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Peace in Gaza

The “peaceful” protests in Gaza have been quite dramatic, with both sides blaming each other for the violence. I thought it would be interesting to draw the peaceful protesters as doves of peace. Those are olive branches in their mouths.

My personal view is that there is no solution to the Israel/Palestinian issue. Someday soon we may look back on these ugly times as the good old days. If I could play God and impose my own peace plan, it would be to force everyone to give up their religion.

When I started this I thought I would draw all of the doves with no pants, Donald Duck style, with bird legs and feet. The problem is that birds have knees that go backwards and it was difficult to put them into the action poses without suffering some strange compromises, so I went with a different compromise: human knees, feet, pants and shoes, and birdie hands on the ends of their wings.

Cartoons about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict often invite angry email. I’ve drawn militant doves before –here’s one that got me lots of angry email …


The angry mail for this one came from Israel supporters who thought the cartoon was anti-semitic because they thought the helmet on the Israeli soldier looked like a German Nazi helmet; they also objected to the Star of David on the helmet, arguing that it signified Jews rather than the complete Israeli flag with stripes, signifying Israel.

Cartoons about the conflict don’t please anybody and are among the least reprinted cartoons –but cartoonists don’t get to choose the news.

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Gaza Missile Defense System

I recently drew this cartoon about the “Gaza Missile Defense System” which got 3,044 shares on my Facebook page – that’s a lot of shares for one of my cartoons.  I guess it struck a nerve.

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In general, American cartoons are supportive of the Israeli side and international cartoons are supportive of the Palestinian side in the conflict, with some of the foreign cartoons getting pretty anti-Semitic.  The theme of Hamas hiding behind babies has been popular among the American cartoonists, with a grand Yahtzee of babies tied to missiles and babies as suicide belts.  Here’s one by Randy Bish.

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Here’s one I drew years ago when Israel was fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon …

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07162014 - GAZA COL 1(My color was pretty lousy in those days, I know.)  The baby-belt theme has been big.

I thought this anti-Israel cartoon (right) by Malcolm Evans in New Zealand was powerful – it brings up the “Jews Killing Babies” anti-Semitic theme in cartoons that has a rich history so it is something that I would have stayed away from, that said, the current circumstances are bringing out a lot of classic, anti-semetic cartoon themes with the international cartoonists.

Among the anti-Israel international cartoons, I thought this David and Goliath cartoon by Mexican cartoonist Dario Castillejos, was a nice, fresh take.

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The theme of a ruined Gaza declaring victory over Israel is another Yahtzee.  Here’s one by my buddy Bruce Plante

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And here’s a stylish match from Arend Van Dam

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I like how the debris is arranged to have little, equi-distant margins around each little piece.

I can see the reader fatigue about Israel vs the Palestinians.  Most readers prefer celebrity cartoons.  When the news turns to international events, most of the cartoon fans turn off – frustrating for the cartoonists who want to draw about “important issues.” I can tell our traffic will be up with the news is about entertainment or sports.  The more turmoil we have in the Middle East, the worse our traffic gets.  Oy.  But don’t miss our great, and little seen, collection of cartoons about the latest Israel/Palestinian flare-up.

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My Solution to the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict

I’m guessing that most people won’t like my solution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict – but, hey, I usually only complain, so here’s a solution. Stop Grousing.

Interesting that the Israel/Palestinian stuff makes readers so angry and makes for lots of passionate comments, but when this topic is featured on Cagle.com it gets little traffic – people want domestic news and celebrity crap.
Beyond the passionate constituencies, I think the Israeli/Palestinian conflict suffers from a weary, disinterested audience-at-large. It may be that the ultimate solution will be that the conflict fades from view, like a TV show that is quietly cancelled without ever resolving the story line.
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Click on my Solution to the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict cartoon to see a bigger version!