B’nai B’rith International’s Office of United Nations Affairs revealed on January 26, 2012 that a Jordan-based Palestinian cartoonist named Imad Hajjaj, with an extensive and open record of trading in virulently anti-Semitic imagery, lists among his clients multiple U.N. agencies and major corporations.
Imad Hajjaj’s work demonstrates that anti-Israel sentiment in the Middle East is not merely characterized by sharp political differences, but instead mimics and is fueled by the most defamatory and dangerous of historical anti-Jewish themes. Nevertheless, the artist routinely publishes work in leading international Arab newspapers, including Al-Quds Al-Arabi, printed in London.
His cartoons regularly feature blatant incitement, equating Israel with the Third Reich, see Cartoon at top Comparing Gaza Attack to Nazi Holocaust, Al-Ghad (Jordan), January 4, 2009.
Portraying menorahs as weapons: Menorah airplane
Showing the “crucifixion” of Palestinians on a cross marked by a Star of David in reference to talk about Israel cutting electricity to Gaza.
Despite Jews' Claims, 'Jerusalem Is Arab,' Al-Quds, London, October 7, 2011
Swastika and Magen David, Al-Ghad (Jordan), December 31, 2008
Alleged Israeli Organ Theft from Palestinians
A burning “Iraq” and “Palestine” (using a map negating Israel’s very existence) for the smoldering Twin Towers in the 9/11 attacks.
Violent Jews facing peaceful Muslims and Christians
A Jew trying to hide his Jewish face
B’nai B’rith found that among those claimed as clients by Hajjaj’s public relations firm Abu Mahjoob Creative Productions Company, where Hajjaj is identified as partner and creative director, are not only several local government bodies but also foreign organizations such as the British Council and the major corporations Visa, Orange, Ferring Pharmaceuticals and the German industrial giant Siemens. IREX, a Washington-based nonprofit whose stated objectives include “conflict-resolution,” also had dealings with the firm.
If this were not bad enough, the firm’s client list features multiple agencies of the Quartet-member United Nations -- including the United Nations Development Fund for Women (now merged into U.N. Women), the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Children’s Fund, or UNICEF.
“Hajjaj’s consistently disturbing record of anti-Semitic cartoons over more than a decade should have precluded him from working with the United Nations and multinational corporations,” B’nai B’rith International President Allan J. Jacobs said.
B’nai B’rith wrote in the letters to the organizations engaging Hajjaj’s firm: “incitement to violent, abiding bigotry is fundamentally unacceptable and should not be proactively afforded encouragement by responsible actors, particularly corporate and public institutions. Not least in the Middle East, trading in the crass, skewed and inflammatory imagery used by Mr. Hajjaj is a foremost impediment to a future of peace and coexistence. The kind of demonization he directs at Israel and Jews would rightly not be tolerated against other groups.”
B’nai B’rith International Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin said: “Hajjaj’s extensive record and his client list reflect how pervasive this crude, dangerous venom is in the Arab world, and how utterly ignored it is by the international community.”
B’nai B’rith has urged the institutions contacted to urgently clarify their relationship to Hajjaj, publicly disassociate from his firm’s work and offer consumers assurance of commitment to vigilance in choosing future business partners.
Hajjaj’s longtime engagement in incitement and the most dangerous anti-Semitic libels and stereotypes makes it unlikely that the patrons he boasts would not have been aware of these before engaging his firm, thus “effectively legitimizing and rewarding its output.”
Indeed, the U.N. Human Rights Council’s notorious special rapporteur on the Palestinians, Richard Falk, posted an anti-Semitic, anti-American Hajjaj cartoon on his blog post of June 29, 2011. It depicts a dog urinating on a woman symbolizing justice, and devouring a dead body with blood and bones spewing out of its mouth. The dog is shown in a garment marked “USA” and wearing a Kipa, the Jewish religious head covering, which is marked by a Star of David.
In response to the letter from B’nai B’rith, IREX’s president said his organization wasn’t aware of the offensive cartoons and didn’t plan to work with Hajjaj or his creative firm again. U.N. Women, in response to B’nai B’rith’s letter, wrote that it is investigating the matter.
Further Reading:
UN Rapporteur Richard Falk publishes anti-Semitic cartoon on his blog post
