Israel

Shireen Abu Akleh

Shireen Abu Akleh was an esteemed American-Palestinian journalist who was killed earlier this week in the West Bank city of Jenin, where Israeli forces have been making military arrests and raids.

Abu Akleh was a reporter for Al Jazeera who’s been reporting for the past 25 years on Palestinians living under Israel’s military occupation. Millions watched her report the news on TV on a near-nightly basis. She should have been allowed to do her job, not murdered for it.

Shireen Abu Akleh is an icon in the Middle East and foreign journalists who report there hold her in high esteem as well. Now, Arab journalists are staging sit-ins around the world in protest of Israel and wanting her death covered. Qatar lit up a building in her image. Nearly every cartoonist in the Middle East has covered her death (and I may be the first in the United States). Newborn daughters are being named after her. She has become a symbol of Palestine.

Israel’s first response to news of her death was to publish a video of a Palestinian gunman shooting indiscriminately from inside the Jenin refugee camp, blaming Palestinians for her death. The only problem is she wasn’t anywhere near that location.

Israel’s usual strategy for explaining its killing of civilians is to deny and deflect. They often blame Palestinians for the Israeli Defense Forces’ murder of Palestinians. They will claim the civilian they killed was in the same area as terrorists. Or, they’ll claim the civilian was a terrorist. Israel bombed an 11-story building last year which housed Palestinian media networks and the Associated Press but justified it by saying it was being used by Hamas.

After Israel published their video blaming Palestinians for shooting Abu Akleh, Al Jazeera posted footage showing Abu Akleh face down on the ground in a less built-up area and her colleagues trying helplessly to reach her as bullets continued to fly. The word “PRESS” was visible in large letters on her protective gear. Her producer, Ali Samudi, who was also shot, said, “We saw the soldiers in the area and there were no Palestinians there. The soldiers were about 150 meters away….I did not see who was shooting, but I see from where the bullets coming. They coming from the area where the soldiers. There were no fighters in the area.” 

Two hours later, a local researcher for the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem filmed a video geolocating the clip of the Palestinian gunmen in the Jenin refugee camp, hundreds of yards and several turns away from the spot where Abu Akleh was killed.

Israel backtracked and Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz told reporters he was very sorry “for what happened.” Israel wants all the forensic evidence so they can “investigate,” but the Palestinians don’t trust them. Israeli minister Diaspora Minister Nachman Shai said, “Israel’s credibility is not great in situations like this.”

Last week, The International Federation of Journalists, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS), and the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians filed a formal complaint at The Hague for Israel’s “systematic targeting of Palestinian journalists.” An estimated 50 Palestinian journalists have been killed since 2000, according to the PJS.

This morning during Shireen Abu Akleh’s funeral service, Israeli police teargassed the crowd, fired flash grenades, and used batons to beat the people carrying her coffin. They’re still working on that credibility.

When Vladimir Putin’s government kills a journalist, we call it out. We condemned Russia for the death of Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski last March covering the war in Ukraine.

When Mohammed bin Salmen had Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi murdered and his body sliced up into multiple pieces with a bone saw in the basement of Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Turkey, we condemned it and demanded accountability. At the time of Khashoggi’s murder, we had a president (sic) who deflected for MBS. Recently, Trump’s goon son-in-law, who never asked questions or demanded justice for the murder, got a huge financial reward from MBS. This is what happens when you put people into power who don’t respect democracy or press freedom.

Al Jazeera is calling out western media for its coverage of Abu Akleh’s murder. They’re accusing western media of “whitewashing” the story and shying away from implicating Israeli forces in her death.

Beth Miller, the political director of Jewish Voice for Peace, slammed the New York Times for a headline that said Abu Akleh “dies at 51”, without mentioning the cause of her death. Bassam Khawaja, the co-director of NYU Law’s Human Rights and Privatization Project, tweeted: “‘Dies at 51’ is a really strange way to say a journalist was shot in the head.”

The Associated Press, the BBC, and other western news outlets have been accused of taking the Israeli narrative, that Abu Akley was killed by “random” gunfire. Even after being bombed by Israeli forces, the AP still carries the Israeli Defense Forces’ water. ‘Tis but a scratch.

We’re always cautious with the Israeli government, a caution we don’t have for Saudi Arabia or Russia. But it’s not antisemitic to call out a corrupt government that murders journalists just like it’s not Islamophobic to call out Saudi Arabia’s monarchy for butchering a Washington Post reporter. It doesn’t mean you hate Russian people by being against poisoning journalists or throwing them off buildings.

As a political cartoonist, I recognize we cartoonists stand on the shoulders of journalists like Shireen Abu Akleh, who put her life in danger to report the news. Journalists should be protected by governments while they do their jobs, not murdered by them.

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.

Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.

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Hamas To Bibi

Cjones05202021

Like Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu is desperate to cling to power and he’ll do so through violent means. Other than losing power if he leaves office, like Trump, Netanyahu faces possible prison time for corruption. Trump mostly created boogeymen out of thin air while Bibi actually has one in Hamas, who are very willing to play the part.

Israel has had four elections over the past two years with Netanyahu barely clinging to power while failing to put together a government. Fighting Bibi also helps keep Hamas in power on their side. Netanyahu is the boogeyman to Palestine. Voters normally doesn’t remove a leader during wartime.

Hamas was formed with a “death to Israel” mantra. Bibi has always operated with a “death to Palestine” philosophy and has adamantly refused to include Israeli Arabs in his government. Israel has always been a U.S. ally, but during the Obama administration, Netanyahu treated our president as an enemy. With Donald Trump, he found a nationalistic hateful partner. There were no real attempts by the U.S. and Israel to negotiate in good faith with the Palestinians during the Orange Shitgibbon era. Moving the U.S. embassy squashed any chances of that.

Israel is an Apartheid state. Even when it’s not being bombed by Israeli airstrikes, Gaza experiences power outages daily between eight to twelve hours. The Gaza Strip has been under a U.S.-led economic boycott since 2006. The strip is 25 miles long and seven and a half miles wide. It’s the third-most densely populated area in the word and an Israeli buffer zone leaves a lot of the land off limits to Palestinians. The population is not allowed to leave or enter the strip or import and export goods, but the Israeli military is free to enter at will. Gaza is dependent on Israel for power, water, telecommunications, and other utilities. The people in Gaza are second-class citizens living in poverty. The Israeli government, Netanyahu in particular, does not care about them.

To preserve its Jewish majority in Jerusalem (which is not in Gaza), with both Israel and Palestinians claim, the Netanyahu government was preparing to evict up to a thousand Palestinian families from the holy city. This is what Jared Kushner would call a real-estate deal. After weeks of clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli police, Hamas started firing long-range missiles at Jerusalem and other cities. In response, Israel has hit Gaza with airstrikes.

Neither Hamas or Netanyahu refrain from hitting civilian targets. Even if Hamas only aimed at military targets, their rockets are wildly inaccurate. Over the weekend, Netanyahu hit a building containing offices for news outlets which he has justified. Hitting news outlets with air strikes is probably something Donald Trump would be down with.

The Associated Press reports that at least 200 Palestinians have been killed in the strikes, including 59 children and 35 women, with 1,300 people wounded, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Eight people in Israel have been killed in rocket attacks launched from Gaza, including a 5-year-old boy and a soldier.

At some point, Hamas will stop firing rockets and Israel will stop delivering airstrikes…until next time. Netanyahu and Hamas will both cling to power while using the other to do so. This conflict will continue indefinitely. I hate to be negative but I don’t ever expect to see a change.

Note: I am appealing, but this cartoon has already been removed by Facebook and my account has been suspended for 24 hours. I’ll update if there is a change to that.

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 9103, Fredericksburg, VA 22403. 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: I have Three copies of my book in stock, which I’m selling for $45.00 each, signed. Also, I have copies of my first book from 1997, Knee-Deep in Mississippi available for $20.00.

Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 9103, Fredericksburg, VA 22403.

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GRRRRRRRRReat Peace Negotiator

Cjones05162021

Do you remember the TV show “Finding Bigfoot?” In case you never saw it, it was about four morons traipsing through the forests of America looking for a creature that doesn’t exist. I didn’t see every episode, but of the few I did see, I never saw them tell a witness that their experience probably wasn’t a bigfoot encounter. Anytime a “witness” told them they heard some rustling in the woods, these “Squatch” experts would always say some shit like, “From my many years of squatching, it sounds like you definitely, positively, indeedly, and absolutely had a bigfoot encounter.” Never mind the fact there are animals in the woods that are known to make noises.

These guys, and one skeptical female, have been “squatchin'” for over three decades which they feel qualifies them as experts at finding bigfoot despite the fact (spoiler alert) they never do find a bigfoot.

The TV show ran on Animal Planet for nine years. Nine freaking years and not one bigfoot. Hell, not even a littlefoot. They never found any mermaids, unicorns, leprechauns, Loch Ness monsters, or fiscal Republicans either. But these guys should go ahead and build an institute for finding bigfoot where they can explain the techniques to finding bigfoots, their habits, traits, what kind of food they eat, their mating habits, and why they refuse to sit still for photos…even though none of them has never actually seen a bigfoot. The closest thing this nation’s ever seen to a skunk ape is Donald Trump and that skunky-bleached thing on his head.

They can build the Institute for Finding Bigfoot next to Jared Kushner’s Institute for Peace.

Yes. Jared Kushner, the same Jared Kushner who was appointed by his father-in-law to solve the conflict between Israel and Palestine, is building an institute that will follow his leadership on bringing peace to the Middle East. Has anyone asked people in Israel and Palestine lately, “Are you tired of winning yet?”

With Israel and Hamas attacking each other and rockets landing everywhere, buildings collapsing, and children dying, where’s Jared? I thought Jared fixed this.

Jared recently wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal giving advice to President Biden on how to bring peace to the Middle East, which is confusing because I thought Jared had already done that.

Jared wrote he “set the table” to “unleash the Middle East’s potential, keep America safe, and help the region turn the page on a generation of conflict and instability,” and if Joe Biden was “smart,” his administration would embrace the opportunity created by the Trump administration.

Yeah, if you’re smart, you’ll listen to Jared, who was also put in charge of our immigration crisis at the border, the opioid crisis, justice reform, and he was the liaison to Mexico, China, and the U.S. Muslim community. He was also in charge of the heat lamps keeping all the Big Macs toasty every time a sports team visited the Trump White House.

Donald Trump put Jared in charge of resolving the decades-on-top-of-decades conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Jared, being a trust-fund baby and real-estate guy who actually sucks at real estate, thought the conflict was merely over real estate…and then helped Israel further its expansion into Palestinian-held areas. He thinks it’s all about real estate and all the real estate belongs to Israel. They also though moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem would solve the crisis and be welcomed by the Palestinians.

Donald Trump actually believed Jared was the right man for the job, despite not having any experience with diplomacy or foreign policy, because he’s Jewish…and there has never been anyone Jewish working on peace in the Middle East.

Jared did bring peace between Israel, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates Republic, two nations Israel has never been at war with. Jared may as well have negotiated a peace deal between Israel and Iceland. He struck a deal with Saudi Arabia that now allows Israeli planes to fly through Saudi air. He also negotiated personal business bailouts from Qatar which some people may refer to as a “bribe.”

The Israel-Palestinian conflict wasn’t mentioned with the “peace accords” between Israel and nations it’s never been at war with, but Jared did address that issue by saying the problem could be solved if Palestinians could just stop being angry with Israel. My god. He is a genius.

Now, if we put Jared in charge of finding that Houston tiger, he’ll probably come back with a ferret he painted stripes on. We could even put him in charge of finding bigfoot. After all, we’ve already seen him in photos with a bleached skunk ape.

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 9103, Fredericksburg, VA 22403. 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: I have Three copies of my book in stock, which I’m selling for $45.00 each, signed. Also, I have copies of my first book from 1997, Knee-Deep in Mississippi available for $20.00.

Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 9103, Fredericksburg, VA 22403.

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Drippy With Bibi

cjones12012020

There is no law prohibiting the United States government from assassinating foreign leaders and officials. There is an executive order issued in the 1970s by President Gerald Ford that has been upheld by every American president except Donald Trump, though to be fair, Trump probably isn’t aware of it. But that order isn’t enough to stop our government from murdering people overseas. Have you see Osama bin Laden around lately?

In the 1980s, Reagan had our military bomb Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s tent. A tent. If he wasn’t the target, what did we think was in that tent threatening the United States? As it turns out, Gaddafi’s 6-month-old daughter was in the tent…or she wasn’t…or she wasn’t even his daughter. Information from the 1980s Libyan government is sketchier than a Rudy Giuliani Dildo-store-parking-lot press conference.

During our war with Iraq in 1990/1991, our second war with Iraq in 2003, and all the military strikes in between, our government never officially targeted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. But we did target his many houses, mansions, palaces, compounds…whatever you want to call them. The reasoning being given was that he may have been storing chemical weapons inside his homes, like you would keep weed killer in your garage. If one of those strikes had killed Saddam, then we could have said it was just a lucky coincidence. Even when we did catch him, we handed him over to a government we knew would kill him. There are western nations that refuse to hand over any prisoners to any nation if there is a possibility they will receive a death sentence.

Israel is not one of those nations either except they probably wouldn’t extradite anyone. They’d just kill them themselves. In fact, Israel had a practice of kidnapping people on foreign soil, dragging them back to Israel without the host nation being aware, conducting a trial of the suspect, then killing them. Do you know who else goes overseas and kidnaps people? North Korea and the United States. We took the leader of Panama and today, he’s rotting in a Florida prison. Hey, we didn’t kill him. North Korea just nabs people…or they murder them in airports on foreign soil.

To be fair, Israel wasn’t just grabbing ordinary civilians off the streets and throwing them into unmarked vans. They were grabbing Nazis hiding in South America. I am fine with going to Argentina and grabbing Nazis off the street and throwing them into unmarked vans then having them taken to Israel to stand trial. But to be honest, I don’t think anyone accused of being a Nazi is going to received a fair trial in Israel. If you were accused of being a Nazi, you wouldn’t any Jews on the jury except Stephen Miller.

That doesn’t make me anti-Israel…but people will say I am for this cartoon. Any time you criticize Israel, you’re often accused of being anti-Semitic. And our nation rarely criticizes Israel. The nation of Israel basically has a free pass with the U.S.

I’m criticizing Israel like I criticize the United States. What, am I anti-American now?

Foreign policy experts warn of our enemies engaging in bad behavior between the time of an American presidential election and a new administration taking over. Will Russia invade the rest of Ukraine? Will North Korea attack South Korea? Will Iranian-backed terrorists strike an embassy? Will South Korea unleash more anti-Trump TikTok videos? Will Canada increase imports of their cheese? Will the Prime Minister of Denmark laugh at pictures of Trump at his tiny desk? But…what happens when our allies take advantage of us during a presidential transition?

Last week, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who once led Iran’s military nuclear program when they had one, was assassinated. Who did it? Nobody has taken credit. And, neither Israel or the United states has issued a denial. There hasn’t even been an official, “Don’t look at me. I was at home washing my hair.”

Israel has been accused of assassinating Iranian scientist in the past. What would they have to gain by doing it now? It creates another headache on day one of President Joe Biden’s administration. Already, Iranians are burning pictures of Donald Trump and Joe Biden in the streets of Tehran. Biden isn’t even president yet but they’re extending blame to him. And if they think Israel did it, then why are they mad at us? Because we coddle Israel and support their actions like this. Hell, we probably paid for the bullets and explosives used in the act.

Iran is blaming Israel, but they know the United States has already killed one of their generals this year. So if they retaliate against us and it’s proven later we didn’t have anything to do with the killing of the scientist, Iran won’t lose any sleep over it. We’re still the Great Satan. If nothing else, we boasted about killing that general so I’m sure Donald Trump couldn’t have been silent over murdering an Iranian nuclear scientist.

Trump would have tweeted, “Best scientist murder ever. People are saying it’s nothing that’s ever been seen before. Obama never killed such important scientist. Sleepy Joe would have only sniffed the scientist’s hair.”

The other thing Israel gets out of this is that it hurts our negotiating position when we resume peace talks preventing Iran from having nuclear weapons. We had a deal and it was working. Donald Trump removed us without any reasoning other than catering to his right-wing base and Israel didn’t like the treaty. The treaty kept us out of war with Iran. Israel views a war between the United States and Iran in their best interest. The Israeli government will not mind us spilling our blood in their national interest.

And when it comes to dealing with the incoming administration, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has congratulated Joe Biden…we just don’t know what for.

Bibi tweeted, 12 hours after U.S. media called the election for Biden, “Congratulations @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris. Joe, we’ve had a long & warm personal relationship for nearly 40 years, and I know you as a great friend of Israel. I look forward to working with both of you to further strengthen the special alliance between the U.S. and Israel.”

So, what did he congratulate them for? Netanyahu is playing it safe and parsing his words. He’s congratulating his old friend while not angering Donald Trump…which has to be one of the most ridiculous positions a foreign leader feels he has to take. It’s also cowardly. Wait until Bibi finds out his dogs are German Shepherds.

Shortly after the mysterious congratulatory tweet to Biden, Bibi tweeted a thank you to Donald Trump without mentioning the fact Trump is a loser who will be leaving the White House very soon.

Joe Biden has to come in and fix things Donald Trump has fucked up. He has to work on our immigration policies. He has to clean up a lot of bullshit funding for Trump’s racist border wall. He has to get us back into the Paris Climate Accords. He has to fix the treaty with Iran that made the world a safer place. He has to smack Putin around a little just so he knows his place. He has to remove us from Kim Jong Un’s butthole. He has to get our allies to stop laughing at us. He has to repair our relationship with NATO and show the world we favor our allies over dictators. And eventually, he has to declare Canadian cheese is not a threat to our national security. And now, he has to include crap Netanyahu is doing.

Israel may not be to blame…but they probably are. If they were a true ally, they would have waited until Joe Biden was in office. He wasn’t even receiving security briefings that president-elects usually receive. Those didn’t start until today. I predict Israel and Iran will be mentioned in every briefing Biden receives between now and the end of his presidency.

We give Israel over $3 billion a year. Unlike other nations where we give aid to in quarterly installments, we give our yearly donation to Israel all at once and at the beginning of the year. We give Israel more than we give to sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean combined. And when we give money to Israel, they turn around and put it into New York Federal Reserve so it can start earning interest immediately. We have to borrow to give Israel this money which means we spend over $100 million paying interest on it. And our aid to Egypt and Jordan is contingent upon their treaties with Israel. Our aid to the Palestinians is so they can rebuild their communities after Israel destroys them with weapons we paid for. Additionally, Israel can and has blocked our sales of weapons to other Middle East nations while selling weapons to China that can be used against us…and they do this without telling us.

And then, they murder top officials in nation’s hostile to the U.S, dragging us into their bullshit. And they’re our friends?

One thing President Joe Biden should do, which he won’t, is cut the amount of aid we give to Israel.

Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 9103, Fredericksburg, VA 22403. And since someone asked this morning, yes. You can still get a signed print for $40.

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Money For Corruption

cjones12282019

The argument doesn’t work anymore.

But like most of Trump’s arguments and excuses, the lie that he withheld military aid from Ukraine because he had to make sure the new administration wasn’t corrupt is totally bogus. Trump himself made it clear it wasn’t working when he changed the excuse to withholding the money because Europe wasn’t contributing enough.

Even after Trump withheld the aid, his White House was scrambling to find an excuse to explain it and researching to see if the move was even legal (that’s in case the coverup doesn’t work). After all, Congress had already appropriated the funds to Ukraine and the Trump administration had informed them TWICE before the phone call with that nation’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, that the funds, nearly $400 million, had been released. Even Mitch McConnell was scratching his ass wondering what the hold up was.

After the funds were finally released, the excuse was Trump was finally satisfied that Zelensky could be trusted. Some Republicans claimed it was because Democratic Senator Richard Durbin had threatened to block $5 billion in funding to the Pentagon if it wasn’t released. Closer to the truth, Trump and his goons learned about the whistleblower complaint and knew the proverbial shit was about to hit the fan. It’s also why Trump made sure to say to his ambassador to the European Union on a recorded call, “no quid pro quo.” He also said, “ixnay on the orruptionay.”

The explanation that we can’t give military aid to corrupt nations doesn’t fly when you look at the facts concerning Israel.

Israel is the largest beneficiary of aid from the United States, receiving nearly $3 billion a year annually since 1976. While Donald Trump is dicking with $391 million to Ukraine meant to aid fighting off an invasion by his pal Vladimir Putin, Israel, headed by Trump’s other pal, Benjamin Netanyahu, has received over $121 BILLION since World War II. That’s a “billion” with a “b.” You don’t hear any Republicans asking how that money is being spent.

You can bet your ass no Republican, and most Democrats, for that matter, would withhold funding to Israel, even with a sitting indictment against Netanyahu on charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. But like all things with Israel, they are an exception and questions aren’t to be asked. If you do ask, especially against a conservative prime minister loved by Republicans, you’ll be accused of being antiSemitic. Never mind the fact that Netanyahu has been indicted by his own government.

The guess this means the state of Israel is antiSemitic.

The thing with Trump, and to a larger extent, his personal goon Rudy Giuliani, is that they were checking to see if Ukraine’s Zelensky was corrupt. For Trump, the more corruption the better. Just ask Bibi.

Support the cartoonist.

You can help me continue to create cartoons, blogs, and videos by making a contribution. All support, large and small, is greatly appreciated. You can also support me by purchasing a signed print (8 1/2×11) for $40, or a signed poster (18×24) for $100 by clicking the PayPal button (just include a note if you’re purchasing a print). If you want to support but don’t want to use PayPal, you can send a contribution through the mail (address is on the contact page. Again, include a note for a print). I don’t plan on going anywhere and your support will help guarantee that. Whether you support, can’t. or just choose not to, please know that I am truly thankful that you visit my site and read my work.

You can purchase a signed print of this cartoon.

New Book: Tales From The Trumpster Fire

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Ring-a-Ling Zelensky

cjones10012019

Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, is about to learn the hard way that everything Donald Trump touches…dies.

Zelensky ran on a campaign of fighting corruption. So imagine his horror when the transcript of his phone call with Donald Trump was released exposing him patronizing Trump’s conspiracy theories as well as expressing a willingness to assist Trump in bringing down his political opponents.

In case you’re a Republican, accepting help from a foreign government in your election is illegal. Hell, Mike Pence knows it. During his vice-presidential debate with Tim Kaine, he made a passionate argument that foreign governments can’t be involved in our political campaigns. But then again, Mike Pence has abandoned a lot of his previous positions to serve Trump.

Zelensky stated yesterday that he wasn’t pressured by Donald Trump to investigate the Bidens, who have not been implicated in anything corrupt in Ukraine. But the transcript shows there was intense pressure from Trump. Trump stated the U.S. has been very good to Ukraine but it hasn’t been reciprocal. As Zelensky talked about purchasing anti-tank missiles, Trump pivoted to asking for a “favor.” Yes, he used that word. Then, he dived into the Biden conspiracy, asking for it to be investigated. Zelensky made it clear that he had talked to Trump’s private lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. Trump asked him to speak with him again and that he’d also connect him with the U.S. attorney general, William Barr.

OK, two things. Why is Trump’s personal lawyer acting as a government lawyer and why is the attorney general acting like Trump’s personal lawyer? Despite being mentioned in this conversation, William Barr is not recusing himself from any of the investigations. This is not fighting corruption. This is corruption.

What really came to a shock to many in Ukraine was Zelensky’s statement, “The next prosecutor will be 100 percent my person.” Prosecutors in Ukraine, much like the attorney general in the U.S., are supposed to be independent, not anybody’s “person.” Zelensky’s got some ‘zlaining to do.

Zelensky’s best defense will be to argue that he was patronizing Trump because that’s every nation’s strategy that wants something from the United States. Kiss Trump’s ass and flatter his ego. Zelensky did that earlier in the call by saying he used some of Trump’s campaign techniques for his own campaign. His best bet will be to say he was agreeing with Trump without any intention of following through because there’s nothing really to follow through with, unless they make some crap up.  There isn’t any dirt on Biden. There’s no there there, as Republicans like to say.

Joe Biden called for a Ukrainian prosecutor to be removed. It’s argued that he wanted him removed because the prosecutor was investigating his son, Hunter Biden. That’s not true. The prosecutor had actually dropped an investigation into the company where Hunter was on the board. Hunter Biden himself was never being investigated. The position to remove the prosecutor wasn’t just Biden’s. It was the position of the United States and the European Union. In fact, those fighting corruption in Ukraine wanted the prosecutor removed.

The question to ask Trump and every other Republican is, what are you investigating? Are you investigating that there needs to be an investigation? I mean, what did Hunter Biden do? What criminal act is there? Can you at least make something up other than screaming he’s corrupt? Seriously, pay attention to what they’re saying on the news. What you’re not hearing are actual allegations.

Trump’s defense here is that he engaged in corruption to root out corruption. Now, most Republicans are saying there’s no “quid pro quo,” despite the fact there doesn’t have to be (even though in the phone call, there is).

Several Republicans are arguing that by releasing the transcript of the phone call, other foreign leaders will be hesitant to talk to Trump out of fear the conversations won’t be private. So the argument is, they’re afraid to talk to Trump because he’s stupid and corrupt and he’ll drag them down with him? The truth is, that stupid ship sailed and sank around the time Trump gave away classified information to Russians in the Oval Office. Classified information he acquired from an ally…and then gave to an enemy. Yeah, methinks the trust in Trump went bye-bye a long time ago.

If world leaders don’t know they can’t trust Trump, then they shouldn’t be leading their nations. Quite frankly, nobody should be as dumb as the United States to place an idiot like Donald Trump at the head of their government…except the United Kingdom, oh, and Israel.

I hope Zelensky has call waiting.

Support the cartoonist.

As I noted in a previous cartoon, these are perilous times for political cartoonists. But you can help me continue to create cartoons, blogs, and videos by making a contribution. All support, large and small, is greatly appreciated. You can also support me by purchasing a signed print (8 1/2×11) for $40, or a signed poster (18×24) for $100 by clicking the PayPal button (just include a note if you’re purchasing a print). If you want to support but don’t want to use PayPal, you can send a contribution through the mail (address is on the contact page. Again, include a note for a print).I don’t plan on going anywhere and your support will help guarantee that. Whether you support, can’t. or just choose not to, please know that I am truly thankful that you visit my site and read my work.

You can purchase a signed print of this cartoon.

Watch me draw.

Wag The Bibi

cjones08242019

This cartoon will not be in The New York Times. Not that I’ve had a lot of cartoons in that publication, only two that I recall, but after their international edition ran a cartoon of Benjamin Netanyahu as a long wiener dog leading a blind Trump, the Times banned all political cartoons from all of their editions.

Critics howled that the cartoon was anti-semitic. In response, the Times buckled, apologized, and even cut ties to two freelancers, Heng Kim Song and Patrick Chappatte, who had contributed two cartoons a week for 20 years. These two cartoonists lost their jobs for a cartoon that neither of them drew. The offending cartoon was actually created by Portuguese cartoonist António Moreira Antunes. Despite banning all cartoons, the Times still intends to submit graphic entries for the Pulitzer Prize.

But with the events yesterday, maybe Antunes had it wrong. Bibi isn’t the dog leading a blind Trump. Trump is the dog leading a blind Netanyahu.

Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, two Muslim women representatives in the United States Congress had intended to visit Israel. Despite their criticisms of the government’s treatment of Palestinians and a call to boycott the nation, Israel said they’d be welcome. Israel is a democracy and democracies encourage freedom of expression. But then Trump crapped out a tweet.

Trump tweeted that Israel would be showing “great weakness” if the nation allowed the congresswomen to visit. Omar and Tlaib are two of the four members in “The Squad” who racist Trump said should “go back to where they came from,” despite three of them being born in the United States (Omar was born in Somalia and came to the U.S. as a refugee).

After Trump put pressure on Netanyahu, Israel barred both from entering the country citing a law that prohibits anyone from entering who has called for boycotts of the nation.

The White House claimed Trump didn’t urge the Israeli prime minister to bar the representatives, but his tweet is proof that is a lie.

This morning, Israel reversed its decision and decided to allow Tlaib to visit her family in the West Bank under a “Humanitaria pass.” Tlaib has declined saying she won’t make the trip “under these oppressive conditions.” With Omar still banned, Tlaib is showing dignity and morals in refusing to go, two qualities Donald Trump lacks. In case it was in question, now we know those are two qualities Netanyahu also lacks.

Israel’s ambassador to the U.S. said a month ago that the representatives would not be barred as a sign of respect for the United States Congress, as Omar and Tlaib are duly-elected representatives. Trump and Netanyahu have a long way to go in learning about respect.

Interestingly enough, Netanyahu was not barred from speaking before Congress in 2015 to denounce the Obama administration’s plans for a nuclear treaty with Iran. Republicans worked out the arrangements and didn’t inform the Obama administration until the invitation was being sent. Netanyahu doesn’t want to give Omar and Tlaib the same courtesy the Obama administration gave him. In the past, our support for Israel was nonpartisan. Republicans and Netanyahu worked to make it partisan. Trump, who says Democrats “hate” Israel, is more than happy to do the same.

Republicans are also showing that once again, they are consistent with being inconsistent. They got upset whenever Obama commented on matters that didn’t involve him like when a black professor was arrested by a white cop for entering his own home, but are silent when Trump attacks a black NFL player who kneels during the national anthem. The inconsistencies extend to foreign relations too, as Republicans were critical when Obama expressed opposition to Brexit, but now they’re all quiet about Trump barking orders to Netanyahu. They have also been silent about the incoming Trump administration communicating with Russia about sanctions from the Obama administration between the 2016 election and Trump’s inauguration.

Who visits Israel is not Trump’s business. But, Donald Trump is petty and will go to any lengths to hurt his enemies. He even said Omar and Tlaib “hate” Israel and Jewish people.

Someone will say this cartoon is anti-semitic because, for Republicans, any criticism of Israel is anti-Jewish. These are the same people silent over Trump’s dog whistles about “globalists” and his retweeting anti-Semitic tweets with the Star of David (which he defends as a sheriff’s badge) over stacks of money. Once again, Republicans are consistent at being inconsistent.

I’m not afraid of criticizing Netanyahu. He’s a crook who’ll probably be in prison sooner than later. Hopefully, the same fate awaits Trump. If you have a problem with me criticizing Bibi, bite me.

Woof.

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Stepping Out In Jerusalem

cjones05192018

So, what’s the most fashionable brand of designer boots to wear at a bloodshed of your father’s creation?

I’m sorry. That’s not entirely fair. Ivanka was not at a bloodshed of her father’s creation. She was at a party sixty miles away celebrating the cause of it.

Why was our representation at the opening ceremony for the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem Ivanka and Jared? Kim Jong Un sent his sister to the opening ceremony of the Olympics because North Korea is a tyrannical regime run by a family. Is that what we’re becoming? If there’s something significant, the president sends his children as if we’re some banana republic run by a tin-pot dictator. It’s bad enough Steve Mnuchin and an anti-Semitic pastor was there.

While the trust fund babies were celebrating the opening, Gaza was burning. Over 50 Palestinians were killed protesting the relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Ivanka, Jared, and Mnuchin were indifferent and obtuse to the violence and deaths because of this action. Everybody, smile, wave, and look pretty…except Mnuchin.

The White House blamed the deaths on Hamas, thus endorsing the shooting of protesters as many were taken out by snipers. Israel has an apartheid policy toward Gaza and most experts believe the area will be unlivable in the coming years if it’s not already.

Moving the embassy has taken the United States out of the peace talks in the Middle East. The rest of the world refuses to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and consider it occupied territory. Moving the embassy has taken us from an honest broker to one who has taken sides.

Trump sycophants are clamoring for him to receive a Nobel Peace Prize for scheduling a meeting with North Korea, yet his decision to move our embassy to Jerusalem has actually cost lives. Donald Trump finally has blood on his hands, proving he’s not just a danger to the United States but to the rest of the world. Trump has not brought peace to the world. He’s only brought more violence. Trump’s policies kill people.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not a man who wants peace. He campaigned for this move, uncaring about the coming violence knowing it would probably only kill Palestinians. He’s eager for a war between the U.S. and Iran and has done all he can to make it happen. The man is fear mongering and lying about Iran’s ability to create a nuclear weapon while Israel is a nuclear state that has never allowed international inspections.

Jared, who can’t get a security clearance, is in charge of bringing peace to the Middle East. His presence, along with Ivanka’s, is just a display that nepotism reigns in the United States government, not experience or qualifications.

Trump took us out of the Iran Nuclear Treaty, brought death to Gaza, and will not take that Midas touch to negotiations with North Korea. I only have one question.

What will Ivanka wear to a nuclear Armageddon?

Here’s the video.

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Classified Pain In The Butt

cjones05272017

I want to play poker with Donald Trump. The man does not have a poker face. He has a Cheeto face, but not a poker face. If you ask him if he wants to call your raise he’d tell you that he doesn’t have a full house.

There’s been a lot of talk in the news how Russian spies can hoodwink Americans to become moles without their ever knowing it. I would be very skeptical of that if we weren’t talking about the sort of people Trump hires, and even Trump himself (who has hired a lawyer to defend him from impeachment and charges of colluding with Russians…who has worked for Russians). Have you seen an interview with Carter Page? That guy couldn’t pick a number between one and three. The Russian spies even described Page as an idiot while they were attempting to recruit him, which is what made him a juicy target.

When news broke that Trump gave highly classified information to the Russians there was speculation that the intel was provided to the United States from Israel. There was concern the Russians could figure that out, and even who the agents are gathering the intelligence. It was never reported that Trump told them it came from Israel.

So naturally while in Israel Trump told the entire world that the intel came from the Israelis. He wasn’t even asked when he told the press that he never mentioned Israel to the Russians. Israeli prime minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu has found himself in the same position as Republicans. He has to smile and support a man to get what he wants while trying to ignore the fact that the man is an idiot.

While on his tour of the Middle East and Europe, foreign leaders and diplomats have been coached to flatter Trump. They’re to compare him favorably to Obama and compliment him on his electoral victory. The man is a pushover.

Donald Trump isn’t just simple-minded enough to manipulate, for our friends and foes alike. He’s not just dangerously insecure and intellectually ill-equipped to do his job. He can’t keep his mouth shut. Along with those high negatives, Trump puts his ego over national security.

Donald Trump is a national security risk and it’s time for America to fold this hand and move on. He’s a pain in the ass. Just ask Bibi.

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Falling On Netty And His Little Broom Too

cjones12272016

After the United Nations Security Council voted 14-0 to condemn Israel for continuing to build settlements in East Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “friends don’t take friends to the Security Council.” As Vincent Vega said to Butch in Pulp Fiction, “I’m not your friend, Palooka.”

Netanyahu was so upset over the vote that he summoned ambassadors from the voting nations that have a diplomatic presence in the Jewish state to give them an official scolding. He’s even accused the Obama administration, which could have vetoed the ruling but instead abstained, of orchestrating the vote.

It would take a lot of orchestrating to convince fourteen nations to give your country an international lashing. The nations of China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, Angola, Egypt, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Senegal, Spain, Ukraine, Uruguay, and Venezuela were unanimous that Israel needs to stop building settlements on territory claimed by the Palestinians. When 15 nations are against you, you might be the on the wrong side.

The land in question was taken in the Six-Day War in 1967. The Geneva Convention forbids building settlements on land taken in war. Israel’s continued defiance of international law puts them in the pariah type of company of Iran and North Korea, except no one really gives Israel a hard time about possessing nuclear weapons.

In 1947 Jerusalem was intended to be an international area administered by the United Nations. Jordan captured the Eastern half with Israel taking the West. Israel captured the East in 1967 and later declared the city as their capital. You can see how that can peeve everyone off and be an obstacle to a two-nation state solution. Other nations do not recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital as it violates international law, but Donald Trump is promising to do so and to move our embassy to the city while stating he’ll create peace between Israel and Palestine. That’s going to be interesting.

Trump doesn’t realize he’s not actually president yet and he’s stepping on Obama’s toes in several matters including this one. Before the vote he Tweeted that the U.S. should veto the resolution and afterward sent another tweet stating that the UN “is just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time.” The ironic thing is he sent that tweet from his Mar-a-Lago golf club.

Another case of irony in this is Netanyahu’s statement about our friendship. This is a guy who spoke before the U.S. Congress, without an invitation from the president, to basically campaign for Republicans against the president.

Netanyahu is probably more excited about a Trump presidency than David Duke, which is another case of irony.

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