At least someone understands! [I think]

Back in 2003, I became a big fan of Stephen Pastis' comic strip 'Pearls before Swine' because of this cartoon: 
 
 

That was early in his career when he wasn't yet the huge success he is today. 

I've continued to enjoy this often-irreverent (but almost never political) strip ever since.  But despite his usually eschewing politics in favor of human foibles, in the past few days I can't help but get the sense that Stephen Pastis still keeps an eye on the goings-on over here in Israel:

 

And the follow-up:

And today's strip... which could be interpreted as the world asking the secular left-wing Israelis to hand over their religious right wing brothers and sisters... or at least their towns and homes.

Of course, this story line could simply be Mr. Pastis' take on human nature and I'm reading way too much into it.  But I don't think so.  There are just too many things lining up in this segment:

1.  The zebras are constantly being hunted and victimized by their neighbors; the crocodiles.

2.  The crocs never seem to understand why the zebras are averse to being killed.

3.  Now there is an outside party with the name 'POTUS' (President Of The United States) trying to act as a 'neutral party', but who is in truth asking the zebras to make an unreasonable sacrifice in the name of compromise.

4.  I'd be very surprised if Mr. Pastis is unaware of Winston Churchill 's famous quote "An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile - hoping it will eat him last”.

I exchanged emails with the creator of the strip over the past couple of days, and while he was extremely warm and cordial... he deftly sidestepped confirming or denying that he had Israel in mind when he drew these latest frames.  That's fine.  He has a huge audience (deservedly so), and it would be silly of him to be overt about his political leanings (if that's what they are) if it might alienate some of his fans. 

Personally, I enjoy his strip whether he is talking about my country... or simply talking.  The universality of the underlying messages in his strips means that they could apply to anyone, anywhere;  Not just Israel.

Well done Mr. Pastis!