Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/19/2006 | A cartoon contest with Iran as loser

Philadelphia Inquirer 02/19/2006 A cartoon contest with Iran as loser

Posted on Sun, Feb. 19, 2006
A cartoon contest with Iran as loser
Frida Ghitis

AMSTERDAM - "The Jews don't care if you make fun of them," my Dutch taxi driver said as we discussed the rage over cartoons depicting Muhammad. He was telling me about a collection of crudely anti-Semitic cartoons he had seen from a variety of Arab newspapers and from a Muslim European Web site. They don't get angry, he explained, because "Jews are the first ones to make fun of themselves."

When Muslims from Europe to Indonesia reacted with fury at the depiction of Muhammad in a Danish newspaper, two groups, in Iran and in Belgium, decided to fight back by making cartoons attacking Jews (and Christians and gays, but mostly Jews). It's not quite clear what they intended to prove. What is clear is that their plan was fatally flawed.

They forgot that when it comes to laughing at Jews, and at the vicissitudes of their history, nobody outdoes Jewish comics. Over the centuries, Jews have learned that laughing at your difficulties can ease the pain.

It's not quite true that Jews don't bristle at attacks against them, particularly when they come loaded with hatred. European Jews, however, have heard it all before. And claims that freedom of speech in Europe is restricted when it comes to Jews are greatly exaggerated. Granted, denying the Holocaust is a crime in some countries that saw their large Jewish populations exterminated during World War II. But humor is hardly off-limits.

When a Muslim extremist killed and then tried to sever the head of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh in an Amsterdam street, he was enraged because van Gogh - an equal opportunity offender - had made a film criticizing the treatment of women in Islam. But Muslims were hardly the first to be dissed by the artist who thrived on crossing the line.

"Hmm, it smells like caramel," he once said. "They must be burning diabetic Jews today." There were no Jewish riots or assassination attempts.

After the Danish cartoons, Belgium's Arab European League launched its "freedom of speech" campaign. A cartoon in their Web site showed a half-naked Hitler in bed with Anne Frank, the child diarist killed in the Holocaust, telling her, "Write this one in your diary." Not particularly funny. But then, let's face it, most cartoons really aren't. No riots followed, by the way.

Then came the idea from Iran's biggest newspaper of holding a competition for the best Holocaust cartoon. They were so proud of their cleverness. Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is on record saying he doesn't believe the Holocaust happened. So this brilliant ploy would hit two Western taboos with one Iranian stone.

Iran thought the West would recoil in horror. (Riots, anyone?) But before the contest could get going, an Israeli cartoonist launched his own competition.

"We will show the world we can do the best, sharpest, most offensive Jew-hating cartoons ever published," said Israeli cartoonist Amitai Sandy. He noted a truth well-known to students of humor: When it comes to making fun of the tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people, nobody does it better than the Jews. "No Iranian can compete with us on that," he declared.

And what about the publication of Iran's contest winners? Tehran's bet that the cartoons would be shunned apparently was a loser. The Iranian Holocaust cartoons are already appearing in - you guessed it - Israel. The cartoons now appear in the Israel News Agency Web site.

There is a difference, however, between what you see in the Iranian publication and the Israeli one. The Iranian publication is in the best tradition adopted by the Arab and Muslim world from anti-Semitic cartoons in Nazi Germany. They are part of an attempt to demonize, and dehumanize; designed to create hatred, not to entertain. While Iran is questioning the Holocaust ever happened, the INA site posts the caricatures with a line explaining, "Six million Jews were gassed, shot and hung during the Holocaust." The INA did one more thing.

Through the use of search-engine-optimization techniques, they made sure that if you try a Google search of "Iran Holocaust Cartoons" the INA site appears at the top of the page, ahead of any Iranian or Muslim extremist site. It conveys a message about the dangers of hatred to anyone who wants to see anti-Semitic cartoons. Pretty funny.