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| Europe |
| 'Nazi' cartoon causes uproar |
| 2006-05-17 |
| Rome - A cartoon published in an Italian communist newspaper, which compares Palestinian living conditions to Nazi death camps, has provoked the wrath of the Israeli ambassador and a dispute on the Italian left. Ambassador Ehud Gold sent a letter to Liberazione, which the newspaper published on Tuesday, to denounce "the contempt for the Holocaust and the terrible insult to the memory of the victims". The letter demanded an apology for the publication of the cartoons. The incident has also created controversy because the newspaper is the vehicle of the Party of Communist Refoundation (PRC). The PRC was led by the new president of the lower house of parliament, Fausto Bertinotti, until his election on May 6. The cartoon was published last Friday. It shows the gate of a death camp topped with the slogan "Hunger brings freedom" - an obvious allusion to the inscription "Work brings freedom" at the entrance to the Auschwitz Nazi death camp. Cartoon is 'pro-Palestinian' Lawmaker and journalist Furio Colombo, director of L'Unita - the daily paper of the ex-communist Democratic Left (DS) - said the cartoon was "offensive" and repeated "one of the worst cliches about Jews". The PRC and the DS are both part of the leftist majority. Italian newspapers gave a lot of coverage to the incident. Members of Italy's Jewish community denounced what they called "a despicable comparison". They accused the far left of leading a "misinformation campaign" about the conflict in the Middle East. The director of Liberazione, Piero Sansonetti, said the cartoon was "very polemic and pro-Palestinian" but it was not "anti-Semitic". Bertinotti published a statement on Monday, judging it improper to implicate him in the affair. The statement read: "But I think that in these difficult times for cultures and religions to live together we have to avoid all demonstrations, including satire, that could be perceived as offensive by the communities concerned." It's because jews are nazis, don't you know, and paleo are WWII jews. |
| Posted by:anonymous5089 |
| #7 Europeans. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2006-05-17 21:19 |
| #6 More frightening is the implication that Italy, with it's current government, will embrace the jihad to eliminate jews that Pals so worship. Visits to Syria and Iran and welcoming Hamas can't be too far behind as Italy aligns itself in the coming war. Que sera sera. |
| Posted by: Thinemp Whimble2412 2006-05-17 19:10 |
| #5 Put the left into power and all of a sudden the antisemites at the core of the leftist movements feel empowered. Why is there surprise over this? |
| Posted by: Oldspook 2006-05-17 17:16 |
| #4 the problem is not that a private paper published this, but that a party newpaper of one of the parties in the governing coalition published it. Prodi's problem is that his majority is so small, and he relies on a fringe far left party - one rejected even by the ex-communists. |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2006-05-17 13:43 |
| #3 Not mentioned that the Paleos choose of their own free will to live in those conditions while the Jews of the Death camps hardly had a choice in the matter. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2006-05-17 12:25 |
| #2 Ah, yes. Jew hatred is still alive and well in Europe. They will make very good dhimed slaves for their new Islamic masters. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2006-05-17 11:58 |
| #1 well, let this be a lesson to all of us. It's really not cool to go around posting intentionally offensive cartoons. While I think that the uproar and demands for apology only inspire other jerks to seek attention by using offense, ignoring it completely has its own set of problems too. |
| Posted by: 2b 2006-05-17 11:57 |