Gallery traces anti-Semitism in political cartoons

LONDON (Reuters) - Is criticism of Israel anti-Semitic if it uses the same kinds of images as those long used to attack Jews?

That question will be posed by an exhibition of anti-Semitic art appearing in London early next year and inspired in part by a three-year-old British political cartoon that showed a naked Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon eating a Palestinian baby.

The exhibition, using images from a Jewish doctor's private collection, will be held at a London gallery that was fiercely criticized by Israel and Jewish groups when it gave its top annual award to the Sharon cartoon.

"What's the boundary between legitimate political criticism and racist propaganda? It is difficult to determine. But I think it's a question of using the same language," said Simon Cohen, the doctor who is putting his collection on display.

more here...

in MEMRI, but now it is gone :-(

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=&imgrefurl=http://loper.org/~george/archives/2004/Feb/860.html&h=446&w=250&sz=87&tbnid=rYH88RJCXBYJ:&tbnh=124&tbnw=69&hl=en&start=9&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsharon%2Bgoya%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26c2coff%3D1%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN

'>snip

British editorial cartoons can be savage and graphic: They often depict political leaders such as Blair and Bush committing lewd acts or roaming the world stage with blood dripping from their hands. In that context, (David) Brown said he believes that his Sharon cartoon, which appeared the day before Israel's elections last year, fell well within acceptable bounds.

"I did the cartoon on a Sunday for the Monday paper," he recalled. Noting that the deputy editor in charge of the editorial page that day was Jewish, as is the editor of the newspaper itself, Brown added: "No one had a problem with it. It passed off without a question really."

"I was very careful," he said. "I was very aware not to use the Israeli flag because of the Star of David, or other Jewish symbols. I made it specifically Sharon and Likud."

Still, thousands of people wrote or e-mailed to express outrage. Pro-Israel groups in the United States, including HonestReporting.com and the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, known as CAMERA, urged supporters to protest. Brown said he received dozens of phone calls, some of them threatening. The newspaper felt compelled to publish a follow-up debate under the headline "Is this satire? Or anti-Semitism?"

Brown conceded that some readers might have been genuinely offended by the cartoon. But he contended that much of the public outrage was drummed up by the Israeli Embassy and its supporters. "To me it was an obvious case of being a manufactured outrage," he said. "I've no doubt a large number of people willfully misinterpreted the cartoon."

I guess big-lipped African dictators would make for fine cartoon art? So, it stands to reason that big-nosed Jews eating Palestinian babies (blood libel) will also stand the test. :eyes:

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Patterning his cartoon after a Goya painting from the 1820s, Brown drew a naked Sharon, his private parts covered by a "Vote Likud" badge, kneeling in the rubble of Gaza City and about to take a bite from an infant. "What's wrong. . . . you never seen a politician kissing babies before?" the cartoon Sharon asked.

gosh....either the artist is willfully blind or has that other illness as do his supporters. Seems historical relevance doesnt mean much to him.

Do you think he would put big lips and a huge chest (as in anchemima) on Condoleezza Rice and have her saying "yesim boss"

i doubt it...the "sensitive blacks" would be up in arms....

i wouldnt take that away....its critical for freedom of speach, satirical cartoons are both art and editorial...however the fact that its so tasteless and crude....as well as not very orginal makes it clear that there were additional factors involved

as far as his "willfully misinterperted...well its impossible not to:

Don't assume that the cartoon is alluding to the 'blood libel' stuff,
there's no indication in the cartoon of the ethnicity of the infant, &
the artist is adamant that wasn't the intention - the cartoon is based
on the Goya painting, and, apparently, Brown was attempting to make
the same point as Goya, on the madness of war. Sharon's policies
guaranteed the death of innocents, try & consider that Brown was
attempting to make that point.

'Independent cartoon cleared of anti-semitism

Ciar Byrne
Thursday May 22, 2003

'>snip

The PCC, rejecting the complaint, said it was "reluctant to come to a decision that would in any way compromise the ability of newspapers to make critical or satirical comments about nations or governments through the use of cartoons".

Mr Sharon's solicitor said representing the prime minister in this way alluded to the classic "blood libel" that Jews prey on Christian children.

Brown insisted he had never intended this meaning and his cartoon was inspired by the Goya painting Saturn Devouring one of His Children.

The PCC accepted Brown's explanation, saying it did not consider the cartoon was particularly prejudicial to Mr Sharon's race or religion.

"There is nothing inherently anti-semitic about the Goya image or about the myth of Saturn devouring his children, which has been used previously to satirise other politicians accused of sacrificing their own 'children' for political purposes," the commission stated in its adjudication.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,961357,00.html

Goya's painting;

This painting (Saturno devorando a un hijo) was originally in the ground floor room of the Quinta del Sordo.

Saturn Devouring One of his Children is perhaps the cruellest of the Black Paintings.The nightmare quality is combined with myth to make an epochal statement: this is the madness of truth. Whether this is a reflection of Goya's own mental state, or an allegory on the situation in a country that was consuming its own children in bloody wars and revolutions, or a statement on the human condition generally, may remain open. It could also be a reflection of the situation of the enlightened man who has lost his God and is able to experience only mercilessness on cosmic scale.

http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/g/goya/9/blac633.html

His collection includes a 15th century German print that shows Jews taking a child's blood, and another from France about the same time that shows a Jewish serpent with children's legs hanging from its jaws.

He also has a Palestinian cartoon from 2001 of Sharon eating a bowl full of babies with a fork.

"People have been picturing Jews killing babies, eating babies for hundreds of years. They should be aware of what the significance of using anti-Semitic images is."

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3180742,00.html


the cartoonist wrote::
But he contended that much of the public outrage was drummed up by the Israeli Embassy and its supporters. "To me it was an obvious case of being a manufactured outrage," he said. "I've no doubt a large number of people willfully misinterpreted the cartoon.

if thats what he really thinks..then hes just ignorent.....and once he goes and sees the collection of cartoons by the Dr. and realizes that what he drew was not only nothing new, nor original but in fact quite old ...he simply shouldnt have received a prize for something so unoriginal, guess my complaint is with the ignoramuses who gave him the prize....

but, it's Sharon we're talking about here, so. Mr Qibya has made a career
from the death of innocents, & the cartoon was specifically aimed at him.

btw, the Ynet article is from Reuters, it's exactly the same as the one
used to start this thread.

The characters at lgf were absolutely disgusted;

1/28/2003: Anti-Semitism in The Independent
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=5408

ok after 'getting educated".....its nots the actual cartoon that bugs me....i've seen lots of them (arab press every other day), and politicians are game and its an essential part of freedom of speach....and that includes all societies.

its the winning prize.....it just didnt deserve it. It was simply a concept that has been repeated constantly for the last 500+ years involving specifically jews.

I find it rather difficult to believe that the cartoonist didnt know that, nor did those who voted for it......

(hadnt realized I relinked to the original post....)

the home page of the political cartoon society:
Our aim is to promote the 'political' cartoon by way of amusing, informing and educating
______________________
well it wasnt very amusing, nor very educating (fitting in to a sterotype)...that leaves informing. Well that information, jews eating non jews or its variation isnt really "informing"....

White anti-Semites think they can get away with this shit by smuggling in into media with Israel / Palestine issues. That isn't what this is about, and it never was.

I only wish I could see these images.

The "Protocols" are alive and well, just in a new form. I am all for legitimate criticism of Israel, but when it relies on anti-Semitic images, then I have to draw the line! To me, it was NO different than some of the shit I saw about the NOLA disaster (the mayor, who is African-American, displayed as a "welfare, "jungle bunny" or "thug"!")! Political humor should have limits, and those limits should not include "-isms"!

If you want to see some of the worst images, you can go to the ADL homepage. The rules of IP dictate I cannot post them here. If you can't find them, PM me, and I will show you how Jews are seen in other 'respectable' newspapers.

Thanks, I'll have a look at it. One of my interests over the years has been racism and anti-semitism, coded or otherwise, in art.

For example, I found an archive here where people can look at examples from Nazi Germany:

http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/brenn1.htm

I guess it must be chic or something to stand around a gallery with other "art" aficionados sipping wine and eating hors d'oeuvres, discussing the merits of racist, xenophobic cartoons.

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its not "right"....the right group is "left"