There has been an upsurge in anti-Semitic cartoons in Arab media in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s declaration recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said on Tuesday.
The ADL said that the issue had prompted a surge of “editorial cartoons suggesting Jewish and Israeli domination of the United States.”
The ADL highlighted cartoons from Arabic-language publications in Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Iran. They ranged from portraying Trump as a circus elephant balancing the globe on its trunk on the command of its Israeli trainer, to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pulling the arm of a blindfolded US raising a wand shaped as the Star of David, to Trump driving off a cliff in a car marked with a Star of David.
Other images depicted the Israeli flag on top of an Uncle Sam top hat, Uncle Sam throwing away his hat to reveal a Jewish skullcap, and a Jewish figure giving the US a thumbs-up as it declares Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
In a cartoon published on December 17, 2017 in Egypt’s Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper, depicting US President Donald Trump as a circus elephant balancing the globe on its trunk on the command of its Israeli trainer, following Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. (via the Anti-Defamation League)
“These cartoons resonate with an age-old anti-Semitic theme of malevolent Jewish power found in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a fabricated document purporting to show Jews scheming to achieve world domination,” the ADL said in its statement.
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In an address December 6 from the White House, Trump defied worldwide warnings and insisted that after repeated failures to achieve peace, a new approach was long overdue, describing his decision to recognize Jerusalem as the seat of Israel’s government as merely based on reality. He also said the US embassy would move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem but did not give a schedule for the relocation.
A cartoon published on December 18, 2017 in Egypt’s Al-Ahram newspaper, depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pulling the arm of the blindfolded US, raising a wand shaped as the Star of David, while leaning on bleeding bodies. The US is carrying a sign reading “Jerusalem”, signifying US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. (via the Anti-Defamation League)
Trump stressed that he was not specifying the boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in the city, and called for no change in the status quo at the city’s holy sites.
The announcement was hailed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and by leaders across much of the Israeli political spectrum. It was criticized by many countries, condemned by the Arab world, and infuriated Palestinians, whose leadership called for “days of rage” leading to violent demonstrations in the West Bank and on the Gaza Strip’s border with Israel.
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