Tuesday, 17 October 2023

Uk cartoonist gets the sack over 'anti-Semitic' Netanyahu cartoon

 



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In a row over alleged anti-Semitism, famed cartoonist Steve Bell has been fired by

 British daily the Guardian over a cartoon critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin 

Netanyahu, media reports said yesterday.

The cartoon showing Netanyahu preparing to operate on himself with an outline of 

Gaza visible on his stomach was rejected for allegedly evoking the 

anti-Semitic “pound of flesh” trope.

Bell said that the cartoon was rejected after he received an “ominous phone call”

 from the Guardian with the message “pound of flesh,” in reference to the Jewish 

character Shylock in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice.

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand,” Bell said to the phone call, and then “received 

this even more mysterious reply: ‘Jewish bloke; pound of flesh; antisemitic trope’,”

 he related on X.

Far from being anti-Semitic, Bell said, the cartoon was inspired by a 1966 

David Levine cartoon of US President Lyndon Johnson, who was famed for 

lifting his shirt to show off a scar from his gall bladder surgery.

Speaking to the BBC, Bell said it “made no sense to me, as there is no reference to

 that play in my cartoon, which shows Netanyahu, poised to perform a surgical 

operation on himself while wearing boxing gloves, the catastrophic consequences

 of which are yet to be seen.”

“The image itself was inspired by the late, great David Levine’s cartoon of President

 Lyndon Johnson (LBJ) showing off his operation scar, which Levine draws in

 the shape of a map of Vietnam,” Bell added. The undeclared US war in the 

Southeast Asian country had proved one of Johnson’s most intractable issues, 

and one through which he did himself great harm, similar to the Gaza conflict for Netanyahu, as Bell argued.

A Guardian News and Media spokesperson said of the sudden sacking: 

“The decision has been made not to renew Steve Bell’s contract. 

Steve Bell’s cartoons have been an important part of the Guardian over the

 past 40 years – we thank him and wish him all the best.”

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20231017-uk-cartoonist-gets-the-sack-over-anti-semitic-netanyahu-cartoon/

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