Analyzing Cartoons to Capture the Essence of Anti-Semitism
Cartoons and Extremism: Israel and the Jews in Arab and Western Media, by Joël Kotek, Edgware: Vallentine Mitchell, 2009, 200 pp.
Reviewed by Manfred Gerstenfeld
Mennonite-supported peacemaking institutions have been at the forefront of the effort to discredit Israel to audiences in North America. These institutions portray Jewish sovereignty as the cause of conflict and suffering in the Middle East and downplay Muslim and Arab hostility toward Jews and Israel.
Again over this past year there were significant anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli incidents in Norway. Among these were anti-Semitic television satire programs, an act of the Nazification of Israel by a Norwegian diplomat, physical attacks on a pro-Israeli demonstration, death threats against Jews and a desecration of a Jewish cemetery.
It is one of the bitter ironies of the dialectics of modernity that the very sphere of science and academia, the purpose of which is to enlighten mankind, has provided intellectual cover to modern Jew-hatred. It was in Germany of all places that scientific discovery and academic discourse were subject to the utmost perversion, contributing intellectually and technically to the Holocaust.
Al Jazeera, the most viewed satellite channel in the Arab world, has become a weapon in the hands of the ambitious Emir of Qatar who may be driven by the Muslim Brothers and who is threatening the stability of the Middle East. With the Muslim Brothers increasingly aligned in recent years with Iran, by repeatedly attacking the Sunni Arab regimes and inciting against them, Al Jazeera is serving as an important instrument for Tehran and its effort to undermine their internal stability.
There are voices in the Obama Administration who believe that the Kremlin is able and willing to exert pressure on Iran to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons. However, perceived geopolitical and economic benefits in the unstable Persian Gulf, in which American influence is on the wane, outweigh Russia’s concerns about a nuclear-armed Iran. The Kremlin sees Iran not as a threat but as a partner or an ad-hoc ally to challenge U.S. influence.
The U.S. government can use Arab governments’ insecurity regarding Iran as leverage to encourage real reform. This is particularly true for Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia – now engaged in the ideological fight of their lives with Iran and its reactionary allies.
Anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli manifestations reached post-Second World War highs during Israel’s recent Gaza campaign. A number of new hate thresholds were crossed. There were much-increased public expressions of equating Israel with Nazi Germany. Calls for the murder of Jews abounded for the first time in demonstrations in Germany, as well as in the United States. A number of actions by various independent Muslim bodies in several Western countries manifested their desire to conquer the public
It is of prime importance to prevent Iran from acquiring influence in post-war Gaza through any assistance programs.
Israel and the international community should transform the Palestinian Authority into the principal factor, along with Egypt, entrusted with the rehabilitation work in Gaza.
The Holocaust has become increasingly important in international historical culture, and the murder of six million Jews during the Second World War is arguably the ultimate symbol of evil in Western politics, culture and academia. This fact has had its consequences in the Arab world as well, even though the effects there have been significantly different than in the West. Traditional Arab public discourse has a history of feelings of superiority vis-à-vis the Jews, largely based on Muslim theolo
Doctor Strangelove?
La bombe et le Coran, une biographie du president iranien Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (The Bomb and the Koran, a Biography of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) by Michel Taubman, Editions du Moment, 2008, 255 pp. [French]
Reviewed by Michelle Mazel
While moving Syria into the Western camp would be a great accomplishment, it’s not clear that this development would necessarily constitute a long-term strategic setback for Iranian efforts to undermine U.S. policy in Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, and Iraq. In the absence of Syria, Iran would still be capable of supporting Hizbullah, Hamas, and its Shiite allies in Iraq.
Israel is one of the leading countries in the world in developing technologies to produce electricity through renewable energy, mostly in the solar field. The National Infrastructures Ministry envisions a plan up to the year 2020 that will guarantee energy in the coming decades based on 40 percent natural gas, 40 percent coal, and up to 20 percent renewable energy.
From Manfred Gerstenfeld ( ed.) Academics again Israel and the Jews Utrecht University: The Myth of Jewish Cannibalism, Censorship, and Fear of Muslim Intimidation*
From Manfred Gerstenfeld ( ed.) Academics again Israel and the Jews European Universities and the New Anti-Semitism: Issues, Examples, Prescriptions
