Cartoon by Michael Kichka. Translation: Moses says: ‘Don’t they teach this commandment in the yeshivas?’ The sign reads: ‘Thou shalt not destroy cartoons by Michel Kichka’
An exhibition of political cartoons on the exemption of ultra-Orthodox Jews from military service was vandalised on Monday, ahead of the opening of the Animix International Animation, Cartoon and Comic Festival at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque.
The festival, which began on Tuesday, traditionally tackles important social issues through animation and political cartoons. One of this year’s standout exhibitions, entitled ‘The Black Army’, focuses on the Haredim’s (ultra-Orthodox Jews) opposition to compulsory military service and features works by many of Israel’s leading cartoonists.
According to The Jerusalem Post, citing sources within the festival organisers, whilst the exhibition was being set up in the square opposite the Tel Aviv Cinematheque on Monday, a young man wearing a kippah confronted the organisers and the director-general of the Tel Aviv Cinematheque, Tomer Cohen. They claimed that the man tore down and damaged parts of the exhibition before attempting to flee.
A panel of cartoons from the exhibition that was smashed by the attacker. Photo: Animix / Walla.
It appears that festival staff and Cohen chased him for about an hour whilst they waited for the police, who arrived after the suspect had fled in a taxi. The organisers said they had worked to restore the damaged exhibition, which opened as planned on Tuesday and will remain open until 8 August.
The illustrator and cartoonist Nissim (Nusko) Hezekiah, artistic director of "Animix" he told Walla: "This is the first time in the festival’s 26-year history that something like this has happened to us. The festival has always addressed social and political issues, and there is no more controversial issue in Israeli society than that of conscription. We regret that extremists are attempting to undermine freedom of expression, but this act will not deter us; on the contrary, it only serves to highlight the importance of the exhibition".
I haven’t yet been able to find the illustrations from that exhibition (apart from a small photo) and the list of cartoonists (I’m working on it) to try and get a sense of whether the bloke who lashed out at the exhibition was bothered by any specific opinion or by its overall tone. The cartoonists reacted to the attack by drawing, as you’d expect.
Cartoon by Boris Dikerman. Translation: A crowd visits Animix and looks at a panel of cartoons featuring patches, whilst a Haredi man holding a pair of scissors says: “We should have charged for that.”
Animix Tel Aviv is Israel’s largest international animation, cartoon and comic book festival and has been held every August since 2001. It attracts around 20,000 people from across the country and of all ages, as it offers a wide variety of events for all audiences and also draws anime fans and social activists.
Humour in Trouble: A Collection of Cases
Cases of cartoonists who have faced significant problems as a result of their satirical cartoons or illustrations. There are also some stories of other people who, whilst not cartoonists themselves, have run into trouble for sharing them.
