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The other cartoons(Daily Mail Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)SOME of these cartoon portrayals of Jews in the Arab press could have come straight from Joseph Goebbels' propaganda machine in Nazi Germany. But they are not to be found on obscure websites run by fanatics, but in the mainstream newspapers of the Arab world. Their blunt, venomous messages are all the more powerful in countries such as Egypt with a literacy rate of only 56 per cent, and where media outlets are tightly controlled by the government. Take, for example, the Cairo newspaper Al-Arabi, which illustrated its coverage of the Palestinian intifada with a grossly offensive cartoon of an Israeli soldier with a swastika for legs and the head of a pig. Or the Al-Akhbar newspaper, also from Egypt, which, in the same month, showed the then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak dressed as Hitler with blood dripping from his hands and standing on the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. What image could be more likely to offend Jews? Did the editors of these publications spend sleepless nights wondering whether or not to publish such offensive material? Not likely. And were the Egyptian embassies in Tel Aviv, Washington or London besieged by protesters as a result? Of course not. Certainly, it did not appear to trouble any of the Palestinian gunmen who have surrounded the European Union offices in the Gaza Strip this week, that their own official newspaper, Al-Hayat Al- Jadida carries blatantly anti-Semitic cartoons. One, shows a Jewish devil haranguing the Pope. As the Pontiff says: 'Peace On Earth', the Jew responds: 'Colonies on Earth.' Jewish groups in Britain yesterday called for an end to such double standards, as the Mail discovered scores of such anti-Semitic images in widespread circulation across the Muslim world. In the Arab News, an English language newspaper in Saudi Arabia, which circulates around the Gulf, a cartoon shows Ariel Sharon wielding a swastika- shaped axe to chop up Palestinian chidren In the newspaper Akhbar al-Khalij, published in Bahrain, a country with a relatively more liberal tradition than Saudi Arabia, a caricature of a Jew is shown teaching a Bush parrot to say 'I hate the Arabs.' A spokesman for the Britain-Israel Communication and Research Centre said last night: 'We agree with Inayat Bunglawala, of the Muslim Council of Britain, that any kind of cartoon that is derogatory to a race or group in a stereotypical way is unacceptable. 'I am sure that he is not being exclusive and that he hopes newspapers across the Middle East take heed of his words and stop the publication of anti-Semitic cartoons and articles which are extremely prevalent across the region.' Meanwhile, more European newspapers yesterday jumped on the 'free speech' bandwagon yesterday to print cartoons deemed blasphemous by Muslims. Two Rightwing newspapers in Italy published the 12 caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed. They appeared on the front pages of the Libero daily under the headline 'Mohammed rules here'. La Padania, mouthpiece of the Northern League government party, printed three of the drawings on its front page and the rest inside. It carried a headline that said 'Islam has already obtained the head of one (newspaper) editor no one is going to fire me!' La Padania's front-page editorial said: 'It is not a challenge, a provocation, but the defence of freedom.' Akhbar al-Kalij, Bahrain, 2002: A Jew with President Bush as his parrot Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Palestine, 2000: A Jewish devil harangues Pope John Paul Arab News, Saudi Arabia, 2002: Sharon hacks at bodies of Palestinian children Al-Arabi, Egypt, 2000: Israeli soldier with swastika legs attacks protesting youths Al-Akhbar, Egypt, 2000: Israeli PM Ehud Barak as bloodstained Hitler AS MUSLIM FURY CONTINUES OVER 'BLASPHEMOUS' CARICATURES OF MOHAMMED |