...Amitai Sandy, who says he belongs to the "extreme Israeli left" and recently voted for the Communist Hada list, feels he's still a good Israeli.

"As an artist I have a lot more leeway in Israel than in any other country -- nobody censors me, nobody threatens me," he says. He participates in demonstrations against the construction of the wall that will separate Israeli and Palestinian areas and exhibits with Palestinian artists. He doesn't care whether his contest plays right into the hands of anti-Semites. "They don't need me," he says. "They have enough ideas on their own."

And so he quietly, and with a trained eye, reviews the truly anti-Semitic cartoons on www.irancartoon.com. Some, he admits, "are really well done." While mostly amateurs took part in his contest for the best anti-Semitic cartoon, many professionals were among the 181 participants from 42 countries (including Russia, Switzerland and the US) that took part in the official Iranian contest.

Now Sandy's hoping that the Palestinians can learn from the contest and someday sponsor the best anti-Palestinian cartoon contest. "That would be a sign of political maturity," he says. "But if someone tried that today, they'd have to fear for their life."