Death Potato, Death Potahto

You can’t win commenting on the current war between Israel and Hamas. If you criticize Hamas for being terrorists as they are, you’ll be attacked for ignoring the brutal Apartheid-like treatment that Israel’s government has been delivering to Palestinians. And if you do bring up Israel’s treatment of Gaza and the West Bank, then you’ll be called out for playing whatabout to defend terrorists.

You can both-sides it and say killing children is bad, war is bad, dying is bad, and war, huh! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing. Good god, y’all. That’s the safe route and it’ll probably get you published more, but it’s also wimpy commentary from those lacking backbones.

The safest tactic is to be on Israel’s side unconditionally. The Onion recently did a piece of satire on it that’s more truth than satire. No, not its recent article that sitting in a barrel of water is the best way to put out a fire on your ass, though that is also true. No, I’m talking about its recent article with the headline, “The Onion stands with Israel because it seems you get in less trouble that way.” If you don’t believe that’s true, ask British cartoonist Steve Bell who was recently sacked after working 40 years for the Guardian newspaper because he drew a cartoon about corrupt Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu.

Notice what I did there? I said “corrupt” to describe Netanyahu. That’s an offense that can get the charge of antisemitism leveled at me despite the fact it’s true. C’mon, people. Even Israelis don’t like Bibi, those antisemitic Israelis.

I was accused of supporting Israel’s harsh treatment of Palestinians by an idiot on TikTok for my cartoon on Elon and Hamas Over on DailyKos, the same cartoon incurred the wrath of uber Liberals who claimed it was Islamophobic. Usually, the racist comments for me are on GoComics by MAGAts accusing me of hating white people. It’s true. White people can really piss me off.

After a missile hit a hospital in Gaza that was also offering shelter from…wait for it…missiles, Israel was blamed immediately. Every government in the Middle East blamed Israel for the strike. Al Jazeera put its journalism integrity aside for a day to blame Israel, using terrorists as their only source. Israel denied it was them and claimed it was a failed missile from a totally different Islamic terrorist group, the Islamic Jihad something or other. President Joe Biden says he has seen the intel and believes it was from the Islamic Jihad, not Israel. Although, the intel he’s seen was provided by Israel.

The spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Force said it was a failed strike at Israel from the Islamic Jihad dudes that blew up the hospital, and that Israel would never target civilians but when they do make mistakes, they own them. Well….sometimes it takes them months to own them.

Israeli forces have killed at least 20 journalists since 2001 in Gaza and the West Bank. Apparently, they’re not much better shots than the Islamic Jihad. In 2022, they killed Palestinian American Shireen Abu Akleh, a reporter for Al Jazeera, while she was reporting from the West Bank. It took Israel four months to “own” that murder which they initially denied. Whoever it was in the IDF who killed Akleh has not been prosecuted. Israeli soldiers usually get a pass when they kill journalists. So far in this war, which is only a little over a week old, there have been 17 confirmed killings of journalists in Gaza, Israel, and Lebanon.

So yeah, you can’t trust bloodthirsty rapey kidnapping murderous terrorists when they say they didn’t bomb a hospital, but you also can’t trust the Israeli government when they claim they didn’t kill innocent civilians.

The ground I’m standing on is this: Hamas may consist of Palestinians, but Palestinians are not Hamas. The Israeli government may be almost completely Jewish, but Jews are not the Israeli government. I will criticize terrorists even if you claim it makes me Islamophobic (it doesn’t), and I will also criticize governments whether it’s Russia’s, our own here in the good ole U.S. of A, or the ones in Israel and Egypt that’s been blockading Gaza since 2007. Accusing me of antisemitism won’t make it true.

The Israeli blockade of Gaza doesn’t justify Hama’s terrorist attacks, its kidnappings, its rapes, or its murders. And the election of Hamas in 2007 didn’t justify Israel’s blockade of Gaza. It’s a repetitious cycle that ultimately leads to no one being able to win by criticizing either side, no matter how honest you are.

So go ahead and scream at me for this cartoon. It comes with the territory.

Signed prints: The signed prints are just $40.00 each. Every cartoon on this site is available. You can pay through PayPal. If you don’t like PayPal, you can snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402. I can mail the prints directly to you or if you’re purchasing as a gift, directly to the person you’re gifting.

Notes on my book, Tales From The Trumpster Fire: There are 19 copies of my book in stock, which go for $45.00 each, signed. Also, I have copies of my first book from 1997, Knee-Deep in Mississippi available for $20.00.

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