CNN.com reported on March 26, 2001 that Pokemon games and cards were banned by Saudi Arabia because it had ssymbols including the "Israeli" Star of David. Pokemon (Pocket Monsters) is a Japanese video game (1996) that has a huge success world wide. It contains 386 Pokemons which the players have to capture and train.
This blog (by Zeev Barkan) is dedicated to the Star of David, its history, its various meanings and usages in different cultures. It includes thousands of pictures of Star of David, six-pointed stars, hexagrams, Solomon's Seals, Magen Davids and yellow badges,and served as a resource for three books and four art exhibitions.
Monday, May 01, 2006
Pokemon
Anti-Semitism test
Ronny Naftaniel wrote an article about the "Report of Anti-Semitic Incidents in the Netherlands for 2002 and January-May 2003" and in it he quotes Peter Pulzer, former Professor of Political Science and Modern History at the Oxford University, who suggested a test to check whether a certain statement is a legitimate criticism or an anti-Semite criticism. Among the questions one has to answer in this test is the following:
Does the artist or television producer use the Star of David to identify Israeli military equipment?
Ronny Naftaniel adds:
This happened at the anti-Israel demonstration in Amsterdam on 13 April 2002. Some of the ca. 15,000 demonstrators compared Sharon to Hitler and equated the Star of David with swastikas.
My general impression after intensive reading about Stars of David is that we are dealing here with a symbol that is so powerful that there are millions of people who love it with all their hearts while other millions hate it with all their hearts. This dualism is the main theme in the design of this emblem: one triangle pointing straight to the skies (love) while the other is pointing straight to hell (hate). These twins accompany mankind from the dawn of history and I don't expect the sudden disappearance of any of them.
Khazars
David Dahan wrote an article titled "Jews protest trampled Star of David statue". The article is about a monument to Prince Svyatoslav recently erected in Belgorod, a town near the Russian-Ukrainian border. The monument shows a horse rider crushing the Shield of David of a Khazar warrior. The sculptor Vyacheslav Klykov is a notorious anti Semite.
The Khazars (652-1016) founded an empire in the Northern Caucasus along the Caspian Sea and later converted to Judaism.
On the KHAZARIA IMAGE GALLERY there is a photo of engravings on a metal disc of the Star of David "unearthed at two Khazar sites, one along the Donets River in eastern Ukraine and the other along the Don River in southern Russia".
Lemba
Steve Jones wrote in his book (" in the Blood: God, Genes and Destiny" 1996, Harper Collins, London. ISBN 0-00-255511-5]) that the Lemba people in the northern part of South Africa and the south of Zimbabwe,
"Have clear Jewish elements: Lemba do not eat pork (hence the name: the 'people who refuse'), are circumcised and often use biblical names such as Solomon. They lay claim to a secret language, Hiberu. The Star of David and 'elephant of Judah' are everywhere in their homes".
Jay Sand wrote an article about "The Jews of Africa" where he mentions that the flag of the Lemba features a Star of David and the Elephant of Judah.