Palestinian Cartoons

(December 5, 2005)

Omaya Joha is a Palestinian cartoonist who enjoys great popularity among Palestinians and other Arabs. Politically, she is aligned with Hamas . Her husband, who died in a firefight with IDF soldiers in 2003, was a high-ranking Hamas terrorist-operative. This cartoon appeared in the PA's official newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda (November 18, 2005). The cartoon shows an Israeli soldier with a Magen David (Star of David) on his helmet, his features those of a classic Der Stürmer Jew. He is holding a bloody scythe, the symbol of the Grim Reaper, and stepping over a pool of blood marked “Iman al-Hams;” next to his head are an arrow and the word “innocent.” The cartoon refers to the acquittal of an IDF officer accused of repeatedly firing into the lifeless body of Iman al-Hams, a 13-year old Palestinian girl, and is the exploitation of a tragic event to spread hatred for Israel and the Jewish people.