Cartooning about reprisal, retaliation & revenge
A cartoon look at what is going on in Israel & Gaza...
As you may have guessed, horrific violence in Israel and Gaza calls for decidedly un-funny cartoons.
Mocking Kevin McCarthy is one thing, cartooning about people killing civilians is quite another.
No matter how you slice it, civilians in Israel and Gaza (and likely the West Bank) are bearing the brunt of this war — a war that was brewing long before the terror attack on a rave and various locations near the border with Gaza.
Hamas’ brutal attack on Israeli civilians is a war crime, but so is Israel bombing hospitals, ambulances, mosques and residential towers. (Sorry, the fact that Hamas fighters might be there is no excuse.)
My guiding principle is that, yes, we can oppose Hamas terror attacks and Israel killing innocent civilians.
Yes, Hamas is made up of bad guys, but keep in mind that Gaza is a dense urban area filled with over 2 million people, half of who are children — hardly the place to level with bombs.
But that is exactly what is happening.
Keep in mind that Gaza has been blockaded by Israel (with Egypt’s support) for 16 years, with hardly anyone allowed to travel outside the fences and walls.
Seems like a recipe for terrorism and extremism.
I’ll let the cartoon do the talking for me now . . .
Sadly, this appears to be the beginning of a long, violent slog, with Israeli hard-liners becoming even more extreme. (Which will of course be reciprocated on the Hamas side.)
While the urge to get the bad guys make sense, it’s the overreaction that worries me. (See: Afghanistan, Iraq, etc, etc.)
Since this has been such a depressing few days and the above cartoon highlights that fact, here’s a little timeline-cleanser for us.
This is a little augmented reality experiment I did a while back.
No politics, no sadness, just a dopey Sasquatch waving hello.
from a great fan, pls Google “Whataboutism, “Moral Balancing,” “HUMAN SHIELD,” Holocaust, pogroms, Pale of Settlement (precursor for “beyond the pale”), Crusades, Inquisition, Jewish (8 millenia!) DIASPORA (exile). 1948’s attempted -- true -- “Final Solution,” the “Partition Resolution” #181, was NOT an “OCCUPATION” – which BTWay the West Bank settlements probably are. Even if you don't see the 8 millenia's urgent need for a Jewish state, should Israelis just grin & bear atrocites (even "merely" missiles) by humanly shielded (ergo war criminals) Hamas -- who also persist in causing impoverishment of 2 million Gazan.s Heard of "self-defense"? Marty Rosenthal, MA, grandson of 4 pogrom refugees
I have trouble with, Hamas did a war crime and so did Israel for bombing a hospital... So. Israel needs to NOT do all that, and see Hamas sit comfy for its next obscenely vicious attack on Israel's civilians, babies, grandparents, young women. What is to stop Hamas? Nothing. Are YOU or Sweden or Russia or America going to go in and drag Hamas out of its tunnels under the hospitals and frog-march them to World Court? Help us understand HOW you will do that without bombing the tunnels built under the hospitals. Y'know, so YOU would be Better Than Israel and not hurt the innocents Hamas hides beneath. Will you, what, leave rat poison for Hamas? Bomb Iran to shut off Hamas' money which didn't go to the hospital? Do you see why Israel has concluded that to get Hamas rooted out, it had to warn civilians to LEAVE so it could go after Hamas? Do you see why Hamas hides behind a hospital?