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The Sunday Times Cartoon

10 replies

HellesBelles396 · 29/01/2013 20:19

Could someone please explain to me how this cartoon is anti-semitic? I am being serious because I've heard news reports all day and I don't see it at all.

I can see the cartoon is suggesting the Israeli policy with regard to the Palestine is heavy handed - building a wall from the bodies of the Palestinian people - but I can't at all see how it is saying that Jewish people are to blame.

To me, it suggests only that the leadership of Israel is to blame.

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drizzlecake · 30/01/2013 11:39

I agree with you but Rupert Murdoch doesn't so apologised for it (or he feels he might offend too many people if he doesn't).

The day before I'd listened to a Jew on Radio 4 saying it is unreasonable to associate him with the Israeli attitude to Palesinians, and I'd agreed with him, then the next day you get this.

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lalalonglegs · 30/01/2013 12:09

I don't think it was anti-Semitic either. According to this commentary in the Guardian, it is the use of blood that makes it offensive to some Jews and equality campaigners.

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HellesBelles396 · 30/01/2013 12:20

the commentary was interesting - thank you for posting it. still none the wiser.

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FloatyBeatie · 30/01/2013 12:27

I was fuming about this all day yesterday. What a terrible, terrible accusation to make against Scarfe. I don't think there is anything to suggest that it is anti-Semitic, rather than simply a criticism of Israeli government policy. The "blood libel," though of course an atrocity, is not something that will come to many people's minds. Blood is a very common image in political satire, certainly in Scarfe's cartoons. It has to be, because governments routinely have blood on their hands.

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BarbarianMum · 30/01/2013 12:28

I would agree but think that Holocaust Memorial day was not the day to publish it. There seems to be a tendency in some quarters to almost excuse the Holocaust because "look what the Israelis' are doing to the Palestinians".

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FloatyBeatie · 30/01/2013 12:30

(To be clear, I don't think Scarfe was invoking the blood libel at all. I think it is a moderately esoteric resonance that has been forced onto the image as a pretext for complaint.)

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CinnabarRed · 30/01/2013 12:37

The jewish peoples can't possibly be claiming the 'rights' to all blood imagery! (Not that I think they are, BTW - just pointing out the absurdity.)

If Benjamin Netenyahu and the current Israeli political elite don't want international criticism for their policies towards the Palestinian peoples then they should change them.

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CinnabarRed · 30/01/2013 12:38

BarbarianMum - but equally there's a tendency in the opposite corner to say "we can't criticise Israel on Palestine or any other subject because of the Holocaust". Neither is right.

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BarbarianMum · 30/01/2013 12:41

I agree. I just think that, given the 365 days in the year, one day to remember the Holocaust without dragging in the Middle East conflict would be reasonable.

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CinnabarRed · 30/01/2013 12:52

Yes, that's a fair point too.

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