PICK OF THE WEEK: Eli Valley
Jewish-American political cartoonist examining Jewish identity, Zionism, and contemporary American politics.
Eli Valley is a provocative Jewish-American cartoonist whose visceral political comics have sparked fierce debates about Jewish identity, Zionism, and contemporary American politics.
As the son of a rabbi, Valley comes naturally by his most pressing and recurrent theme: lies told and violence committed in the name of Jewish safety and security.
His 2017 collection "Diaspora Boy: Comics on Crisis in America and Israel" showcases his unflinching examination of Jewish-American contradictions, targeting everyone from Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu to conservative commentators and liberal Jewish figures he views as complicit in policies he opposes.
Valley's work has generated intense controversy within Jewish communities, with some praising his willingness to challenge Jewish orthodoxies while others condemn his approach as crossing lines of acceptable critique.
One of Valley’s most controversial and prescient pieces was “Israel Man and Diaspora Boy”. I relate to how Valley grew up, being sold the party line that the most noble of our people will move to our nationalist heartland, while those (like me) who culturally assimilate in countries like the US or Australia are essentially “lost”; choosing to live outside of the country to intermingle with non-Jews, “diluting” the bloodline to the point of extinction.
We are grateful for artists like Valley, who have spent their entire careers asking us to confront difficult questions about our politics, values and hypocrisy, while simultaneously making compelling arguments for a more open, progressive and compassionate future of Jewish identity.
Learn more about Eli Valley’s work in the below video “Amusing Jews: The Art of Anger”