The Jewish community in Madrid is seeking legal action against the El Jueves satirical magazine over a comic strip published in its latest issue featuring anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic images.

One of the cartoons in the comic strip depicts an Israeli soldier abusing a Palestinian with a caption reading, “You don’t understand. My parents were in a concentration camp.”

The action is explained saying, “Israel is like a child who saw his father hit his mother, and now has grown up hit to his wife.”

Another image in the comic strip depicts a religious Jew with the anti-Semitic stereotype of a grossly protruding nose, along with the caption, “Israel, the promised land a science fiction book says was given to a group of people by a made-up God. Israel, the paradise of the Jews and no one else, because they refuse to share it with anyone who does not embrace their religion.”

While this is not the first time El Jueves has criticized Jews, the Madrid community felt that this time it crossed the line.

The comic strip “is abusive and it features many elements of classic anti-Semitism,” David Hatchwell, president of the Jewish community of Madrid, told Israel Hayom.

Comparing El Jueves and French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, whose cartoons often spark controversy, Hatchwell said, “The difference is that Charlie Hebdo uses satire to criticize racism, but what El Jueves has published is pure anti-Semitism. It’s easy to level such criticism at Jews, because we don’t set magazines on fire for insulting us.”

Cartoonist Julio Serrano, who created the comic strip, said, “This isn’t an attack against Jews, but against Israel’s unjust laws.”

By Sal Emergui and Israel Hayom Staff

(printed with permission)