Octopus as an anti-semitic symbol?

In April 2007¹ there was a furore over the depiction of New York mayor Michael Bloomberg as an octopus on cover of America’s 1st Freedom: a National Rifle Association (NRA) magazine. The octopus was seen an antisemitic symbol, and as an attack on the mayors Jewish heritage.

The NRA cartoon was a response to the perception that the mayor was extending ‘his reach, and his illegal anti-gun tactics, across America’²: classic octopus and its interfering tentacles. So in this case it was unlikely that any antisemitic feeling was intended.

But can the octopus be an anti-Semitic symbol? Yes and no. The following is a bit tautologous, but please bear with me. It is not anti-semitic as the octopus is so widely used as a metaphor for any organisations or governments that it just cannot be³ as the motif is too general. But, at the same time, that is also why it can be considered anti-semitic: when the belief that there is a Jewish conspiracy –  i.e. Protocols of the Elders of Zion and ilk – and that is the organisation represented and that has its interfering tentacles/arms around the world. Then, yes, in my opinion it can be considered anti-semitic symbol.

I think it comes down to judging each political cartoon on it own merits, and in context. Criticising Israeli policy is not anti-semitic. Anti-semitism is claiming there is a Jewish octopus out to take over the world. For example: I don’t think either the Chegodayev (2002) nor the Starvo (2001) cartoon – taken on it own merits⁴ – is anti-semitic, however, the octopuses that bear the Star of David that appear in the Seppla (~1939) cartoon, and on the cover of the “International Jew” (2001) are anti-semitic. The cartoons need to be considered in context of where they appear and when they were produced.

Footnotes:

1. via Hardy, David. 19 April 2007. Of Octopuses and NRA. In, Of Arms and The Law, http://www.armsandthelaw.com/archives/2007/04/of_octopuses_an.php. (accessed 01-Jan, 2009).
2. Lucadano, Kathleen. 14 February 2008. Mayor Bloomberg and the NRA. In, NY Daily News, http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2008/02/14/2008-02-14_mayor_bloomberg_and_the_nra.html. (accessed. 01 Jan 2008)
3. I think there is a flaw in my logic here
4. I think with the Chegodayev and Starvo cartoons where they appeared is important. I haven’t seen them in context with the editorials, opinions etc with which they appeared.
5. Gerstenfeld, Manfred. June 2004. Major Anti-Semitic Motifs in Arab Cartoons: Interview with Joël Kotek In, Institute for Global Jewish Affairs, http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DRIT=3&DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=624&PID=0&IID=644&TTL=Major_Anti-Semitic_Motifs_in_Arab_Cartoons . (accessed. 01 Jan 2009)