To Those Who Call Carlos Latuff an Anti-Semite...

I can't say enough great things about the spirit of any human being like Carlos Latuff.

The vibrant activist and artist Carlos Latuff

(SALEM, Ore.) - Carlos Latuff is not an anti-Semite, and there is no relationship between criticizing the violence of an overgrown and out of control military's war crimes, and hating someone over their religion.

This is the latest effort of the UK's pro-Zionist lobby. They have attacked Carlos through a watchdog media group that hovers over the Guardian UK trying to construe any criticism of Israel or accurate portrayal of their shameful behavior of the Palestinian people as 'anti-Semitic'.

The heads up on this latest attack was sent in last night by our good friend Elias Harb of Intifada-Palestine. What seemed to mostly bother this group 'CIF Watch' was Carlos' depiction of Palestinian Authority President Abbas dressed up to look like an Israeli; ala Uncle Benji-esque. (CIF Watch - Monitoring and exposing antisemitism on the Guardian newspaper's 'Comment is Free' blog.)

It is appropriate and fitting and the Zionists miss the point; nobody suggests that his choices and crossroads have been simple concepts, but Abbas, as the Jan-24-2011: Palestine Papers reveal, has been so far up Israel's back side that he was willing to make concessions no person of his stature should have even remotely considered.

Busted. Abbas was wrong, but for siding with Israel and for selling out his people's interests. How in the Hell does that even remotely connect to bigotry? Even asking the question in some way sounds like I am giving credibility to this witchhunt from the 'CIF Watch' crew - which I am not.

The article has a link to Intifada-Palestine. where it say his political view, at the end of this paragraph. the article was originally published in Salem-News.com:

As I noted previously (in a piece for the JCPA, as well as a guest post for Elder of Ziyon), Latuff is a Brazilian political “activist” and cartoonist with an impressively large portfolio of work – much of which openly express anti-Semitic themes. Some of his caricatures seem to suggest that Israel is a unique and immutable evil in the world. His work includes imagery frequently suggesting a moral equivalence between Israel and Nazi Germany – and he has explicitly acknowledged that this indeed his political view.

Well you guys need to note this:

Ever heard of the boy who cried wolf? People like Carlos Latuff and I have nothing good to say about any racists on any day of the year. The way that the Zionists try to paint activists and reporters as anti-Semitic is not just wrong, it is blatantly false.

As an American, I am descended from the people who freed the people who the Nazi's persecuted. These are the Jews, the Roma, the academics and the poets. The gay, the religious opposition, and the courageous who spoke out and aided the oppressed. Then as now, standing with the oppressor is an unforgivable sin. As students we are taught the stories of radical immense suffering in the history of humankind. We are told this is something that happened 'then' and yet we know it is happening now.

There are other interesting dynamics increasingly coming into play. The single most important development is clearly the number of Jewish people siding with us. They are the people we were raised to know as our Jewish neighbors and friends and they were never part of this madness of Israel. How Americans could even consider aiding Israel after Gaza is an incredible notion, but to imply that we who have the guts to write about this cruelty are somehow prejudice or 'anti-Semitic' is a huge injustice to our efforts.

Allan Brownfield with the American Council on Judaism writes:

"Even a brief review of this history is instructive. Jews have been an intrinsic part of the American society from the very beginning. In colonial America, writes Howard M. Sachar in A History of Jews in America, '…not a single law was ever enacted…specifically to disable Jews…They were free to engage in any trade, in any colony, but also to own a home in any neighborhood…By l776, the two thousand Jews of colonial America were the freest Jews on earth.'"

Dr. William Barth Ph.D

Another person whose opinion we highly regard is our own Oxford-educated writer Dr. William Barth Ph.D who is a Los Angeles based attorney. Having agreed with my point about David becoming Goliath in my report: Why We Criticize Israel, William is always supportive of our efforts to raise awareness with a goal of eventual peace. He represents Judaism as I always saw it; a religion dedicated to peace, not just peace for a particular religion.

"We must never forget that it was only a generation ago that European-Jewry became an endangered human group , and that Jewry were nearly exterminated in one of history's most gruesome crimes, namely the Holocaust, or what Samantha Power described as the crime of crimes. The world established a new crime, namely, genocide, just to identify this ghastly form of mass human extermination. Remember also that 6 million Jews, as well as hundreds of thousands of Roma, were consciously exterminated qua groups by the Nazis.

"Prior to the incorporation of Israel, the Jews lived in a Diaspora as persecuted peoples. They required a national homeland for their mutual existence and survival. We must honor as much as respect Israel’s raison d’être.

"However, the de-nationalization and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians is itself a crime against humanity. This demonstrates that the international community lacks a human-rights based procedure to permit qualified peoples to establish their own state. There are thousands of ethnic, national, religious, and linguistic groups, but only a relative handful of sovereign states in which they must co-exist. This is a formula for conflict as groups struggle to perpetuate their very existence and identity.

"Tim is correct to identify the conflict as a David and Goliath struggle which subjugates the Palestinians. Israelis as much as world Jewry must confront the idea that Jewish survival is inextricably bound together with the aspirations of the Palestinians.

"My Jewish and Palestinian friends continue to damn me for being unrealistic but I believe that this requires applying both the philosophy of jurist Ronald Dworkin, as well as the prescription for ethnic harmony offered to us by the Rev Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:

"We must learn to live together as brothers and sisters, in an atmosphere of mutual concern and respect, or perish together as fools. Peace"

So here we are in 2011 and Americans are trying to comprehend what is taking place in Occupied Palestine, and a (fortunately) decreasing number of Americans support Israel's right to choke out other religious populations in their 'democratic' country. Geez I get sick of hearing that. It is sort of like Hitler using the word 'socialist' in his platform.

Social splendor for the Deutche as long as they weren't Jewish.

Sweet days in the land of Milk and Honey just so long as you aren't Arab.

I can't say enough great things about the spirit of any human being like Carlos Latuff. We have praised him before, we use his work frequently, and we will always be here to set the record straight when the Zionist racists rear their ugly false accusations against him.

More than anything, we exist to educate. Salem-News.com has fully explored the question of 'what is an anti-Semite' in the past and I have to say it is one of the most important series we have ever carried. There are anti-Semites in the world and the problem lies therein. The Zionist community shuts out real fighters of racism with its lame duck quacks. God please bring us to the day when the field is level, when we can again join forces properly.

First, this an overview of the subject of Zionism:

Feb-11-2010: Special Series on Zionism - Tim King Salem-News.com

Here are the articles in the series:

• Feb-10-2010: ZIONISM UNMASKED: End of Zionism = Peace - Jeff Gates Salem-News.com
• Feb-10-2010: ZIONISM UNMASKED: A Fairy Tale That's Become a Terrifying Nightmare - Alan Hart Salem-News.com
• Feb-11-2010: ZIONISM UNMASKED: Chutzpah, thy name is Zionism - Maidhc Ó Cathail Salem-News.com
• Feb-11-2010: ZIONISM UNMASKED: 'Anti-Semitic' - the Label that Stops Criticism - Dr. Paul Balles for Salem-News.com

This is the series on Anti-Semitism:

Tim King: Salem-News.com Editor and Writer

Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines.

Tim holds numerous awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), first place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several others including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Tim has several years of experience in network affiliate news TV stations, having worked as a reporter and photographer at NBC, ABC and FOX stations in Arizona, Nevada and Oregon. Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website. As News Editor, Tim among other things, is responsible for publishing the original content of 65 Salem-News.com writers. He reminds viewers that emails are easily missed and urges those trying to reach him, to please send a second email if the first goes unanswered. You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com