I reacted to the most disgusting cartoon published in a small local press. I could no longer bear silent witness.
I wondered what the definition of hate speech actually was and of course there is no clear definition, or international standard. Wiki's entry.
With this summary in hand I had a focus for this posting, or so I thought. In protest of the depiction of Arabs in the most hateful and provocative images imaginable, I would collect the historical evidence of the hateful cartoons that have decorated our media. I would post some of these images.
I would try to provoke the persons responsible for the containment of the current hate speech to draw a line somewhere and stop hiding behind the so-called first amendment right to abuse minorities. We have no such right and I try to imagine what would happen if such cartoons were published today. Actually they are. Anti-gay hysteria is alive and well, and vicious anti-Obama cartoons stand in for blacks everywhere. Or do we pretend there is no racism implied? 
And then. And then in my research I discovered the double standard that Israelis go on about. First this appeared last Sunday: Sunday, 16 September 2012
"An amateur 2012 film titled Innocence of Muslims was produced by Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, an Egyptian-American Coptic Christian. Nevertheless, the Arab world was quick to publish cartoons accusing Israel and the Jews as being behind the film."
Then I read of an International Holocaust Cartoon Contest sponsored by Iranian newspaper Hamshahri. This is the winning entry:
Then, I found Jon Stewart's send up of anti-Semitic cartoons:
The summary of this glancing view of mine is available in this headline and story from the BBC in 2006:
"Contradiction in Arab cartoon views
Blatantly anti-Semitic literature is on sale in Cairo, just like many other Arab capitals. The BBC News website's Martin Patience reports on the apparent inconsistency in the Egyptian reaction to the Danish cartoons caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad."
The story ends with an interview with the shop-keeper:
"Shop manager Mustapha Said insists that he is respectful of all religions including Judaism...He adds that Jews should take to the streets in protest about the Protocols."
There's the picture I want to see. Tens of thousands of Jews rampaging through the streets, burning embassies, killing diplomates. Demanding an end to the double standard, the proliferation of hate, and the scapegoating, the endless scapegoating.
L'shanah tovah!
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