JERUSALEM, Feb 16 (Reuters) - An Israeli cartoonist has launched an "anti-Semitic cartoon contest" to poke fun at fellow Jews in response to furore among Muslims over the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad.
Cartoonist Amitai Sandy said he was inspired by violent Muslim protests and the launching of a Holocaust cartoon competition by an Iranian daily that said it wanted to test the boundaries of free speech espoused by Western countries.
"We thought it would be a much braver thing to do to publish cartoons about ourselves, rather than our adversaries," Sandy told Reuters. "We want to fight fire with humour."
The cartoons will be exhibited in a Tel Aviv gallery and on his Web site www.boomka.org.
There will be no limitations on entries other than that they be witty, he added.
"We will show the world we can do the best, sharpest, most offensive Jew hating cartoons ever published," Sandy wrote on his Web site.
"No Iranian will beat us on our home turf," he added in reference to the cartoon competition being held by Iran's best selling newspaper to lampoon the annihilation of six million Jews in the Nazi Holocaust during World War Two.
The Hamshahri newspaper said it was holding the contest to test the boundaries of free speech.
In the latest violence over the drawings, first published in a Danish newspaper last year, three people were killed in Pakistan on Wednesday and franchises of Western firms were set on fire.
Many Muslims believe it is blasphemous to depict the Prophet.
