Toon rage in Norway

olmert sniper
This time it’s the Jewish community which is up in arms over an “offensive” cartoon. Actually “up in arms” may be putting it a bit strongly, as there has been no rioting, death-threats, or embassy-torching in response to the publication of the cartoon which depicts Israeli PM Ehud Olmert as the infamous SS Major Amon Goeth, who used to amuse himself by sniping at random Jews from his balcony in the Paszow death camp. Instead they have launched a ferocious letter-writing campaign.

The Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet (isn’t that a Deputy Dawg cuss-word?) featured the caricature by Finn Graff on July 10. It echoes the scene from Schindler’s List.

According to the BBC, the editor of Dagbladet said the caricature was “within the bounds of freedom of expression”. Israel’s ambassador to Norway disagreed, saying it went beyond free speech, and would be open to prosecution in some countries.


4 Responses to “Toon rage in Norway”

  1. Stuart_D says:

    In some countries, not Israel apparently, deliberately targetting non-combatants with cluster-weapons and chemical weapons would leave Olmert open to prosecution. He and his cohort are as much war criminals as any WWII Nazi.

  2. […] Against the background of the ongoing conflict between Hezbollah, Israel and the rest of Lebanon, Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet published a cartoon by Finn Graff on July 10 which depicts Israeli PM Ehud Olmert as the infamous SS Major Amon Goeth, who used to amuse himself by sniping at random Jews from his balcony in the Paszow death camp. […]

  3. Regardless of the idiocy of their government – and I know I wouldn’t like people to judge Britons by Tony Blair at the moment – the ability of the Jewish community to resist the urge to act like crazy fucks seems ever-more startling and wonderful in this day and age.

  4. martyn says:

    “In some countries, not Israel apparently, deliberately targetting non-combatants”

    The good old US of A have a long history of deliberately targetting non-combatants, from Korea, Vietnam to the present day.