Tag Archives: Arab

Arab Terrorism and Israeli Cartoons

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There are many ways to laughing at ourselves. One of them is dark humor: if your life is in hell or if you feel miserable have a good laugh and perhaps you feel better.
 
The dark humor of  “Ahmed and Salim“, a South Park-style cartoon that makes fun of Palestinian terrorists, is supposed to mock terrorists without ridiculing Muslims, and may  provoke your uproarious burst of laughter, boosting  your blood stream to such a degree that your health will only benefit from it.
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The Israeli team Tom Trager and Or Paz create this provocative humoristic animated web series, describing the life of an Arab arch-terrorist and his two sons ‘Ahmed and Salim’.  Their web sitcom is becoming increasingly popular with surfers, while at same time stirring much controversy,  see here.
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 Well the United Arab Emirates officials have blocked the Israeli-based cartoon Ahmed and Salim from showing on YouTube in that country. Nothing new about that, see here. They blocks anything from Israel, a true Pavlov reflex.
 
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 Tania Tabar’s article “Israeli ‘South-Park’ style cartoon mocks Arabs” was published by Menassat, a Lebanese site. The verb ” to mock” is a trap of pejorative meanings. And indeed, the author in his indirect way, quickly take advantage of that , to show us that dark humor, despite being directed only against Arab terrorism, is synonym of global racism against all the Arabs in the world…Nothing new about that either, see here. I hope that  the learned author didn’t mean that all the Arabs are terrorists..?
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 But if we want to delve into carton dark humor, then the omnipresent Google search provides us with his statistical insight about the verb “to mock”.  The phrase “Cartoons mocks anyone” in Google’s search,  outputs,  that mocking Arab terrorism is not only their  privilege but that anyone mocks  anyone and anything… not a great surprise.
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 The first 20 entries, from1,050,000 entries in 0.29 seconds, upgraded our knowledge with titles like” Iranian TV Mocks U.S., Britain“, “Washington Post Cartoon Mocks Pentecostal Speaking in Tongues“, “ Crude Palestinian Cartoons Mock America“, “Christians AGAINST Cartoons“… to cite only a few, until the last unknown entry.
 
So the Israeli team’s contribution is only a drop in the sea of mocking cartoons. A Palestine blogger, Sameh Akram Habeeb, suffering from a mysterious blindness about what dark humor is declare  “These videos are dangerous and full of lies”…”I’ve never met someone like the cartoon character of Ahmed and Salim’s father. And of course, the authors never once mention the existence of thousands of Palestinian prisoners. “…see here.
 
To this can only be said that I too didn’t met such a real character. They live only in the realm of dark humor, made in Israel by Tom Trager and Or Paz. Only there you met them, ridiculous… or as they said.. ”  if you can take a good look at them without being afraid. Ahmed and Salim are just two nice naive kids who are just trying to make their terrorist father happy. ” see here.
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Their real counterpart, a relative small group of Palestinian terrorist live in our real live, hiding in their own natural darkness. To  perpetuate their terroristic goals they dond’ need any sense of humor. …, and as to the Palestinian prisoners: don’t do terrorism and there will be no need to imprison them, mister Habeeb.
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Aderet, Israeli Transsexual Singer, awarded ’12 Points’ by Lebanon

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More often than we think, new connections between Jewish, Israeli and Arab people, create their own unique interferencing waves, reverberating in their own space and leave the Israeli Arabic conflict behind them. Look at the Israeli Transsexual singer Aderet on top of the Lebanese song chart, (Jun 27, 2008).
 
Who is Aderet? Is she the new Dana International. I don’t know. Is she a good singer? Well her trance song “Say No More“ raging on top of the famous “Beirut Nights“ radio station, indicate that many people in Lebanon and among the Lebanese diaspora like her hypnotic rythms.

 What is the magic a broadcaster in Beirut pick out an Israeli song to air for a Lebanese audience?
 
 Well first of all chance  “We found out they were playing my music by chance,” the 32-year-old Aderet said on Wednesday.”  But chance has to be consolidated, so:  ” Aderet’s management sent..’Say No More’ the lead single off her first English-language album, Jewish Girl, along with a remix by DJ Dvir Halevi to the Lebanese station.”… 
…” ‘They added the remix to the playlist and a few days later, it was at the top of the most played list’ said Aderet, ‘They know I’m an Israeli singer, and that it’s an Israeli song.’ She continued, ‘It feels great, it’s a big honor for me and makes me so happy that they let a 100 percent Israeli song to be played and to top their playlist without letting politics interfere.’ ” see here.

Sami,  a representative of Beirut Nights, says “We grew up in Beirut listening to Ofra Haza and Ishtar Alabina. We play Aderet, but also Dana International, Sarit Hadad, and DJs Yahel and Ofer Nissim. It’s not a policy because there is no policy, it is just music. You shouldn’t make a big deal about it, because it might hurt us since we are surrounded by fanatics who ultimately have no place in Lebanon.”…, see here

 And the past is always present,  remembering when the ‘fanatics’ where the Lebanese authorities, pulling Lebanon out from the 2005 Eurovision song contest because of Israel’s participation, and preventing the participation of their own talented singer Aline Lahoud with her song “Quand tout s’enfui“, see here.

In our era of ‘King Internet’, the very nature of his infrastructure, permits a new musical hide and seek game of crossing and re-crossing the Israeli Lebanon’s ether border: each radio station has the possibility to make his own ‘Eurovision’ song contest.

So the conclusion should be, let the the singers sing their songs, while their fans and their audience gather under the overall protection of ‘King Internet’ . Under his auspice, two weeks ago, the Israeli trance singer Aderet was awarded ’12 points’ by Lebanon.

German Chancellor Merkel in Israel

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Awagne 1943 WW2

I publish on my blog a page of comics drawings called “The DailyComics Dream“, where I tell in short graphical episodes what happens to me under the Nazi occupation of Belgium in WW2 . With this context in my mind, I see the today  visit, in Israel, of the German chancellor Merkel accompanied by seven ministers from her cabinet, as a surrealistic historical meeting.

Merkel and Olmert in the ‘Hall of Remembrance’

PM Olmert and Chancellor Markel in the ‘Hall of Remembrance’ at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.

I quote from the Israeli press,

..”Merkel and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert chaired a joint session of members of their respective cabinets, at which both governments signed off on a range of projects, including in education, the environment and defense. The security cooperation agreement signed between Defense Minister Ehud Barak and his German counterpart Franz Josef Jung includes joint military training projects. “…”Germany already has similar arrangements with France, Italy, Spain, Poland and Russia, while it was the first time Israel entered into such an agreement.”.. see here.

the two governments hold a joint meeting

Barak and Franz Josef Jung defence ministers

Ehud Barak and Franz Josef Jung Israeli and German defence ministers.

I quote from From the German press via Ynet,
…”The influential Frankfurter Allgemeine ( in German) stressed the “cordial relations” between Israel and Germany, while the pro-Israel Berlin-based Die Welt stated that the relations “have never been closer, and Israel has never been under a greater threat.”….”The Der Spiegel daily referred to Merkel’s visit as “unique” and noted that Germany holds government-level meetings with only five other countries, all members of the European Union.”…” A number of German reporters told Ynet that Merkel’s visit will make headlines on Tuesday, when she is expected to address the Knesset in her native tongue”…see here

Madame Kelner in Awagne 1943 WW2

Now look at this excerpt,
…”Jordan’s largest political party, the Islamic Action Front (IAF), lashed out Monday at Merkel’s remarks on solidarity with Israel, warning she was creating “enmity” with the Arab and Islamic worlds.’… “Germany has no record of enmity with the Arabs, but Merkel is now involving Germany in enmity with the Arab and Islamic peoples and her remarks will encourage the Zionists to commit new crimes” against the Palestinian people, Hikmat Rawashdeh, senior official at the IAF Executive Bureau said in a statement.’… “It is illogical to see the German sin complex towards what the Zionists allege as holocaust find expression in an unjust bias against the Palestinian people, who themselves have become the target of another holocaust as a senior Israeli official put it recently,” Rawashded said.

“If the Germans have committed a sin against the Jews, they are now committing a big crime when they support the expulsion of a people from their land and placing killer gangs in place of them,” he added.”…see more.

The Jewish holiday of Purim commemorating the deliverance of the Jewish people (in the old Persian empire) from Haman’s plot to annihilate them, as recorded in the Biblical Book of Esther (Megillat Esther) falls on March 20, 2008. According to the story, Haman cast lots to determine the day upon which to exterminate the Jews.  Well the Persian Empire has his modern counterpart: Ahmadinejad’s Iran and ‘Friends’….Not much has changed.

WW2 The SS in Awagne 1943

Dangerous Lingerie Under the Veil in Syria

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Islamic veils does not prevent  Arabic women from normal human behavior. A symposium hold on August 24, 2007 (Khatt Kufi Kaffiya | Symposium on Arabic Visual Culture, see here), shows Arab lingerie in Syria.

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(Syrian Lingerie – Image for the publication “The secret Life of Syrian lingerie: Intimacy and Design” This book will be published together with Scalo Publishers by the end of 2007. Photo by Omar al-Moutem)

  “The Arab street – its vibrancy, innovativeness, traditions of design and contemporary expression – has been obscured by geopolitical issues. Any attempt to deviate from the established line that the region is a place of war, religious fundamentalism or terrorism becomes virtually impossible particularly within the context of mainstream Western commercial publishing.”

  “My recently co-edited books, The Secret Life of Syrian Lingerie, with Rana Salam, Transit Tehran – Young Iran and Its Inspirations, with Maziar Bahari, and Kaveh Golestan – Recording the Truth in Iran, with Hengameh Golestan, provide ample examples of the challenges facing books that show a different side of the Middle East.”

…..”However a more insidious problem exists. Books on the Arab and Iranian street, showcasing authenticity, are almost impossible to get published”…See more.

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In an article ‘What lies beneath’ by Malu Halasa , published in the ‘NEWSTATESMAN’ on the  05 June 2006, I read:

“Syria – A conservative culture has produced some of the world’s most explicit – and bizarre – lingerie, as Malu Halasa discovers… In Damascus, sex is rarely discussed in public. Yet veiled women regularly appraise the contents of window displays featuring feathered bras, knickers and one-piece crocheted bodysuits with”…see more 

lingerie3

lingerie3

Update.

Lingerie Laws – Men Banned From Selling Lingerie in Sharjah, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait…”Ultra-conservative countries have passed new laws barring men from working in lingerie shops. Only women can be hired as salespersons and shops who fail to comply are being shut down”…..”There are similar rules for Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, however, shopkeepers complain that it is difficult to find women salesmen for the job in such a conservative atmosphere. (lingeriemagic.org) “, (see more).

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Fitnah Lingerie in Damascus see here.