Once again, nice to know he gets it

Back in the bad old days of the second intifada, Stephen Pastis, the artist who draws the 'Pearls Before Swine' comic strip drew a poignant strip about the human side of the cafe and bus bombings in Israel that the international media studiously ignored.

That strip was out in the open... mentioned Jerusalem and everything. I'm sure that his support for Israel cost Mr. Pastis a lot more fans than it gained him.

For a long time after that his strips were entirely apolitical.

A few years later he ran a strip that was equally supportive of Israel... without actually coming out and mentioning us by name.

This story line featured a policeman named 'POTUS' who kept asking the zebras to compromise with the crocs by 'giving them a hand'... literally. After all, they had two.

I sent the artist an email asking him if I'd read the strip correctly (that POTUS was President Of The United States and the zebras were Israelis), and he answered in such a way as to indicate his support without giving a clear yes or no.

The backlash from that first pro-Israel strip must have been something.

Now, in the past few days he has started a new story line that, IMHO seems to be talking about us again.

It portrays the zebras having built a tall wall to keep the crocodiles from trying to kill them. Of course the crocs are angry, and even go so far as to hire a political consultant to try and spin the building of the wall in such a way as to make the zebras seem to be the bad guys.

Even though the obvious reference is to the Cold War, I don't need to email the artist again. This one is also a crystal clear reference to the seperation fence to anyone who cares to see it. But sadly, for those who aren't sympathetic to Israel... it probably is too subtle to have hit its mark.

Good for you, Mr. Pastis... nice to know we still enjoy your support.