This one, created by a cartoonist named Pat Oliphant and published on Wednesday, immediately drew condemnation from several Jewish organizations. Some have debated whether the image is anti-semitic or just stupid. The image, however, has added fuel to the angry debate surrounding Israel's recent Gaza War. That debate is actually a skirmish in the larger battle over Israel's right to defend itself and its civilians and Israel's stereotype as a bloodthirsty and barbaric state.The question of Israel's essential character (and that of Jews in general) played in the background of the debate around Chas Freeman's aborted appointment, reports about Israeli strikes against a nuclear site in Syria and a weapons smuggling route in Sudan and in debate over President Obama's administration. See this snippet about White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. It turns into a tirade against Jews in general. It was written by a commentator named Michael Scheuer but I picked it up through Jeffrey Goldberg's blog on the Atlantic Monthly website:
"[What do we think about Rahm Emanuel?] This is a good question, but the discussion will be feckless if it avoids what the moderator refers to as intimations that may be "ugly." Well, friends, ugly is here and it has been here for decades. There is indeed an identifiable fifth column of pro-Israel U.S. citizens -- I have described them here and elsewhere as Israel-Firsters -- who have consciously made Israel's survival and protection their first priority, and who see worth in America only to the extent that its resources and manpower can be exploited to protect and further the interests of Israel in its religious war-to-the-death with the Arabs. These are disloyal citizens in much the same sense that the Civil War's disloyal northern "Copperheads" sought to help the Confederates destroy the Union. The Israel-Firsters help Israel suborn U.S. citizens to spy for Israel; they use their fortunes and political action organizations to buy U.S. politicians with campaign donations; and most of all they use their ready access to the media to disguise their own disloyalty by denigrating as anti-Semites or appeasers fellow citizens who dare to challenge them. The Israel-Firsters are unquestionably enemies of America's republican experiment and will have to be destroyed as the Copperheads were destroyed -- by the people, after a full public debate (sic), at the ballot box."
Scary, no?
That cartoon is surprising as Pat Oliphant is a well known cartoonist for 40 years and usually is "spot on" in his opinions about our wars (Vietnam,etc.). I am going go look online for what is work is saying these last few years. I agree that it is definitely offensive cartoon. RG
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