Hatemonger of the week: cartoonist Emad Hajjaj

Some news about an anti-Israeli cartoonist named Emad Hajjaj, who's been drawing obscene cartoons in Jordan:

For evidence that anti-Israel sentiment in the Middle East is not merely characterized by sharp political differences, but instead mimics and is fueled by the most defamatory and dangerous of historical anti-Jewish themes, we need look no further than a widely published political cartoonist, a Jordan-based Palestinian named Emad Hajjaj. His cartoons regularly feature blatant incitement, equating Israel with the Third Reich, crudely caricaturing Jews (distinguished by religious garb and symbols) as bloodthirsty monsters, portraying menorahs as weapons and showing the “crucifixion” of Palestinians on a cross marked by a Star of David. [...]

Hajjaj’s open record of abundant anti-Semitic output makes it unlikely that prominent clients have been unaware of patronizing a hatemonger. His cartoons have been included in U.S. State Department reporting on anti-Semitism, and the U.N. Human Rights Council’s notorious special rapporteur on the Palestinians, Richard Falk, recently posted an anti-Semitic, anti-American Hajjaj cartoon on his blog. Falk, in a new post, has again celebrated the abandonment of diplomacy in favor of anti-Israel boycotts, divestment and sanctions. This “authoritative” U.N. figure’s agitation is especially unhelpful when even some American civil society groups, such as elements of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the United Methodist Church in the run-up to their national conventions this year, urge economic leverage as a means to single out Israel for pressure and isolation.

Here's a press release by Bnai Brith about Hajjaj's links to the UN. This disgusting monster even tries to defend his loathsome behavior by telling the Jordan Times that he's a "semite" himself. Oh I get it, he's using the fact that Abraham, as Ishmael's father, was considered the first Jew, as a defense. All without acknowledging or admitting that Abraham rejected Ishmael and Hagar as heirs because of how they supported idol worship. This part I found through The Comics Reporter, where Tom Spurgeon took the risk of acting as apologist when he said that Hajjaj:

...gets off a nice crack about being Semitic himself. I've never thought of his work in that light, although of course some of the imagery is super-strong; I've also probably seen fewer than a hundred of his cartoons.

What's that? Is young master Spurgeon acting as though the imagery isn't offensive? He's certainly being ambiguous of course, and needless to say, has only added himself to any list of alleged admirers of the comics medium who cannot prove his ability to stand up to Islamic hatemongering, and if I were any of the Jewish creators of classic comics, I'd find him an embarrassment. But then, I have been aware that Spurgeon is pretty leftist himself, so it shouldn't be that surprising that he's got very few solid foundations.