When Al-Ahram Weekly published a caricature of rightwing Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu two weeks ago no one in the news room predicted the overblown reaction in Tel Aviv. It was with genuine surprise that we observed how the Israeli Foreign Ministry summoned and reprimanded Egypt's ambassador to Tel Aviv, Yasser Reda, for the cartoon. Israeli Foreign Ministry Director-General Yossi Gal told Reda that Israel not only objected to the image but found it "humiliating". Then for good measure he protested about "anti-Israel declarations" -- in the words of the Israeli daily Haaretz -- broadcast during Ramadan on national television in which, again according to Haaretz, "both Israel and the Jews were depicted in a negative manner". The Israeli reaction, admittedly, has its funny side. The decision to publish the caricature of a pixie-like Netanyahu was only a natural expression (and a polite one when all is said and done) of how our artist views a peace-hating, anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab Zionist who not only violates Israel's signed agreements and commitments in what was once called "the peace process" but has gone on to repeatedly defy any moves by Washington to promote peace. Netanyahu has never really deviated from the expansionist and destructive policies of Israel's past leaders, though he stands out by virtue of his particular brand of vocal extremism. (Joe Lockhart, a White House spokesman under the Clinton administration, described Netanyahu in an interview as "one of the most obnoxious individuals you're going to come across -- just a liar and a cheat. He could open his mouth and you could have no confidence that anything that came out of it was the truth.") As prime minister of Israel from 1996-1999, Netanyahu was famous for his blunt "no's": no withdrawal from the Golan Heights, no to any discussion of the status of Jerusalem, no to negotiations with preconditions. This is the man we dared pixify, or in Israeli diplo-speak "distort". Some TV dramas also dared to present Israeli intelligence officers negatively. So be it. And now we are deemed anti-Semitic, subjected to a cliché that has been so politically twisted to render it as meaningless as Netanyahu's own pursuit of peace. The 1979 peace agreement between Egypt and Israel remains irrelevant only because of Israel's continued occupation of Palestinian territory, its killing of Palestinians, its expansionist land grab, racist policies, war crimes and determination to remain a regional threat. It is a threat to most Egyptians, and that includes members of the press. We shall continue to express ourselves towards Israel in the manner we choose. Israel's perception of itself as a state whose officials may not be the subject of satire or criticism is pitiable. And for those who missed the cartoon, we republish the "distorted" image of Netanyahu -- which many in the news room believe too flattering -- just to make the point.
