Demonization: Fatah cartoon depicts Israel as a serpentine monster

Cartoon published on the website of the Fatah Commission of Information and Culture

Headline: “The occupation’s barbarity and the racist Israeli colonialism”

The cartoon shows a large serpentine monster with an Israeli flag on it representing Israel. The monster’s body is comprised of houses with red roofs representing “settlements,” and at the base of the houses are briefcases with dollar signs. With its mouth, which is in the shape of the Star of David, the monster is swallowing up buildings with a Palestinian flag above them, including mosques and churches. On the banner is written “#Save the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood,” referring to a Jerusalem neighborhood where eviction notices have been issued to Arab squatters living illegally in Jewish owned properties – see note below. In the upper left corner of the cartoon is written “www.alaraby.co.uk,” indicating the UK-based Arabic news website Al-Araby.

The Sheikh Jarrah protests – Israeli courts have ruled that four Palestinian families living in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem are to be evicted because they are living illegally in properties owned by Jews who were expelled in the 1948 Israeli War of Independence. The Palestinian residents were offered to stay if they would pay rent, but they refused and instead appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court. In April 2021 the planned eviction led to clashes between Palestinian residents and Israeli police, which continued into May and served as one of the pretexts for further violent rioting during the Fatah/Hamas Riot and Rocket War 2021. A hearing scheduled by the Supreme Court for May 10, 2021, was postponed following intensified Palestinian riots and unrest both in Sheikh Jarrah and in East Jerusalem in general.