On the night of November 5 and the following, while the world discovers who, Donald Trump or Kamala Harris, will occupy the White House in January 2025, Joe Sacco will not chew his head in front of his television. Because whatever the result, it will not change anything that prevents him from sleeping: the United States’ constant support for Israel in the war that has been waged for a year in Gaza.
Joe Sacco is a far from peaceful American, tormented by conflicts and outbreaks of violence on both sides of the globe, when many of his compatriots are disinterested. When we met him, at the end of September, in the Paris offices of Gallimard, the parent company of his publishing house Futuropolis, he had just gotten off the plane, exhausted from the long trip from Portland (Oregon, on the west coast) to attend the Festival. America, in Vincennes (Val-de-Marne), and participate in the launch of his new graphic work. His luggage is ridiculously small and his shirt is wrinkle-free. Before answering us, he only asks us for one thing: five minutes to brush his teeth. The man is organized, focused and hardworking. Your stay in France will be productive from the first to the last day.
Israel had not yet unleashed hostilities in Lebanon, but Israeli bombs continued to fall on the Palestinian coastal strip, killing more than 41,000 people in less than a year, according to the Hamas Health Ministry, and international jurists were increasingly speaking out. more openly about the existence of a possible “genocide”, a debate that for the moment remains unresolved. Given this situation, could Joe Sacco remain silent? “A friend from Gaza called me and asked me to make the Palestinian voice heard”, he says. It is difficult for someone so quick to establish responsibilities to avoid his own. On the contrary, it is about digging it, pulling the thread, until the ball is completely undone.
A short cry from the heart.
Who is ultimately the real culprit? Hamas, which launched deadly attacks against Israel on October 7, 2023? Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu? US President Joe Biden? Or himself, Joe Sacco, an honest taxpayer who, by paying his taxes, contributes decisively to the deaths of Gaza’s children?
The result of his nightmarish reflections is thirty-two pages. Where, usually, Joe Sacco weighs, contextualizes to the extreme, collects the point of view of each party, verifies, confronts, War in Gaza It appears as a brief cry from the heart.. It is neither an investigation nor a report, but a brochure. Their target is an elderly man just months away from retirement: Joe Biden, who, at the time the book went to print, had not yet given up on running for a second term.
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