cartoon in the news today. Leunig is a Melbourne 'institution' so it is intruiging to see his work caught up in an international story. Leaving aside the unfiar appropriation of his work; what do you think of the sentiment of the cartoon itself? is it fair? Is the Palestinian plight a sad irony of history/ or is the cartoon plain offensive in contrasting a complex situation with the brutality of Nazi germany?Leunig's Iranian cartoon competition entry a 'set up'
Melbourne cartoonist, Michael Leunig, says he has been the victim of a hoax involving a cartoon competition in an Iranian newspaper.
One of Iran's popular daily newspapers has started the international competition asking people to submit cartoons about the Holocaust, the Nazi genocide against the Jews in World War II. Iranian newspaper Hamshahri says it wants to test the limits of Western freedom of speech.
According to Hamshahri, they have already received several cartoons, including one from Mr Leunig.Mr Leunig says the email may have come from Australia and he is dismayed by what is a hurtful act.
"I've been set up horribly, maliciously and to me it denotes what it means to stand up against this conflict and this warlike sort of state the world is in and you know, it's difficult," he said.
Mr Leunig says he is not sure who is responsible for the hoax but the email may have come from Australia.
"It could be any number of people - there a number of columnists and bloggers who have been particularly hateful of me for quite a long time and have suggested all sorts of hateful and hateful things towards me," he said.
"The mind jumps towards all these kind of people but I must refrain from imagining anyone in particular - it could be a kid."
Melbourne newspaper The Age says the cartoon has now been removed from the website.
The terms of the competition are that anyone can email or post up to three cartoons each before May 5 on the theme of the Holocaust.
The title of the contest is "The Boundaries of Western Freedom of Speech," and the Hamshahri newspaper hopes that those European papers that printed cartoons insulting the Prophet Mohammed will also publish the winning cartoons about the Holocaust. Taken from the ABC News Online
