So with Egyptian political attention focused on the conflict with Israel, perhaps it was a little naive of artist Mustafa Hussein to think that he could team up with an Israeli-American cartoonist Ranan Lurie, and not spark a public outcry. The vehemently anti-Israeli weekly Rose Al Youssef launched a campaign against Lurie, Egyptian cartoonists signed a petition for his ouster and the Arabic edition of Cartoon News was dropped. Lurie still appears in Caricature, but Hussein expects that, within a few issues, the Artists' Syndicate will send him a letter declaring that publishing the Israeli's cartoons constitutes cultural normalization, and he will have no choice but to desist. Before Netanyahu, none of this would have happened. There are fires in people's hearts.
Public opinion refuses anything from Israel.
In the future it will be calmer. I hope some day the time will come to publish Cartoon News. Despite the fact that Lurie and Hussein are personal friends, the Egyptian does not seem to be bitter. Cartoonists do not amuse, Hussein says, they guide. We help to form public opinion.