Arab Cartoonists Use Goldstone Report To Promote Anti-Israel, Conspiratorial Worldview
New York, NY, November 5, 2009 … The release of the Goldstone Report, a fundamentally biased assessment of the 2009 Gaza operation by a United Nations fact-finding commission, has become "a cause célèbre in the Arab press," which has churned out a series of anti-Israel cartoons in response, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
A survey of cartoons appearing in the Arab press, inspired by the Goldstone Report and its progress through the U.N. so far, shows editorial cartoonists from Algeria to Saudi Arabia taking a deeply cynical and often perverted view of the report, while at times portraying Jews and Israelis using offensive anti-Semitic stereotypes.
"The Goldstone Report was a cause célèbre in the Arab press, whose cartoonists took no time at all in twisting and perverting it to promote their agenda against Israel and Jews," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. "The Goldstone Report has given the Arab press a new focal point for their longstanding tendency to use cartoons for anti-Semitic purposes."
ADL has called the Goldstone Report "fundamentally biased." The report presumed Israeli guilt and ascribed to Israel malicious motives and intent in its actions in Gaza.
Many of the cartoons in the Arab media blamed Israel for the Gaza bloodshed, while ignoring the report's findings on Palestinian war crimes. Only a handful of cartoons portrayed the Goldstone Report as having potential repercussions for both Israel and Palestinians, or as hurting Arab interests.
Some examples include:
- A stereotypical Jew vetoes the "Goldstone Report" by putting it into a document shredder (Alraya, Qatar, Oct. 17).
- A stereotypical Jew wields a hatchet while chasing a man; he in turn is chased by a man holding up the "Goldstone Report," (Al Watan, Syria, Oct. 21).
- The "Goldstone Report" is driven into the back of an Arab man with Jewish candelabra (Oman, Oman, Oct. 11).
- A fanged Uncle Sam, representing the U.S. tells a vampire-like child, representing Israel, "There, there, my love, as long as Daddy's here, we'll strike down international law" (Alraya, Qatar, Oct. 18).
ADL routinely monitors anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism in the Muslim and Arab press and releases its findings to the public.
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The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.
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