Israeli cartoonist in hot water over piece depicting Netanyahu as 9/11 pilot

[shira]

Cartoon aims to highlight premier's callousness in plunging US ties into crisis, Haaretz says

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The political cartoonist of Israel's Haaretz daily has been under fire over a satirical piece depicting Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu as a terrorist hijacker navigating a plane into a building in a scene explicitly evocative of the 9/11 attacks.

The cartoon, by Amos Biderman, shows the leader flying a plane labeled with the Israeli flag, while the building has the American flag flying over it.

It is understood the satire was aimed at the "chickenshit" debacle, a scandal that ensued after the Atlantic magazine quoted an unnamed White House official alleging the Israeli premier lacks political courage and branding him with the offensive label. The report, later condemned by the White House as offensive and misrepresenting President Barack Obama's administration's view of Netanyahu, was seen by many as an indication of a nadir in US-Israel ties.

Thus the cartoon implies that by plunging Israel's relations with its critical ally into a deep crisis, Netanyahu is guilty of callous recklessness, if not outright sabotage of Israel's vital interests.

Israeli Foreign Ministry official Paul Hirschson branded the cartoon “gutter press."

more...
http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/49341-141031-israeli-cartoonist-in-hot-water-over-satire-depicting-netanyahu-as-9-11-pilot

[shira]

1. Father of WTC Victim Blasts Haaretz Over Cartoon Showing Netanyahu as 9/11 Terrorist

The father of a young New Yorker who was murdered during the September 11, 2001 terrorist atrocity at the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan has sharply criticized the Israeli newspaper Haaretz for a cartoon published today that displays the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, piloting a plane marked with the word “Israel” into a skyscraper flying the American flag.

Roman Gertsberg, whose 25 year-old daughter Marina was inside the World Trade Center complex when Al Qaeda terrorists crashed two planes into the twin towers, told The Algemeiner, “If this cartoon shows that Israel flies the plane into the World Trade Center, then it is the most ridiculous display I’ve ever seen. Nobody in their right mind should associate Israel with flying a plane into the WTC . It it very offensive to 9/11 families to distort the historical events of that tragic day in order to bring attention to one political statement or another.”

Gertsberg emphasized: “We know who the perpetrators were – Al Qaeda and all their supporters.”

The cartoon, by resident Haaretz artist Amos Biderman, has drawn an angry response since being posted online this morning. Many critics expressed surprise and dismay that an Israeli newspaper would fuel the myth that Israel had a role in the 9/11 atrocity, a favored theme of the so-called “9/11 Truth” movement.

One commenter on the Haaretz website said: “It’s simply unbelievable that you don’t have any shame in comparing Netanyahu to the mass murderers of 9/11.” Another added: “You’re allowed to incite against the sitting prime minister in a much worse way than there was before the assassination of [prime minister Yitzhak] Rabin.”

more...
http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/10/30/father-of-wtc-victim-blasts-haaretz-over-cartoon-showing-netanyahu-as-911-terrorist/

[grossproffit]

2. What a disgusting POS!

Words escape me but my anger keeps me strong.

[Israeli]

3. Responce .....

Amos Biderman's editorial cartoon was a reaction to the current state of mistrust between Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Obama administration, as reflected in Jeffrey Goldberg's story in The Atlantic. Our famed, veteran cartoonist was aiming his criticism at Netanyahu's recent announcements of new settlement expansion plans in East Jerusalem and the West Bank and at his insinuations that America is acting against Israel, depicting them as a wrong turn in Israeli policy that has rightfully elicited strong criticism from Washington. Biderman sought to warn against what he views as a grave threat to Israel, if its leadership continues to escalate its diplomatic confrontation with the United States.

Needless to say, Haaretz deeply honors and respects the memory of American and other victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. We regret any misreading of Biderman׳s image as disrespectful to those who perished or to survivors of this horrible crime.

We reject any linkage between Biderman’s cartoon and patently false, anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about alleged Israeli involvement in the 9/11 attacks. Haaretz has never given any stage to these defamatory libels, which were in no way on the mind of the cartoonist or the newspaper’s editors.

http://www.haaretz.com/1.623819

[oberliner]

4. No, actually this was his response

"I wasn't sufficiently aware of the great sensitivity that 9/11 holds for Americans."

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/1.623690

[King_David]

5. He's in the wrong business I guess

If he was not aware of something like this.