On 25 May, Palestinian terrorists in Gaza detonated an explosive-laden donkey cart close to the border with Israel, killing the animal but causing no human casualties. This is not the first time that Palestinian terrorists have used live animals in bomb attacks.
The incident prompted the following cartoon from the pen of New York Times syndicated cartoonist Jeff Danziger:
Danziger’s cartoon is simply wrong for a number of reasons:
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Israeli jets did not attack Gaza in retaliation for the donkey bomb, as the cartoon’s by-line suggests. The Israel Air Force did, however, respond to the firing of two mortar shells that hit near Ashkelon the same afternoon as the donkey bomb.
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Danziger, of course, fails to acknowledge the four rockets and mortars fired from the Gaza Strip in the past week alone, hitting Israel. In fact, approximately 50 rockets have landed in Israeli territory since the beginning of 2010, and over 330 rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel since the end of Operation Cast Lead.
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In response, the IAF struck a terror tunnel in the northern Gaza Strip and a terror tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip. The tunnels were dug one kilometer from the security fence and were intended for infiltrating into Israel and executing terror attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers.
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So, while Palestinian terrorists blow up defenseless animals in an effort to indiscriminately kill human beings, the Israel Air Force destroys terrorist infrastructure in pinpoint strikes with no human casualties.
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Israeli responses are exactly that – responses that only come after a Palestinian act of violence. The Palestinians clearly do not share the cartoonist’s view of the balance of power, otherwise they would not initiate violence against Israel.
Is this Jeff Danzinger’s skewed take on a “disproportionate” Israeli response?
Please send your considered comments to your local newspaper if it has reproduced this cartoon. You can also contact People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) calling on the organization to protest the Palestinian use of animals in terror attacks.
