‘Funny’ Anti-Gaddafi Cartoons Reveal Rebel Racism, Anti-Semitism
In late February, back at the outset of the eastern Libyan rebellion against the rule of Muammar al-Gaddafi, I pointed to visual evidence of anti-Semitism and/or “anti-Zionism” among the protestors who provided the initial face of the rebellion vis-à-vis the outside world. Although there were already hints, it was only somewhat later that it became generally clear that the “opposition” to Gaddafi was in fact armed. In the meanwhile, of course, the United States and some of its European allies have entered the fray on the side of the rebel forces, and American and other Western media have become firmly installed in the rebel capital of Benghazi.
As a result we have much more visual evidence than two months ago. Numerous Western media outlets — including the New York Times, National Public Radio, Foreign Policy, and The Telegraph — have indeed run features on caricatures of Muammar al-Gaddafi created by supporters of the rebellion. The caricatures have been painted directly on walls or drawn on paper and attached to them.