Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Holocaust cartoon winner


Winner of the International Holocaust Cartoon Competition, sponsored by the Iranian newspaper Hamshahri in response to the publication of 12 cartoons mocking/denigrating Mohammed in a Danish newspaper in Sept 2005.

Statement of the artist, Abdellah Derkaoui :

"I want to express my total heartfelt sympathy with the millions of Jewish victims of the Holocaust who suffered the greatest crime against humanity under the Nazis. Nobody can deny that more than six million people were massacred during the second world war by the devil Hitler and his Nazi henchmen. But the question for me and for so many others is why the Palestinian people have suffered from so much pain, and massacres, and why they continue to suffer in the current situation.

As a citizen of Morocco it is my deepest conviction that Jews are my brothers; Jews have lived with us in peace and tolerance as fellow citizens in Morocco for 2000 years. I remember that in World War II, Morocco did not cooperate with the Vichy government of France when the King of Morocco stood up to the German demands and refused to send thousands of Moroccan Jews to the German concentration camps. I am proud of Morocco for taking this noble stand. I am proud of Morocco which has been and will be tomorrow, a place of tolerance between Jews and Muslims, who will live here together like brothers."

Link : BAGnewsNotes

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

As I recall, the purpose of the contest was to point out the west's hypocrisy regarding freedom of speech.

And it was roundly condemned for being a cover for holocaust denial.

So where was the coverage of the cartoonist's statement?

Mike said...

Nice catch Alison.

Anonymous said...

Strange ambiguity to that image.
Which side of the wall is Israel on?

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