[Turkse Nederlander]

Danish paper cancels plans to republish cartoons about Israel

From the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

By Asaf Uni, Haaretz Correspondent

The Danish newspaper that created a storm in the Arab world by publishing cartoons of the prophet Mohammed has canceled plans to reprint several cartoons dealing with Israel, a senior editor told Haaretz yesterday.

"We wanted to show that we make fun of everyone, not only Muslims," said Pierre Collignon of Jyllands-Posten. "But for fear of being misunderstood, we canceled the plan at the last moment."

One cartoon that was to be published on Sunday depicted a Star of David, to which a bomb with a burning fuse had been attached. This cartoon, which has been published in the newspaper in the past, was drawn by the same artist who drew the cartoon of the prophet Mohammed with a "ticking bomb" on his head.

"We wanted to show that even the Jews, with all the historic sensitivity, accepted satire aimed at their sacred symbols without staging angry demonstrations."

Meanwhile, a Jyllands-Posten's editor said on CNN yesterday that he would cooperate with the Iranian daily Hamshahri, which announced a competition of cartoons on the Holocaust. However, the newspaper hastened to issue a denial.

Editor-in-chief Carsten Juste said the editor had been misunderstood. "On no account would we publish Holocaust caricatures together with the Iranian daily," he said.