area.

The heat wave is expected to reach its peak Tuesday before temperatures start dropping Wednesday.

The Story of "Trees" Part One.

Foreword:
As the cartoonist who drew the daily Dry Bones cartoons in the Jerusalem Post my job was to comment on the news of the day. But I wanted to do more. I wanted to explain why I had moved to Israel. I wanted to explain myself, my people, our history, the Biblical prophecies that spoke to us and our hopes for the future. But how would or could I do that?

First Contact:
It was early morning and I had gone for a stroll along Jerusalem’s Emek Refaim Street. I plopped myself down on a bench and took out my sketch pad and pen. Across the street from me stood an old olive tree. I began to draw it. I traced every line of its gnarled trunk. I fell deeper and deeper into the task, copying each branch, following each line of its beautifully twisted branches and twigs. I was totally absorbed by the act of drawing.

Suddenly my concentration was broken by noisy crowds of running, pushing, and shouting children. I had not noticed that my bench was at the entrance to a grade school whose morning bell unexpectedly rang out. And the kids were gone, swallowed up inside their school building. Quiet returned and I returned to my sketching.

But now the quiet was broken by buses, cars, taxis, and trucks, belching fumes and honking their horns. The traffic now pushed and chugged its way along the road that lay between me and the olive tree. As the morning wore on chatty moms pushing baby carriers and strollers began to crowd the sidewalk; on their way to stores and coffee shop meetings with friends. Bell-ringing bicycles and the growl of occasional scooters added to the threat to my communication with the tree.

It was at this point that I thought. “They are the rootless ones. They are blown in the wind like dry fallen leaves.” I was seeing the scene through the eyes of the olive tree.

And so began a year-long process in which I would dutifully write and draw the story of my people, our history, the Biblical prophecies that spoke to us and our hopes for the future, as dictated to me by the Trees. I never planned the book, I never edited the book, I simply wrote the words that the trees spoke to me and drew the images that the trees showed me. In the end I called the book “Trees; The Green Testament.” It was the title that they had chosen.
To be continued

You can buy the book from Amazon (Print copy or Kindle) at  http://amazon.com/author/kirschen
Or you can order a signed copy to be mailed directly to you from my home in Israel http://store.drybones.com/


And if you buy a copy from Amazon PLEASE leave a review. It would be really helpful.

Silly Joke from 16 Years Ago

Today's cartoon is another taken from my new book: Dry Bones Cartoons Fight Back.
I drew the cartoon back in 2001, a silly joke I wrote (and drew) 16 years ago!
The new book is a 148-page collection of the best of my "fighting back" cartoons.

If you are a Zionist Jew,a Christian friend, or one of our many many fans from India, you'll enjoy every page.

The book is on sale at Amazon http://amazon.com/author/kirschen In addition to this book there's a bookshelf of other Dry Bones books.
And if you buy a copy PLEASE leave a review. It would be really helpful.

Fighting Back

Forget the Trump/CNN fight! My newest book is Dry Bones Cartoons Fight Back. Check it out at http://amazon.com/author/kirschen

If you like Dry Bones you'll LOVE this book. And if you buy this book PLEASE leave a review at Amazon.

I'll thank you, the LSW (Long Suffering Wife) will thank you, and we'll all have a good laugh at the antisemitic, anti-Zionist, BDS Israel haters.

Happy Entebbe Day

July 4, 1976 - The Greatest Hostage Rescue in History: Operation Thunderbolt: Entebbe Documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3LTfZ1CZ1g

Antisemitic Lesbians

According to Newsweek:

Jewish people celebrating LGBT Pride in Chicago were told not to display Star of David flags because other people found them ‘offensive.’ The Jewish Star of David flag was banned from the city’s annual Dyke March celebrations, and several people carrying the flag were removed form the march because their presence “made people feel unsafe,” LGBT paper Windy City Times reported. 

The Dyke March is described by organizers as being a "more inclusive, more social justice-oriented" march than the city's main Pride parade. One marcher, Laurel Grauer, said she was harassed by other Dyke March attendees before being told she needed to leave with her flag. “It was a flag from my congregation which celebrates my queer, Jewish identity which I have done for over a decade marching in the Dyke March with the same flag," she told Windy City Times. “They were telling me to leave because my flag was a trigger to people that they found offensive,” she added. “Prior to this [march] I had never been harassed or asked to leave and I had always carried the flag with me.” 

The organizers of the march told the Times the event was a pro-Palestinian and anti-Zionist one and that the flags made people feel unsafe. The Star of David also features on the Israeli flag, with many believing support for Israel is tantamount to supporting the oppression of the Palestinian people. Israel’s own backing of LGBT rights has been described as ‘pinkwashing,’ with the authorities there accused of using gay rights to detract from the ongoing conflict with Palestine. 

However, the decision to prevent people from displaying their Jewish Pride flags did not go down well with some marchers. "This is not what this is community is supposed to be about," marcher Ruthie Steiner told the Times after seeing people thrown out because of their Jewish Pride flags. "I'm German-born. Am I pinkwashing by being here and supporting my community? Is every nation which does not have a clean civil-rights record and also hosts a Pride parade guilty of pinkwashing? With all the people that so hate the LGBTQ community, for it to tear itself apart in self-hatred makes no sense at all,” she added