Semiotic Analysis of Cartoons on Israeli Social Media Pages Targeting Arabic during the Aggression against Gaza: The "Israel Speaks Arabic" Page as a Model
, Vol.13
, Sixtieth Issue
PP:0
Authors:
Dr. Amal Mohamed Mohamed Henish-Assistant Professor of Public Relations & Advertising,Public Relations & Advertising Department,Faculty of Mass Communication - Girls,Al-Azhar University
Abstract:
Caricature is considered one of the most prominent forms of visual expression, capable of depicting and critically addressing political and social realities through a concise and satirical style. It employs lines, symbols, and linguistic and visual connotations to convey messages with profound intellectual and media dimensions.
Based on this role, this study seeks to analyze the caricatures published on the "Israel Speaks Arabic" Facebook page during the 2023-2024 aggression on Gaza, to uncover the semiotic and symbolic meanings inherent in the visual discourse and how it is employed to serve specific propaganda and guidance objectives toward the Arab audience. This is achieved by employing semiological analysis tools and applying them to a sample of 13 caricatures from the "Israel Speaks Arabic" page during the period from October 2023 to October 2024.
The study reached several findings, including:
- Caricature art is used as a strategic tool to promote Israeli discourse and entrench its ideology, targeting the Arab public directly in Arabic. It aims to disseminate Israeli ideological messages and reshape Arab cultural symbols to impose economic and symbolic hegemony and soft normalization.
- Colors play a central role in conveying symbolic and propagandistic messages in caricatures.
- The study revealed a diversity of Israeli propaganda techniques employed in the caricatures included in the sample. These techniques encompassed a range of approaches, including: demonization, symbolic whitewashing, moral dichotomies (good versus evil), visual exaggeration, role reversal, irony, comparison (visual contrast), political defamation, symbolic personification and propaganda amplification, defamation and criminalization, intimidation and distortion, satire and sarcastic criticism, symbolic polishing and soft normalization, fear-mongering, symbolic exaggeration, and emotional manipulation.
Key Words:
Semiotic analysis – caricature - Israeli social media pages targeting Arabic - aggression against Gaza - Israel Speaks Arabic page.
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Research Language:
Arabic
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