Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Prominent Jordanian cartoonist Emad Hajjaj on Monday dismissed accusations of “anti-Semitism” levelled by a US-based Jewish organisation, stressing that he respects all religions, including Judaism.

Hajjaj, creator of the popular character Abu Mahjoob, was responding to a statement issued last week by the Washington-based B’nai B’rith International’s Office of United Nations Affairs that accused him of trading in “virulently anti-Semitic imagery”.

“I have not been officially informed of those accusations but I heard about them from some friends and agencies who I work with. Their allegations are baseless and do not make any sense simply because I am a Semite. How can a Semite be anti-Semitic?” Hajjaj remarked while speaking to The Jordan Times on the phone yesterday.

In the statement, B’nai B’rith alleged that “Hajjaj’s cartoons regularly feature anti-Israel and anti-Jewish incitement, equating Israel with Nazism, crudely caricaturing Jews (distinguished by religious garb and symbols) as bloodthirsty murderers and monsters, portraying menorahs as weapons and showing the ‘crucifixion’ of Palestinians on a cross marked by a Star of David”.

Hajjaj explained that since the events of September 11, 2001, he and other Arab cartoonists have sought to change the distorted image of Arabs and Muslims in the West and the US by publishing cartoons depicting the true values of Islam and Arab societies.

However, he added, the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip in December 2008 brought new themes into his work.

“My drawings were depicting the Israeli bombing of civilians in the enclave in order to the international community the brutality of the war and the ugly image it left on civilians, but they were never intended to intimidate any religion or harm the feelings of any religious groups,” he stressed.

Hajjaj is identified as partner and creative director of Abu Mahjoob Creative Productions, whose clients include the UN Development Fund for Women (now merged into UN Women), the UN Development Programme, UNICEF, the British Council, and IREX, a Washington-based nonprofit organisation.

B’nai B’rith International President Allan Jacobs said in an e-mail to The Jordan Times yesterday that the organisation had written to officials at these institutions urging them to end their cooperation with Hajjaj for his “long-time engagement in incitement and anti-Semitic libels and stereotypes”.

They also urged the institutions to urgently clarify their relationship with Hajjaj, publicly disassociate from his firm’s work, and offer consumers assurance of commitment to vigilance in choosing future business partners.

“In response to the letter, IREX said it was not aware of the offensive cartoons and did not plan to work with Hajjaj or his creative firm again. UN Women, in response to B’nai B’rith’s letter, wrote that it is investigating the matter,” Jacobs said.

“While noting B’nai B’rith’s consistent support for the free expression of legitimate, diverse perspectives… the kind of demonisation Hajjaj directs at Israel and Jews would rightly not be tolerated against other groups,” he added.

Hajjaj confirmed to The Jordan Times that so far two of his partners have already stopped working with him without elaborating on the reasons behind their decision, adding that the ongoing attempts to portray him as anti-Semitic had prevented him from participating in several international caricature awards.

“I never meant to hurt anyone’s feelings. I am totally against discrimination of any kind. I think I have a responsibility to defend the rights of the helpless people who are living under the Israeli occupation and expose the brutality of the occupation and intimidation of mankind in the occupied Palestinian lands,” the cartoonist said.

President of the Centre for Defending Journalists Nidal Mansour told The Jordan Times that freedom of expression does not override respect of religions, adding that everyone is entitled to express their opinions freely provided that they do not infringe the rights of others.

“Throughout my follow up on Hajjaj’s work, I have never felt that he was trying to incite hatred against a specific religion or group as this is against the international covenants that protect all sorts of human rights,” Mansour said.

Although some of Hajjaj’s cartoons are political, he said, they are only targeting the acts of Israeli soldiers against the Palestinian people in the occupied territories and are not meant to promote hatred of Jews in general.

“Caricaturing does not have a margin to include detailed explanation; rather, it uses symbols that belong to the targeted group in the theme of the drawing, and in the Israeli case it’s the Star of King David, for example,” he said, adding that the star is an Israeli state symbol.


* Jordan Times / By Hani Hazimeh