The Cartoon Collection

U.S. President Donald Trump's statements and policies, especially those concerning Middle East affairs, come under harsh criticism in Qatar, as does Trump personally. This criticism has in recent months been expressed in cartoons in the Qatari press, both domestic and internation...

The tension between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which has been ongoing for 18 months, intensified even further following the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.[1] Known for his criticism of the Saudi authorities and support for the Muslim Brotherhood (which Saudi...

The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here. On September 13, a pro-Islamic State (ISIS) media group called Al-Abd Al-Faqir Media released an animated video on their ...

In recent weeks, the Qatari media has been slamming the Trump administration's efforts to advance a regional peace plan that has come to be known as the "Deal of the Century." Qatari media reports and articles about this plan have described it as serving Israel's interests while ...

By: N. Licht The 2018 World Cup, held this summer in Russia, is addressed in many cartoons in the global media, including in the Arab world. Many of the cartoons in the Arab media express disappointment and criticism over the poor performance of the Arab teams, especially sinc...

İbrahim Özdabak is a Turkish cartoonist whose personal website includes cartoons dating back to 2005 covering many subjects relevant to Turkish society and politics.[1] Many of his cartoons have antisemitic themes, depicting Jews as blood-soaked butchers, vultures circling ov...

The recent weeks' massive attacks on the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta by the Assad regime and its allies, primarily Russia, which has reportedly involved chemical weapons, has sparked a flood of reactions in the Arab press. Among these reactions are cartoons published in the...

The decree issued September 26, 2017 by the Saudi King, which lifted the ban on women driving in the kingdom, sparked a storm of reactions in the government media and on Saudi social media accounts. The government media reported extensively on responses welcoming the decision, wh...

The current crisis between the Gulf countries and Egypt on the one hand and Qatar on the other[1] is being reflected in numerous editorial cartoons published in Gulf newspapers, both in Qatar and in the countries that are boycotting it. Many of the cartoons, which appeared pr...

The humanitarian disaster in eastern Aleppo due to the massive attacks of the Syrian regime and its allies, Russia and Iran, on the city, as well as Aleppo's recent recapture by the regime, have been widely addressed in the Arab media, including in many Cartoons, especially in th...

On September 28, 2016, the U.S. Congress passed the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), which enables U.S. citizens affected by terrorism to file lawsuits against countries found to be involved in those actions. Thus, U.S. citizens affected by 9/11 will be able...

The following are cartoons on U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin, appeared on the Pro-Kremlin media outlets Sharzh I Pero and Studiya 13, a project run by young pro-Kremlin Russian artists. The cartoons depict Obama as a loser, an alcoholic and an ov...

The following is an overview of cartoons on the U.S. elections, published in Russian pro-Kremlin media outlets. The main cartoons' leitmotif is that both Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican candidate Donald Trump are inadequate for the job of U.S. president. The...

The following are cartoons published in pro-Kremlin media outlets on U.S. President Barack Obama's legacy and future after the U.S. elections. The cartoons envision Obama inter alia working as a waiter at McDonald's and as a pizza delivery, once his term of office as U.S. preside...

The failed coup attempt carried out in Turkey the night of July 15, 2016 by some Turkish army units was extensively covered in the Arab and Iranian media, and was also the topic of cartoons. Most of the cartoons emphasized the role played by Turkey's citizens in thwarting the cou...

On July 8, 2016, the two-day NATO summit in Warsaw, Poland began. The summit was an opportunity to define NATO's policy vis-à-vis Russia. In advance of the summit, a number of cartoons critical of this policy were published in pro-Kremlin media.  Below is a review of...

On May 30, 2016, Saudi Arabia and Iran announced that they had failed to reach an understanding on arrangements for Iranians to attend this year's Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca), and that consequently Iranians will not come to Saudi Arabia to participate in the rituals. The Iranians ...

On June 27, 2016, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan apologized to Russian President Vladimir Putin for the death of the pilot in the downing of the Russian Su-24 plane over the Syria-Turkey border in November 2015. The Kremlin website reported that in his letter, Erdogan sai...

As the third Holocaust International Cartoon Contest concluded in Tehran, at the end of May 2016, the Resistart.ir website published the winners' names. First prize went to the French cartoonist Zeon. Contest secretary Masoud Shojaei Tabtabaei said that Iranian Supreme Leader ...

NATO's eastward enlargement and the recent deployment of NATO's ballistic missile defense system in Eastern Europe has been a featured topic of anti-NATO cartoons in pro-Kremlin media outlets.[1] The following is a sampling of such cartoons published in Russia's government-funded...

Introduction On April 28, 2016, the Syrian army, along with Russian and Iranian forces, launched a crushing assault on the city of Aleppo that included massive airstrikes that lasted one week and inflicted hundreds of casualties. The assault came after some two months of a cess...

On May 14, 2016, the third Holocaust International Cartoon Contest is set to open in Tehran.[1] Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has denied that there is any connection between the Iranian government and this event.[2] He told The New Yorker magazine, in an intervi...

Introduction Political cartoons can currently be found in only a few independent media outlets, such as Polit.ru and Svoboda.org, and in some pro-Kremlin websites and newspapers, such as RIA Novosti,[1] Sputnik International,[2] and Sharzh I Pero. The main motif in cartoons ...

On March 14, 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that the following day Russia would begin withdrawing most its forces from Syria, stating that they had accomplished most of their objectives there. He added that some Russian forces would remain at the Hmeymim airbase...

Anti-American cartoons are quite common in the pro-government Russian media. The following are examples of such cartoons that describe the U.S. as an evil power that promotes terrorism while pretending to fight it. The cartoons are taken from two pro-regime Russian media outlets:...

The escalation in Saudi-Iranian tension resulting from the events that began with Saudi Arabia's January 2, 2016 execution of senior Shi'ite cleric Sheikh Nimr Al-Nimr, along with 46 other prisoners; the subsequent attacks in Iran on Saudi legations; and Saudi Arabia's severing o...

Russia's growing military involvement in Syria, and the launch of its airstrike campaign there, have sparked intense criticism in the Gulf press, as well as on Syrian opposition websites. This criticism is expressed inter alia in cartoons that depict Syrian President Bashar Al-As...

The joint statement by Iran and the superpowers following the round of nuclear talks in Lausanne, Switzerland on April 3, 2015 sparked widespread reactions in the Arab press, including in political cartoons. The vast majority of the cartoons expressed anger and disappointment wit...

The Arab press has recently been awash with cartoons condemning Iran's intervention in Arab countries. The cartoons appeared mainly in the Gulf press and in London-based Gulf newspapers, as well as in the Jordanian and Egyptian press. They portray Iran as sowing destruction in th...

Introduction On February 1, 2015, the Palestinian daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida published a cartoon by illustrator Mohammad Sabaaneh of a man with a heart-shaped shoulder bag standing in an aura of light atop the Earth and scattering droplets of light. The cartoon is titled "Our Mast...

In response to the Charlie Hebdo attack and to the mass anti-terror demonstrations in France, several Arab columnists called upon the Arabs and Muslims to hold mass demonstrations against terror, just as they held mass demonstrations against the publication of the cartoons mockin...