Book review of my new cartoon book "He's an Anti-Zionist, Too!" (Daled Amos)

By Daled Amos, to be published in The Jewish Press

When I wrote a review in 2022 of Elder of Ziyon's first book Protocols: Exposing Modern Antisemitism, I noted that beyond his clarity and conciseness in debunking anti-Israel claims, there was an element of innovation in his blog. 

Anyone familiar with Elder of Ziyon's earlier articles is familiar with his "Apartheid" posters, debunking claims of Israeli apartheid by revealing the wide acceptance of Arabs in the Israeli army, judiciary, and news programs as well as across the spectrum of Israeli society. Before that, Elder of Ziyon often quoted old articles from the original Palestine Post (which later became the Jerusalem Post) to refute anti-Israel claims. He also searched through online Arabic websites and uncovered stories no one else was reporting, such as when he revealed that on their website, Hanan Ashrawi's group Independent Commission for Human Rights (Miftah) claimed that the Passover blood libels were actually true.

To defend Israel, we need to approach the lies and the hate from new and different angles. 

Now, Elder of Ziyon has been adding his own political cartoons to his blog to make his point. This month, he is coming out with a collection of those cartoons. He explains in the introduction to his new book, He's An Anti-Zionist Too!:

Let’s face it, in today’s world people want bite-sized information. Anything longer than a couple of paragraphs is only read by us old fogies.

He points out that in addition to being more concise than articles, another advantage of cartoons is their ability to ridicule their targets.

Many of the cartoons are re-drawings of the original copyrighted cartoons, others are taken from public domain comic books, and for the last couple of years, Elder of Ziyon has been using AI tools.

Elder of Ziyon's cartoons lampoon a variety of targets:

o Antizionism/antisemitism o  BDS
o  College Protests
o  Democratic Party
o  European Union
o  Human Rights Groups
o  Iran Deal
o  J Street 
o  Jewish Progressives
o  Jewish Voice for Peace
o  Media Bias
o  United Nations

There are 2 basic styles of political cartoons. One relies on visual metaphors and caricatures. Think of Thomas Nast, the famous political cartoonist who originated the donkey as the symbol of the Democratic Party and the elephant as the symbol of the Republican Party.

 Nast's cartoons were instrumental in the arrest and conviction of Boss Tweed.

The other cartoon style gets its point across with the addition of text. Think of Yaakov Kirschen's Dry Bones.

Elder of Ziyon's cartoons use text, not metaphor, to make his point. They are reminiscent of Ami Horowitz's films, showing up and mocking the worldview and claims of Israel's adversaries themselves.

An article on the history of editorial cartoons notes that political cartoons "have the power to deflate hubris, uncover deceit, incite revolution, dethrone a bully."

And Elder of Ziyon is just getting started. 

(Link to the book on Amazon)

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Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon! Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.  Read all about it here!