Page 24 - Issue 11
P. 24
More Issues Affecting the Jewish World
Jewish groups slam 'hideously anti-Semitic' cartoon on Gaza
By Haaretz Service and The Associated Press, 26 March 2009
American Jewish groups have denounced a "hideously anti-Semitic" cartoon on Israel,
comparing it to cartoons in the 1930s that led up to the Holocaust.
The syndicated cartoon by Pat Oliphant published Wednesday in newspapers across
the country depicts a giant goose-stepping uniformed figure wheeling a fanged Star
of David that menaces a small female figure labeled "Gaza."
The Simon Wiesenthal Center, the group founded by a famed Nazi hunter which has
more than 400,000 members in the United States, says the cartoon denigrates and
demonizes Israel and mimics the Nazi propaganda.
It called on The New York Times and other media groups to remove the cartoon from
their Web sites.
"Pat Oliphant's outlandish and offensive use of the Star of David in combination with
Nazi-like imagery is hideously anti-Semitic," Anti-Defamation League chief Abe
Foxman said.
A message was left Wednesday night with Universal Press Syndicate, which
distributes Oliphant's cartoons. Oliphant won a Pulitzer Prize in 1967.
Discussion Questions:
• What thoughts/feelings/emotions does this cartoon image arise in you?
• Why are cartoons so effective in shaping public views and opinions?
• Can you think of cartoons or graphic images that you have seen in newspapers or on
billboards/signs that have affected your views?
• Do you agree with the statements made by the American Jewish groups in response?
• What should happen next?
