The cartoon depicts a dark figure with a malicious smile on its face, a Jewish Star of David on its cloak and an axe in its hand running away from a felled cedar tree, the symbol of Lebanon.
The cartoon appeared in the Tishreen newspaper on February 17 and visually depicts the message being broadcast from all Syrian media and government officials: the Jews are to blame for the assassination of former Lebanese president Hariri, as they seek Lebanese chaos.
The same newspaper carried an article the previous day that also singled out, in addition to Israel, "the neo-conservatives in the US" as sharing responsibility for the assassination. It was part of what the columnist claimed is a "policy of... what they call 'creative chaos', which causes fires, creates dangerous situations in this area or that, which in its turn creates the best climate for the US, therefore enabling it to increase its interference and promote its projects in the world."
The Americans, the article said, "only look upon Israel and its benefits.... [and] base their policies on Israeli reports, files and recommendations!"
Turning back to the theme Syrian officials delivered in the first day after the assassination, the article continued, "Israel is not innocent from Hariri's blood as it is not innocent from the blood of the Palestinian, Lebanese and Syrian people."
In an attempt to dispel the immediate suspicions surrounding Syrian involvement in the assassination (as Hariri had recently declared his open opposition to the ongoing Syrian occupation of Lebanon), the Tishreen article asked, "Who is the main beneficiary of this? Who is the loser? The answer is: Syria, Lebanon and the Arab nation are the losers. Israel is the biggest winner! Be cautious and unite before the axe hits the head!"
More specific in its accusations, a February 15th article in Tishreen asserted, "Israel, having left Lebanon unwillingly, will always seek to destroy its achievements and bring it back to a state of turmoil and instability, so [Israel] could continue to occupy Shaba'a [the area known as Mt. Dov in Hebrew, on the Israeli border with Lebanon] and exploit water and resources in the South of Lebanon."
Syria's A-Thawra newspaper carried several articles on successive days that pointed a finger at nefarious powers seeking "to bring instability to the country and cause division between Syria and Lebanon." The newspaper's editor-in-chief wrote, "It seems that the powers which are behind this and that do not want any two Arab countries to have any mutual agreement especially when it is related to solidarity or the coordination of the Arab-Israeli conflict or having certain attitudes towards the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the American [occupation] in Iraq."
Interestingly, the Lebanese newspapers were far less quick to point fingers at Israel and far more interested in turning articles on the Hariri assassination into platforms for condemning the ongoing Syrian occupation of the country in unprecedented terms. The English-language Daily Star reported that Lebanon's political opposition has called for an 'intifada for independence'...."
A columnist in the An-Nahar newspaper of February 17 wrote, without naming Syria per se, that those who assassinated Rafik Hariri "are the same ones who tried to assassinate [Minister] Marwan Hamade, and the same who assassinated in the past presidents Rene Mouawwad and Bashir Gemayel, leader Kamal Jumblatt, Mufti Hasan Khalid and others.... Those who assassinated Hariri aimed to strike at the national opposition and civil peace."
Coming closer to the point was Ali Hamade, also in the An-Nahar of the same day, in an article headlined "Your Days Are Numbered in This Nice Country": "The Mafia regime that killed Hariri... will discover soon that the land will shake under its feet.... The Lebanese are revolting and they know who killed Rafik Hariri." Those who did it, Hamade wrote, "killed him, then they praised him. They destroyed half the city to kill him, then they said that he was their ally. They accused him of being an American and Israeli agent, then they talked about his Arabism.... Leave the Lebanese alone."
The official version of the assassination - that a "Palestinian refugee" Islamist carried out a suicide car bomb attack - was questioned by a writer for Al-Mustaqbal (February 16). "We have to remember that radical groups in Lebanon are subject to the constant surveillance of Lebanese and Syrian authorities," the article noted. "They cannot really move freely. We should also remember that all entrances towards the Palestinian camps are controlled by the Lebanese Army, as well as passages along the Lebanese/Syrian borders and all Lebanese ports. How could a radical group be able to find hundreds of kilograms of TNT? How can a group make preparations for such an explosion in the middle of Beirut at a time when the authorities and the army were able to discover little time bombs in the south? ...No doubt, stories about a radical group assassinating Hariri are ridiculous." The February 16th Lebanese edition of the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper also noted that the young man accused of carrying out the car bomb attack "never drove a car in his life."
Other Lebanese writers implicated the current Lebanese government in the assassination. An article in the Lebanese Ad-Diyar newspaper of February 18 called for the dissolution of the nation's government, saying, "Perhaps the Lebanese authorities are not accused of the assassination... however, they are responsible...."
Al-Mustaqbal declared (February 15), "[T]here is a unanimous opinion that this ruling government... cannot even be trusted to conduct the investigation.... [A]ll security and judicial apparatuses have been busy with political assassinations! ...The government's policy for preventive security is to launch campaigns against all those who oppose it.... This authority has been instigating for months the assassination of Hariri. It is the only one which will benefit from this assassination. Those who executed the murder are not important. The problem is: Who will arrest the Lebanese Authorities?"
The aforementioned An-Nahar newspaper carried an article of February 15 that noted the effect Hariri's assassination has on the upcoming elections, undercutting a leading opposition figure. The writer asked, "Had Hariri become such a great threat, to the extent that necessitated eradicating him?"
The Daily Star, in its February 15 edition, suggested "a transitional government, approved by and including the opposition. This will ensure May's elections take place within a proper democratic forum, and would be one way Syria and Lebanon can demonstrate the broader human resources of Lebanon are being harnessed to confront a crisis -- and, perhaps, to make amends for the tragic and foolish slaying of an international statesman." The blistering criticisms from overseas, the Star editorial said, are "surely warning enough to those in power both here and in Damascus."
The cartoon appeared in the Tishreen newspaper on February 17 and visually depicts the message being broadcast from all Syrian media and government officials: the Jews are to blame for the assassination of former Lebanese president Hariri, as they seek Lebanese chaos.
The same newspaper carried an article the previous day that also singled out, in addition to Israel, "the neo-conservatives in the US" as sharing responsibility for the assassination. It was part of what the columnist claimed is a "policy of... what they call 'creative chaos', which causes fires, creates dangerous situations in this area or that, which in its turn creates the best climate for the US, therefore enabling it to increase its interference and promote its projects in the world."
The Americans, the article said, "only look upon Israel and its benefits.... [and] base their policies on Israeli reports, files and recommendations!"
Turning back to the theme Syrian officials delivered in the first day after the assassination, the article continued, "Israel is not innocent from Hariri's blood as it is not innocent from the blood of the Palestinian, Lebanese and Syrian people."
In an attempt to dispel the immediate suspicions surrounding Syrian involvement in the assassination (as Hariri had recently declared his open opposition to the ongoing Syrian occupation of Lebanon), the Tishreen article asked, "Who is the main beneficiary of this? Who is the loser? The answer is: Syria, Lebanon and the Arab nation are the losers. Israel is the biggest winner! Be cautious and unite before the axe hits the head!"
More specific in its accusations, a February 15th article in Tishreen asserted, "Israel, having left Lebanon unwillingly, will always seek to destroy its achievements and bring it back to a state of turmoil and instability, so [Israel] could continue to occupy Shaba'a [the area known as Mt. Dov in Hebrew, on the Israeli border with Lebanon] and exploit water and resources in the South of Lebanon."
Syria's A-Thawra newspaper carried several articles on successive days that pointed a finger at nefarious powers seeking "to bring instability to the country and cause division between Syria and Lebanon." The newspaper's editor-in-chief wrote, "It seems that the powers which are behind this and that do not want any two Arab countries to have any mutual agreement especially when it is related to solidarity or the coordination of the Arab-Israeli conflict or having certain attitudes towards the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the American [occupation] in Iraq."
Interestingly, the Lebanese newspapers were far less quick to point fingers at Israel and far more interested in turning articles on the Hariri assassination into platforms for condemning the ongoing Syrian occupation of the country in unprecedented terms. The English-language Daily Star reported that Lebanon's political opposition has called for an 'intifada for independence'...."
A columnist in the An-Nahar newspaper of February 17 wrote, without naming Syria per se, that those who assassinated Rafik Hariri "are the same ones who tried to assassinate [Minister] Marwan Hamade, and the same who assassinated in the past presidents Rene Mouawwad and Bashir Gemayel, leader Kamal Jumblatt, Mufti Hasan Khalid and others.... Those who assassinated Hariri aimed to strike at the national opposition and civil peace."
Coming closer to the point was Ali Hamade, also in the An-Nahar of the same day, in an article headlined "Your Days Are Numbered in This Nice Country": "The Mafia regime that killed Hariri... will discover soon that the land will shake under its feet.... The Lebanese are revolting and they know who killed Rafik Hariri." Those who did it, Hamade wrote, "killed him, then they praised him. They destroyed half the city to kill him, then they said that he was their ally. They accused him of being an American and Israeli agent, then they talked about his Arabism.... Leave the Lebanese alone."
The official version of the assassination - that a "Palestinian refugee" Islamist carried out a suicide car bomb attack - was questioned by a writer for Al-Mustaqbal (February 16). "We have to remember that radical groups in Lebanon are subject to the constant surveillance of Lebanese and Syrian authorities," the article noted. "They cannot really move freely. We should also remember that all entrances towards the Palestinian camps are controlled by the Lebanese Army, as well as passages along the Lebanese/Syrian borders and all Lebanese ports. How could a radical group be able to find hundreds of kilograms of TNT? How can a group make preparations for such an explosion in the middle of Beirut at a time when the authorities and the army were able to discover little time bombs in the south? ...No doubt, stories about a radical group assassinating Hariri are ridiculous." The February 16th Lebanese edition of the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper also noted that the young man accused of carrying out the car bomb attack "never drove a car in his life."
Other Lebanese writers implicated the current Lebanese government in the assassination. An article in the Lebanese Ad-Diyar newspaper of February 18 called for the dissolution of the nation's government, saying, "Perhaps the Lebanese authorities are not accused of the assassination... however, they are responsible...."
Al-Mustaqbal declared (February 15), "[T]here is a unanimous opinion that this ruling government... cannot even be trusted to conduct the investigation.... [A]ll security and judicial apparatuses have been busy with political assassinations! ...The government's policy for preventive security is to launch campaigns against all those who oppose it.... This authority has been instigating for months the assassination of Hariri. It is the only one which will benefit from this assassination. Those who executed the murder are not important. The problem is: Who will arrest the Lebanese Authorities?"
The aforementioned An-Nahar newspaper carried an article of February 15 that noted the effect Hariri's assassination has on the upcoming elections, undercutting a leading opposition figure. The writer asked, "Had Hariri become such a great threat, to the extent that necessitated eradicating him?"
The Daily Star, in its February 15 edition, suggested "a transitional government, approved by and including the opposition. This will ensure May's elections take place within a proper democratic forum, and would be one way Syria and Lebanon can demonstrate the broader human resources of Lebanon are being harnessed to confront a crisis -- and, perhaps, to make amends for the tragic and foolish slaying of an international statesman." The blistering criticisms from overseas, the Star editorial said, are "surely warning enough to those in power both here and in Damascus."