Today’s cartoon is from Al-Watan (Qatar), from way back in May 13, 2003. The U.S. and Israel are shown eating from two sides of an apple that represents “the Arab states.” According to the middle-east-info.org, where we found it, this cartoon is noteworthy because it was published in Qatar, home to the Al Jazeera TV network. Qatar is considered by many in the U.S. State Department to be a U.S. ally and a relatively moderate state.
The first thing I had to do was remove the Israeli hat on the right and make this a contest between two Uncle Sam lookalikes. That took out the anti-Jewish bite, making the cartoon just a depiction of two ugly guys trying to get at something delicious.
Then I tried different objects they could fight over, including all manner of fruit and several different ice cream cones, with and without hot fudge pouring over it. But the beer was clearly the best option, especially since it came with the ready-made Miller’s commercial lines from the 1980s.
