Friday 21 March 2008

Serge Gainsbourg's portrait by Ben Heine deleted from Wikipedia

Good and long overdue news.

Serge Gainsbourg's portrait by cartoonist Ben Heine has been deleted from his biography on Wikipedia. The reason given for the deletion was "poor quality" - and quite rightly so. Wikipedia admistrators went one step further and also deleted the awful portrait from Wikipedia Commons (March 8).

Not only was the portrait objectionable on artistic grounds (admittedly a subjective judgment) but it was equally objectionable with regard to the personality of the "artist". Ben Heine is the only Belgian who took part in the infamous international Teheran cartoon contest mocking the Holocaust. His blog is chock-full of articles and illustrations deriding Jews and Israelis who he equates with Zionists.

One of the cartoons Ben Heine presented at the infamous contest illustrates the Auschwitz concentration camp morphed into an orthodox Jew. His peyos are linked to railway tracks, a swastika and a Star of David. It is entitled "Welcome Home" (below). It is Heine's contention that there is nothing antisemitc about the drawing - and that he intended it to be educational... He also believes that the contest has been "outrageously depicted as "negationist" by all European and North American media".

Heine probably hopes to deflect accusations of antisemitism by portraying dead Jews (Serge Gainsbourg, Norman Mailer, Marcel Marceau) who are no longer around to voice their opposition. The irony with Serge Gainsbourg is that he was a staunch supporter of Israel ... and Heine is a self-declared anti-Zionist, to say the least.
"Welcome Home" by Ben Heine
Iran's "Holocaust" cartoonists whine, wheedle and above all, LIE (Joshua Pundit)
Cartoonist Ben Heine portrays Avigdor Lieberman as Zionist Hitler and Zionist Pig and Ahmadinejad as Iranian President (
Philosemitism)
Is it possible for antisemitism to be considered acceptable by antiracists? (
Engage)
Attention Zionists at Work !!! (
Simply Jews)
Media Without Conscience (
Judeosphere)
Cartoonist Ben Heine draws a Zionist "Myriam" (Tlaxcala blog) (
Philosemitism)

4 comments:

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Thanks for the link and all the best.

Freedom Fighter said...

Thank you for the link!

AFter I wrote that piece,Heine had the nerve to e-mail about how he wasn't an anti-Semite,believe it or not...

Regards,
Rob

Anonymous said...

BS"D

Anyone know if Heine has any Jewish ancestry (G-d forbid). I know his pal Steven Amsel is the son of a Holocaust survivor.

Haddock said...

Dien Heine kan goed tekenen, maar is erg fout bezig.
Heeft echt geen geweten om mee te doen met dien iranier.
Foei.
Hij heeft zeker van thuis uit geen "gezonde" opvoeding gekregen.
Zielig.
Maar eigenlijk wat wil je, hij is niet erger dan Willy alias Kaproen die toen ook meeheulde met de laagste der laagsten, de duitsers die ons Belgenland kapotmaakten tijdens 1940-1944.