…On second thoughts, to hell with it!

This image is a black-and-white political cartoon with a bold headline at the top that reads “…On second thoughts, to hell with it!”. The main scenery shows a wide, empty desert with few small plants, trees, and scattered rocks in the background. On the middle-left side of the image, there is a large skeletal camel with the word “Egypt” written on the hump. The camel is lying on the ground with its body stretched out and ribs exposed. The camel is near the brink of death, but it is still barely alive. A rope is tied around the skull of the camel and extends towards the right side of the cartoon. On the right side of the cartoon, a robed man with exaggerated distress pulls the camel with the rope. The man holds a large sign on a pole, reading, “Arabs onward; Fight to the death!; Exterminate Israel!!; Smash the infidel aggressors!” The man is walking from left to right, dragging the camel along with him. In the bottom left corner, two small figures are standing near a clutter of rocks. The figure on the left has a speech bubble above them that reads, “Everyone back to the oasis!” and the other responding with, “It’s occupied”. The background is darkly shaded but open, keeping the focus primarily on the man and the camel.

The camel, which takes up a good portion of the image, denotes the beatdown that had been taken by Egypt over the very short time of the Six Day War. For one, the United States switched its allegiance slightly from pro-Arab to pro-Israel, causing Egypt to suffer militarily and financially. Egypt also lost 90% of its Air Force from Israeli air attacks, lost control of the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula in only three days, and it led to their military leader to resign upon defeat (although he would come back to power not long after). This image could also be including the 1956 Suez Crisis, which led many world powers to attack Egypt in defense of Israel amidst Cold War conflict.

The Arab man holding the “Exterminate Israel” sign is stereotyped very heavily. In the cartoon, we see a large nose, headdress, and other tattered clothing on the man. His sign is very provocative in the sense that Arabs will not give up their land and are highly aggressive. It shows that they also believe that they are victims at the hands of Israel, as implied by the “Smash the infidel aggressors!” line. Wars like this one strengthened the idea of Arab Nationalism across the Middle East. In retaliation to Israeli attacks, many guerilla groups attacked Israelis in Palestinian territories, and Egypt even closed the Strait of Tiran to Israel as an act of war.