Friday, March 27, 2009

Ruining The Brand Name

Yesterday, Pat Oliphant, the Pulitzer Prize winning political cartoonist, published the above cartoon which has already caused Pro Israeli groups to rise en masse to condemn him as an Ant-Semite. The Director of the Anti-Defamation League, Abraham Foxman commented, "Pat Oliphant's outlandish use of the Star of David in combination with Nazi-like imagery is hideously Anti-Semetic. It employs Nazi Imagery by portraying Israel as a jack booted, goose stepping headless apparition. This implication is of an Israeli policy without a head or a heart."

Can we back up here? To quote Mr. Foxman, "An Israeli policy without a head or a heart"
After what the world witnessed and is now uncovering regarding Israels action is Gaza in late December, the use of white phosphorus on civilian populations, cluster bombs and a strategy which did not bother to differentiate between civilian and Hamas targets, Mr. Foxman's protest seem more like an endorsement than a criticism of the cartoon.

More over, if Israel has adopted the religious symbol of the Star of David as it's national symbol and protests when the symbol is used to portray the state in criticism of it's actions, isn't Israel guilty of using a religious symbol as a shield?

Isn't Israel guilty of debasing the Star of David as a symbol of identity for all people who identify themselves as Jewish? Remember, not all people who identify themselves as Jewish are even allowed to live in Israel. If you are Ethiopian and black, you might not be really the right kind of Jew.

A few days ago, I published this picture of Israeli soldiers with their t-shirts in my post, 1 Shot=2 Kills=Genocide. Israel has pursued an agenda with a hidden face, like they pursued their quest for nuclear arms. They are going to destroy the Palestinians and they will silence anyone who gets in the way of this goal. If they don't want the Star of David to be used in political cartoons criticizing their actions, perhaps it's time for a new flag. Perhaps, Oliphants cartoon signifies a new awareness of Israels tactics.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Good connections, Micro.

mud_rake said...

Don't you wonder, microdot, just how extensive the telephone registry of the Israeli Anti- defamation League is? One call from the top of the master list produces a domino-effect chain reaction throughout the Israeli and American telephone call list network.

They are experts at 'getting the word out' to all of their sources, all of their mouth-pieces. No one dares question the motives of 'our good friends,' the Israelis.

And the IDF itself? As pure as the Boy Scouts, for sure.

Anonymous said...

Hatred and racism are simply tools that some groups use to deflect any negativity or "bad press".
For example, the Isrealis wipe out a few kids during an air raid. Anyone who raises a voice against it is loudly denounced as an "anti-semite" which then takes the focus away from the responsibility for the dead children and places the spotlight on the "hater" to defend himself and his oppinion. Meanwhile, the children are conveniently shuffled into the background while everyone listens intently to the "racist" explain how his criticism is NOT anti-semetic.
-Sepp