Screening the world

Although the internet plays a larger role every year, most people in the Middle East still rely on television to get to know what’s going on in the world. This cartoon here was already presented a few weeks ago, but since it perfectly fits into this article, here we go again (Al-Ahram, Jan 20th):

The spectator in the Arab world is torn apart between the two largest Arab news channels, Al-Jazeera (right) and Al-Arabiya (left).

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All around the world, huge news channels often get criticized for not displaying the whole truth. Each side considers itself to be mis- or underrepresented. To be honest, there is some truth in that. Unless your name is Barack Obama, you probably didn’t have the chance to be on air over the last three months.

One of the few topics that despite the hype around Obama still made it into the news, however, was the war in Gaza. It is thus nonsense to claim that TV news channels didn’t show the whole truth, as is claimed in this cartoon (Al-Jazeera, Feb 11th):

The cartoonist (who is audacious enough to publish his cartoon on Al-Jazeera) claims that you’d never see any pictures of dead or wounded Palestinians on TV while the Israelis soldiers were represented as the good guys. How impudent is that? In fact the TV, the newspapers and the internet drowned in pictures of dead, wounded, dying people (usually Palestinians). It was an awkward and an impious way to use the agony of other people to distinguish yourself. Don’t tell you don’t agree with me, dear cartoonist, if only deep inside.

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One day later, on Feb 12th, Egypt’s Al-Ahram takes the same line:

The blitheful chap on the screen is telling us: “Hey, you guys at the TV screen, there ain’t no rubbish around as some malicious people keep repeating.”

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Asharq al-Awsat tells the same story, but with a different stress (Feb 10th):

Directly above the Arab’s head, it reads: “The truth”. While the caption outside the TV reads: “Natural errors”.

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This cartoon (Al-Jazeera, Feb 10th) directly addresses the Western media. According to the caricature, the BBC turns a blind eye on the victims of the Gaza war. Or, as it is depicted in a smart way, BBC acts like closed box or – am I allowed to interpret it this way? – even as a castle that is too snobbish to let in the truth:

To sum it up, all these political cartoons are trying to tell us that on TV you allegedly never see the truth, e.g. the victims of the war in Gaza. Well, don’t you agree that this is simply not true?

Spoilt for choice

The chap with the many faces and the many hands represents the Middle East. Accurate! (Asharq al-Awsat, Feb 5th).

How Gaza was won (an illustrated fairy tale)

It has been well over two weeks since the war in Gaza ended. Since then not only did Hamas simply continue firing grenades at Israel, but also various caricaturists handed in their latest political cartoons that came too late for war time.

It starts quite neat with this one here (Al-Ahram, Jan 20th), in which the average Arab spectator is shown as torn apart between the two giant Arab TV news channels, Al-Jazeera (right) and Al-Arabiya (left).

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While this cartoon (Al-Ahram, Jan 24th) is already of a different kind.

You might consider the snake either a venomous reptile or a terrorizing lindworm, in all cases it carries a huge Star of David on its body. The beast tries to swallow its prey but is unaware that in fact it’s a bomb which will blow up the snake. Since Israel (if not all Jews) is depicted as a poisonous reptile, it’s probably not wrong to call it antisemitic. But at least the drawer turned his own racist cartoon into a farce since he entitled the bomb as “Gaza resistance”. Well, if he depicts hiding behind children – what Hamas fighters did – as a bomb, who knows what he he had drawn, had Hamas really fought.

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One day later (Jan 25th) Al-Ahram presents this political cartoon:

The title reads: “The European concept of a blossoming and civilized democracy”. The murderous Israelis (according to Al-Ahram) are considered by the Europeans as victims, whereas women and children are called “killers”. Well, they are not. In Europe we have – besides a lot of antisemites – also many intelligent people who do not call innocent people killers. But we do call Hamas fighters murderers. And so the question remains: Why are they never depicted in any cartoons?

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Neither funny is this one here from Al-Quds al-Arabi (Jan 23rd):

The helpless Palestinian torn apart between his Arab brothers with their different opinions – while being tortured by the Israelis.

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If you ask for the reason why so many people in the Middle East – to say the least – dislike Israel, they will probably respond something that is similar to this cartoon (Al-Quds al-Arabi, Feb 2nd):

The Palestinians have no other option yada yada yada. Well, what about living a peaceful, productive life instead of joining militant groups such as Fatah, Hamas or Hizbollah and figuring out how to murder as many Israeli civilians as possible? It cannot be repeated often enough that most Palestians do not agree with these terror groups. Most Palestinians would love to find a compromise with Israel and then finally start a new life with a job, a family and some personal luxuries.

Instead it is not only terror groups or political demagogues who fuel the hatred against Israel but caricaturists as well.

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Al-Ahram, Jan 25th:

and the same newspaper on Jan 28th:

Beneath both, er, “caricatures”, it reads “No comment”. How true is that!

Roughed up

Remember the last cartoon yesterday? The pigeon of peace, which represents Mitchell, was about to face a tough fight with the bird of prey. Well, it seems, the big bully has won. The pigeon was found in intensive care – here is an exclusive picture found in Egypt’s Al-Ahram, Feb 1st:

Welcome, Mr President

It has been almost two weeks since the inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama. Enough time for caricaturists to cast their dreams, hopes and fears into ink-blooded cartoons.

On Jan 22nd, Al-Ahram publishes this cartoon here entitled “Obama at his inauguration speech as American president”:

Obama ponders: “The crisis we are going through was caused by the disposal, greed and irresponsibility of a few.” The Palestinian woman says to her child: “Listen well, my son in the refuge camp… listen and take that advice.”

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Others see Obama facing a true avalanche of strategic and tactical considerations when it comes to install peace in the Middle East (Asharq al-Awsat, Jan 25th):

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Now that’s a good one. The black and the white Obama wrestling with each other (Al-Ahram, Jan 26th):

Carrying books entitled “American Policy” under their arms, the white Obama says: “A bit tough?”, whereupon the black one replies: “But always darn sweet.”

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Al-Hayat on Jan 28th:

On the briefcase it’s written: “Obama’s emissary to the Middle East”. Yet at the border of the Middle East there is already a bird of prey waiting for that faint pigeon.

As much as I like this one, how close is it to reality? Will there be peace just because Mr Obama wants his fair share of future recognition? The organizers of all these peace camps and whatsoever might have the right intention, but they lack a realistic picture of the Middle East. Talking about Israel, the West and the Islamic world have a totally different picture in mind. In the West, people tend to think that all the Israelis have to do is to give back the Gaza strip to the Palestinians – what they have already done! – and there will be peace.

In the Middle East, however, most people have a totally different point of view. Many consider Israel not a country but a barb that has to be removed. Some, like Iran’s Ahmedinedjad, utter this idea frankly and receive little criticism internationally. The problem is that this whole Israeli-Palestinian conflict can only be solved if the following points are met:
1) Terrorists groups have to be labelled terrorist groups – and not freedom fighters. Of course they have to be wiped out.
2) Those who go public with their opinion (like journalists, caricaturists and so on) have to stop demonizing Israel.
3) The many antisemites in the West, who like to “criticize” Israel but never lose a word on, say, Congo, have to shut up.

As one can see, these points are totally unrealistic. The wish for the extermination of Israel will live on and the organizers of “peace camps” and other inefficient rigmaroles will have many more opportunities to earn their bread and butter.

Caricatures about the Gaza war

Also popular among Arab caricaturists: putting Israel on the same level as Nazi-Germany as well as putting the Palestinians on the same level as the Jews under Hitler. However, they won’t tell you who stands for Hamas during the Third Reich…

This piece was taken from Al-Watan (Jan 13th):

The bubble reads: “Why do you come to a comparison between what’s going on in Gaza and the Holocaust? Do you recognize here any kind of similiarity?”

And this one’s from Al-Hayat (Jan 13th):

This following cartoon (Asharq al-Awsat, Jan 1st), however, is much more appropiate:

On the persecuted guy’s back there is written: “The Middle East”. So it would be necessary to debate what the train stands for. Some probably consider it as the global Zionist, Imperialist, American, capitalist conspiracy that was, as is well known, created in order to subjugate the glorious Islamic civilization.

How much more sense does it make to identify the train as the truck load of self-made problems that holds back almost every progress in the Middle East! Politicians such as Sadat and nowadays Mubarak, who pragmatically and willing to compromise do their utmost for peace and more personal freedom, get badmouthed by the very same group of people that usually considers themselves as the elite – the intellectuals. Except braggarts such as Ahmedinedjad, especially Middle Eastern politicians are happy about each blow radical groups such as Hamas or the Muslim brothers receive. It is gross that of all people Arabic intellectuals declare solidarity with killers and terrorists. On the other hand, it isn’t. The same thing happens in the West, doesn’t it?