Today is Friday. it's Cartoon Day here in Israel--just for you.
Some weeks just aren't good weeks for a cartoonist. Sometimes, there's simply not much in the news that lends itself to a cartoon. Other times, there's too much to 'cartoon' about.
This past week in Israel was an incredible week for cartoonists. They didn't have to pull any hair out thinking of what to draw.
For example:
-There was a huge dust-up over a US official (here at the US Consulate in Jerusalem) announcing that he would not cooperate with Israeli officials over a planned Trump visit to the Western Wall; he said he would not cooperate with Israel because, as he put it, 'the Western Wall wasn't in Israel'. This assertion created outrage in Israel, mostly because the comment took Israelis by surprise: no one in Israel knew the Western Wall had moved.
Part of that consternation was, in a Muslim Middle East, really now, where exactly does a Jewish religious icon belong? More significant, where would such a massive (hundred-ton+) Jewish icon go to?
Israelis didn't know. The US Consulate here didn't care. Lots of us were ticked off, to say the least.
Cartoonists in Israel could have a proverbial 'field day' with such a dust-up.
-As the week headed to its close, more and more stories appeared about the impending Trump visit. Everyone here is certainly excited, and for many, that excitement was framed by a simple question: HOW THE H*LL AM I GOING TO GET TO WORK ON MONDAY AND TUESDAY?
I put that statement/question in caps because of how news surfers here have reacted to the list of street closings that will occur in Jerusalem on May 22 and 23, 2017. The list, for Jerusalem, is as long as your arm.
Well, maybe that's not exactly true. That list is as long as a newborn's arm--or something like that. The list includes lots of 'main' routes people take as they drive to work.
Here's a news story about the road situation. I believe the story gives the impression one can make one's way through Jerusalem if one follows the recommendations listed. Then you get to the last paragraph. Take a look. The story is from arutzsheva (some of the highlighting is mine):
Trump visit:
List of Jerusalem roads to be blocked
US President Donald Trump to visit Israel next week; many roads in nation's capital to close.
Contact Editor
Mordechai Sones, 18/05/17 14:36
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Taking it in stride
צילום: Nati Shohat/Flash 90
Police today (Thursday) published a list of routes to be blocked next week in Jerusalem on the occasion of US President Donald Trump's visit to Israel.
On Monday:
At 12:00 the following streets will be blocked:
- Derech Hevron;
- David Remez;
- King David;
- Jabotinsky;
- HaNasi;
- HaAri;
- Gaza;
- Herzog;
- Nayot;
- Bezeq;
- Baitch;
- Herzl;
- Yad Vashem.
Police recommend the following alternative routes:
- Begin;
- Herzl Blvd. to Begin south;
- Haim Barlev to Agron;
- Ben Zvi to Rabin.
Between 13:00-15:30 the following streets will be blocked:
- Herzl;
- Bate;
- Bezeq;
- Nayot;
- Herzog;
- Gaza;
- HaAri;
- HaNasi;
- Palomar;
- King David;
- David Remez;
- Derech Hevron;
- Hativat Jerushalayim;
- Jaffa Gate;
- Batei Michseh;
- Ma'aleh HaShalom.
Police recommend the following alternative routes:
- Begin;
- Haim Barlev until Yitzhak Kariv;
- Derech Hevron until Miriam HaHashmonait;
- Emek Refaim until David HaMelech;
- To Begin from Ben Zvi and from Herzl Boulevard
- HaNevi'im.
At 18:30 the following streets will be blocked:
- Agron;
- Keren HaYesod;
- Jabotinsky;
- Balfour;
- Smolenskin;
- Keren Hayesod;
- Palomar;
- King David.
Police recommend the following alternative routes:
- Ramban;
- King George until Paris;
- Haim Barlev;
- Ben Zvi;
- Nevi'im.
On Tuesday
At 08:30 the following streets will be blocked:
- King David;
- David Remez;
- Derech Hebron;
- Manachat.
Police recommend the following alternative routes:
- Agron;
- Haim Barlev;
- Jaffa Gate;
- Derech Hevron until Miriam HaHashmonait;
- Keren Hayesod;
- Emek Refaim.
At 11:15 the following streets will be blocked:
- Derech Hevron;
- Ma'avar Rachel until Hebron Road.
The police recommend the following alternative routes:
- Haim Barlev;
- Begin;
- Harel route;
- Derech Betlehem;
- Emek Refaim;
- Keren Hayesod;
- Ramban.
On Monday and Tuesday
Between 8:30-12:00 the following streets will be blocked:
- Gihon;
- Tzruya;
- Ein Rogel towards Derech Hevron;
- Derech Betlehem from the Paz station northward;
- Train station towards the north.
As a result, from Derech Betlehem, traffic will be diverted via Carmia and Lloyd George to Emek Refaim. Residents of Abu Tur will be directed to Naomi Street and from there they will head south to Derech Hevron, northward through Givat Hanania to Malach b'Lavan and from there to Cabiya northward.
Smaller local streets in these areas themselves may be open, but access may be impossible... [emphasis mine].
---
Can't you see a cartoon about that?
-The very fact of Trump's visit meant a cartoonist would be free to comment on Trump's domestic problems just as he chooses to fly (run away?) to the Middle East.
Given his supposed troubles back home, Trump has got to be a cartoonist's dream subject.
Then, there were stories coming out of Washington about the trip. These stories were almost always from an 'anonymous' Administration source--and they drove Israelis nuts with frustration--against Trump. For example, unnamed sources were quoted as saying:
-Trump will ask Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to implement a 'settlement curb';
-The White House was furious at a prominent Israeli politician (Minister Naftali Bennett) after Bennett demanded the US should move the US Embassy to Jerusalem;
-Trump wasn't going to allow Netanyahu go with him on his visit to the Western Wall.
-A White House video, meant to promote Trump's first official trip abroad, showed a map of Israel--without the Golan Heights or Judea-Samaria.
-Trump cancelled a visit to an ancient Jewish fortress, Masada.
Any one of these 8 (by my count) items contain an idea for a cartoon.To have 8 such sources for cartoons in a single week must have been either overwhelming--or completely joyous-- for a cartoonist. What a week!
For today's Friday's cartoon, I choose the first item--the Western Wall dust-up. I think cartoonist Shlomo Cohen of israelhatyom truly captured a real truth concerning that 'not in Israel' comment about our Western Wall. Take a look:
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| Shlomo Cohen, israelhayom, May 18, 2017 |
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