Post AdHO6EE6aYuebWBZ1k by MagdaTeter@hcommons.social
(DIR) More posts by MagdaTeter@hcommons.social
(DIR) Post #AdHO691Vvws0T1FwCu by MagdaTeter@hcommons.social
2023-12-28T19:22:59Z
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A short thread on the iconography of pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel cartoons that have been published since October 7th, especially in Arabic-language publications but also on social media. This thread shows the Nazi and Soviet roots of this iconography, both had an impact on Arab visual culture and anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli propaganda. Let's start with the image of Jesus as a crucified Palestinian that spread on social media on Christmas. In 1930, Der Stürmer published a cartoon representing Germany as Christ, being crucified by Jews. 1/n
(DIR) Post #AdHO6A7DsD1xr0w0kC by MagdaTeter@hcommons.social
2023-12-28T19:23:48Z
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Here is a comparison of a cartoon from Al-Bilad, November 26, 2023 (Bahrain) with a Nazi publication "Juden über Deutschland"
(DIR) Post #AdHO6B1EVxpkej8k2y by MagdaTeter@hcommons.social
2023-12-28T19:26:46Z
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The ubiquitous imagery showing Netanyahu and Israelis as bloodthirsty and cannibalistic harkens back to the premodern child murder libels that were popularized by the Nazis in the 1930s and 1940s. This Nazi iconography draws on the Nazi use and abuse of premodern history and premodern anti-Jewish iconography. They were always eager to situate their antisemitic ideas in a longer history.Examples here: https://www.adl.org/resources/report/antisemitism-arab-cartoons-during-israel-hamas-war-chronology-dehumanization-jews
(DIR) Post #AdHO6BvF9idXSRLTLk by MagdaTeter@hcommons.social
2023-12-28T19:28:57Z
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The Nazis connected Jews to everything and their imagery is very adaptable. Compare this cartoon of liberty in bondage from Al-Bilad, November 11, 2023 (Bahrain) to the one from Der Stürmer
(DIR) Post #AdHO6D2izODOvvqxeK by MagdaTeter@hcommons.social
2023-12-28T19:30:24Z
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And then there is the antisemitic and anti-Zionist Soviet-era propaganda. Here is a notorious anti-Trostky/anti-bolshevik poster with Trotsky as the devil and cause of mass death. There are other examples that pin mass murders in the SU on Jews, also showing piles of skulls.
(DIR) Post #AdHO6EE6aYuebWBZ1k by MagdaTeter@hcommons.social
2023-12-28T19:33:14Z
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The ubiquitous comparisons between Israel and Nazis, that's also a Soviet invention, as is the comparison of Israeli leaders to Hitler and the competition for the status of the worst leader in the world. These Soviet anti-Zionist tropes emerged after 1967.
(DIR) Post #AdHO6FC0zoppbKDPPM by MagdaTeter@hcommons.social
2023-12-28T19:33:51Z
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Israel as the puppet of the US--that's in the anti-Zionist Soviet propaganda. This is now rare, instead we see more of a reverse, Israel as the sinister manipulator of the world--that goes back to the antisemitic hoax "Protocols of the Elders of Zion"
(DIR) Post #AdHO6GUUAdChctrfpw by MagdaTeter@hcommons.social
2023-12-28T19:36:08Z
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And there is also the use of racist European imagery. Here is a comparison of Netanyahu depicted as a cannibalistic "savage" in the imagery taken directly from European iconographic vocabulary developed for the depictions of "savages" of what we now call the Global South. This iconography has its roots in the early modern period.
(DIR) Post #AdHO6HITAnBc7vFakK by MagdaTeter@hcommons.social
2023-12-28T19:40:06Z
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There is also Soviet propaganda with cultural appropriation of Jewish suffering. This is a cartoon from Al-Sharq with the iconic photograph by a Red Army photographer after the liberation of Auschwitz in 1945, then reimagined in 1970 as anti-Zionist imagery. And now. Here is the original photo and below the photo cropped to the exact frame as the cartoon. end/