The Case of the Disappearing Cartoon

In an earlier post, I reviewed Al Manar’s online gallery of political cartoons. The cartoons express Hezbollah's political stance and some embody Hezbollah's criticisms of Israel and Western-dominated organizations such as the UN. The cartoon on the left appeared several days ago in the Caricature gallery and is the most emotionally charged image I have come across in the archives of political cartoons. Within hours of coming to my attention, the cartoon was taken down and replaced with the cartoon below, clearly a less dramatic criticism of Israel. Yesterday, however, the cartoon reappeared. I think it is noteworthy that Al Manar decided to remove such a powerfully suggestive image and then reversed its decision and re-released the cartoon later in the week.









While I am not in a position to understand the editorial decisions being made at almanar.com.lb, I noticed that the reappearance of the cartoon coincides with a new article about a U.S. army document that describes Israel as a nuclear power. The article has an ominous tone and reports that

“Israel is believed to be the sole nuclear entity in the Middle East with more than 200 nuclear warheads already in possession.”