Hamas apologizes for Jew-rapes-West Bank cartoon
Hamas tweets cartoon
of Jew raping woman ("West Bank")
then forced to apologize as cartoon
depicts woman unwilling to fight the Jew
Cartoonist's replacement image shows
Jew stabbed and killed by "West Bank" Hamas woman
by Itamar Marcus
Hamas publicized on its twitter account this cartoon depicting a long-nosed Jew raping a woman in yellow, the color of Fatah, who is named "West Bank." At the same time, the Jew is shooting her two children. A policeman next to a sign "West Bank [Palestinian] Authority" is standing by idly, smoking a cigar and ignoring the rape and murder. A man across the border, next to a sign "Gaza," stands on a helmet dripping with blood from a killed Israeli soldier, and calls to her:
Man from Gaza:
"West Bank, get up and defend your honor and your children!"
Woman in yellow ("West Bank"):
"Yes, I would like to, but I have no permit."
[Twitter account of Al-Risala (Hamas news source), July 31, 2015]
The cartoon outraged the PA and generated anger in the Palestinian street. Hamas was forced to remove the cartoon from its twitter account and apologize, while the cartoonist, Bahaa' Yassin removed the cartoon from his Facebook page and replaced it with a modified version that is actually a continuation of the first one.
A second woman with the words "West Bank" written in green, the color of Hamas, stabs the Jew in the back in the center of the "Star of David" and kills him. The new "West Bank" woman holds the knife dripping with the Jew's blood, then rebukes the first yellow (Fatah) woman, who is now renamed "[Palestinian] Authority".
Hamas woman to PA-Fatah woman:
"I will attain what my children deserve and what you deserve, [Palestinian] Authority of shame."
The cartoonist added this text beside the visual:
"This is the West Bank that I know."
Text on the policeman's post now reads:
"Security Cooperation Position"
[Facebook page of cartoonist Bahaa' Yassin, Aug. 1, 2015]
This is a reference to the security cooperation between the Israeli army and the PA.
In the second version, the cartoonist differentiates between the population of the West Bank which he supports, because they fight and kill Jews, and the Palestinian Authority which he still disdains.
Palestinian Media Watch notes that we have not found any condemnation of this second cartoon in which the Jew is stabbed in the back and killed, nor of the antisemitic depictions of the long-nosed Jewish rapist and of the Jew as a child-killer in the first cartoon. The condemnation only focused on the depiction of the West Bank as submissive to Israel.
Hamas, emphasizing that they were not critical of the West Bank population but only of the PA, published two new cartoons on its twitter account honoring the West Bank for its violence against Israel. The first shows an arm named "West Bank" holding the arm labelled "Gaza," both with green bands representing Hamas, while Gaza launches missiles into Israel.
The text: "Twins in resistance."
[Twitter account of Al-Risala (Hamas news source), July 31, 2015]
The second cartoon shows a female kicking a loathsome looking Jew between the legs, along with the text: "The Intifada of the West Bank."
[Twitter account of Al-Risala (Hamas news source), Aug. 1, 2015]
To the right is a depiction of what seems to be Israel having relations with the Arab regimes, (the "conquered regimes"), who are often criticized in the PA media for ignoring the Palestinians. (We write "seems" because the twitter post is very blurred and the letters are not clear.)
The following are excerpts of some of the reactions to the cartoon of a Jew raping "West Bank":
"[Hamas] Media agency Al-Risala published a clarification regarding the cartoon tweeted from its twitter account... [Hamas Media agency] Al-Risala emphasized that the cartoon and the cartoonist who drew it are not associated with the agency, and that an apology was tweeted immediately after by the same account."
[Al-Risala website (Hamas news source), Aug. 1, 2015]
The cartoonist himself also apologized for the publication of the cartoon:
"Bahaa' Yassin, the cartoonist who sparked a debate over the last few days, apologized for his actions... The social network is still raging with reactions that criticized the cartoon, which caused the Ministry of Interior in Gaza - run by the Hamas movement - to announce that it intends to 'take legal action against this cartoonist, who harms our people, its culture, its resistance, and its struggle.'"
[Al-Quds Al-Arabi (London newspaper), Aug. 4, 2015]
Headline: "Cartoonist that harmed the [West] Bank arouses the anger of the residents of Gaza"
"The Palestinian journalists' union expressed dismay yesterday [Aug. 1, 2015] over the cartoon drawn by cartoonist Bahaa' Yassin, and censured it. [The caritoon] was posted on the Twitter page of the Al-Risala newspaper, and very severely harmed the holy sites of our people, its unity, and its symbols."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 2, 2015]