1st of series: "judenraus"

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Introduction to series:
This is the first cartoon I did in a series that was essentially a response to an invitation to submit holocaust cartoons from President Ahmedinejad of Iran. Dismayed that the European/Islamic culture clashes over Danish Caricatures of the Prophet Muhamed were boiling down to anti-Jewish rhetoric, I set out to intrude upon the invitation and the cartoon form to show a perspective that might bring relief to others as frustrated myself.

The cartoon form, and specifically the political cartoon, has certain demanding parameters which I quickly found to be both a limit and a guide.

The rules are there are no rules but it helps to learn the rules.
I found these rules to be essential;

The cartoon must be honest, even if it is ignorant.
The cartoon should be ironic, but not smug.
The cartoon must fit in a box,
The cartoon should be interesting to look at.
The cartoon must be legible.

Hopefully it's self-explanatory. I can't even approach fairness, but maybe clarity is possible, bridge-building, healing?

I would be happy to receive your thoughts, as well as suggestions for clarifying these drawings or their explanations.

"judenraus":
The action taking place here is of a flashback to WWII Europe. Jews are being collected. Family members peer out of the window as soldiers abruptly interrupt their existence. There may be a habit of belief that a veil of protection surrounds them, particularly since they are still together. Here the curtain is almost drawn for the last moments of this hope. A practical man has made a hiding spot for himself. He says "I wish I were in a Muslim land". At that time there would have been no Irony in that statement. For the most part, throughout the history of Islam, Jews thrived and suffered in Muslim lands as their neighbors did. Class systems offered confinement but also protection and were by no means applied particularly to Jews. Current Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Khameni said, while rebuking the Iranian president, that anti-Semitism was and continues to be a European problem and not a Muslim one. I feel this statement is also present in this cartoon. I hope my drawing is an olive branch and message to Muslims of our traditional mutual respect. For all the nuances of persecution and liberation in Christian and Muslim lands, systematic genocide was a European creation building to climax on a foundation of rooted and pervasive anti-Semitism. Such a foundation did not exist in Muslim lands before European culture collided with the Middle East in modern history (more on that later).