[N.B. For some reason, this post was never actually published at the time it was written.]
The European Union and major newspapers across the Continent today vehemently protested as “unhelpful,” “inflammatory,” and “demeaningly racist” an editorial cartoon appearing in the Jerusalem Post, portraying a naked Palestinian President Yasser Arafat eating the head off an Israeli infant, saying, “”What’s wrong? Have you never seen a politician kissing a baby?” In the background, hooded soldiers toss dynamite packages at houses with the words, “Vote PLO!” on them.
“This sort of dehumanizing of an elected leader is very unhelpful,” said the foreign minister of France. “It shows remarkably bad taste, and will almost certainly be responsible for the stirring up of Palestinian anger at this insult.” He particularly denounced the timing of the cartoon, appearing on the anniversary of the Intifada, as a “clear mockery of the pain and oppression of the Palestinians.”
An editorial in the British paper, The Independent, called the cartoon “blatant racism” and “emblematic of Israeli insensitivity toward the Palestinian people, and the unwillingness of Israel to negotiate in good faith at the bargaining table.” It also ridiculed the excuse given by the cartoonist, who noted it was inspired by a classic Goya painting. “Appropriation of such symbols and art to such a mean end must certainly be condemned by anyone with half an ounce of sense.” It demanded an apology from the Israeli newspaper, and the firing of the cartoonist, who turned around and thanked the Independent for giving his cartoon additional publicity through their outrage …
Oh, wait. I got a few details wrong.
It’s Sharon, not Arafat. It’s a Palestinian baby that’s being eaten by the Israeili prime minister, not an Israeli one. It’s Israeli attack helicoptors, not Palestinian jihadis, burning the city. It’s “Vote Likud,” not “Vote PLO.” And the cartoon wasn’t condemned by the Independent, but was was originally published by it, and just won the British Political Cartoon Society’s first prize for the year (in a contest sponsored by the Independent). The cartoonist didn’t thank the Independent, he thanked the Israeli Embassy in Britain for giving him publicity. The cartoon was originally published on Holocaust Day in Britain, not the anniversary of the Intifada. And the French foreign minister hasn’t said a thing.
Oh, well, I guess that’s okay then.
(via Roger L. Simon)