Demonization of Israel is anti-Semitism according to the Working Definitions from the EU and the U.S. What is demonization? What are the Working Definitions? This slideshow answers those questions and features graphic examples from published media of political cartoons that demonize Israel.
4. What is Demonization?
Trying to make someone or a group
of people seem as if they are evil.
Describing somebody/something in
a way that is intended to make
other people think of them as
dangerous.
Marking out or describing as evil or
culpable.
Definitions from Cambridge Dictionaries, The Oxford Advanced
Learner’s Dictionary, and The Collins Dictionary.
5. Demonization of Israel is
considered anti-Semitism
according to the working definition
from the European Union and the
U.S. State Department.
The EU working definition states, in part:
“Contemporary examples of anti-Semitism include,
but are not limited to:
Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or
stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the
power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but
not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish
conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy,
government or other societal institutions.”
6. The U.S. State Department adds the
following in regard to Israel.
The U.S. working definition states, in part:
“Examples of the ways in which anti-Semitism
manifests itself with regard to the state of Israel,
taking into account the overall context could include:
Demonizing Israel: Using the symbols and images
associated with classic anti-Semitism to characterize
Israel or Israelis.”
8. Israel as Moloch the Demon
Horns
Moloch is
gluttonous
and ravenous
Printed caption:
“Germany is
serving. For decades
now, Israel has
been given
weapons, and
partly free of
charge. Israel’s
enemies think it is a
ravenous Moloch.
Peter Beinart
deplores this
situation.”
This appeared in Germany’s most widely-read broadsheet daily
Süddeutsche Zeitung in July, 2013. Moloch was a Canaanite and
Phoenician deity associated with child sacrifice.
9. Netanyahu
Cementing
Peace
Caricature of Prime
Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu
Blood as mortar:
a trope of antiSemitism since the
Passover matza
blood libels
Palestinian
victims
This “commentary” on an Israeli election appeared in The Sunday Times
(UK) on Holocaust Memorial Day, January 2013.
10. The Gaza Flotilla
“Human
rights”
under
attack
Big nose
Bloody
knife
Anti-semitic Israel
trope:
as a
worldNazi
spanning
entity
grip
Tentacles spell out message in Arabic
Images of Israel as a monster proliferated across the Internet in the wake
of the Gaza flotilla in 2010. Pro-Palestinian activists worked feverishly to
present Israel as the aggressor, even depicting Israel as holding a bloodstained knife. In reality, the “activists” on the ship were the ones holding
bloody knives.
11. The Jews as Monsters
A horrific satire published
by Norwegian daily
Dagbladet in May, 2013.
One panel from the ongoing
full-length comic book series,
“Foreskin Man.”
Modern anti-Semitic images are not limited to demonization of Israel.
Some demonize the Jews collectively. The above cartoons present the
Jewish ritual of circumcision as a barbaric practice carried out by fiends.
12. Demonization in the Arabic Press
Bullets
as
blooddripping
fangs
Some of the worst examples of anti-Semitic images today appear in the
Arabic language press. The above appeared in al-Balad, the second most
popular newspaper in Lebanon, in 2010.
13. What You Can Do
Click
here
Demand that all media outlets publicly adopt the EU and
U.S. definitions and stop the demonization of Israel.