(US) Rabbi Gerald Serotta has written a letter to the Washington Post that a cartoon (below) which was aired a couple of days before the end of Ramadan was racist towards Muslims. He wrote:
The July 26 Drawing Board cartoon by Jim Morin was racist in its caricatures and deeply offensive in its implication that any believer in Allah could rejoice in the death of his own people’s children. Why would The Post add its prestigious imprimatur to this bigotry?
In a chilling parallel, blood libels — accusations of bloodthirsty religious ritual — were made against Jews, typically during Passover, in the Middle Ages. This offensive cartoon, reproduced ahead of the Eid al-Fitr festival, only adds to the pain and sense of exclusion of Muslim readers. However, the real victims of this bigotry are the American ideals of solidarity and pluralism. Regardless of our faith, we need to challenge stereotypes and racism in our communities.
Gerald Serotta, Chevy Chase
