Cartoonist sacked by British daily Guardian over Netanyahu cartoon

Published October 17,2023

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In a row over alleged antisemitism, famed cartoonist Steve Bell has been fired by British day by day The Guardian over a cartoon essential of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, media studies mentioned Monday.

The cartoon exhibiting Netanyahu making ready to function on himself with an overview of Gaza seen on his abdomen was rejected for allegedly evoking the anti-Semitic “pound of flesh” trope.

Bell mentioned that the cartoon was rejected after he acquired 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 mentioned to the telephone name, after which “received this even more mysterious reply: ‘Jewish bloke; pound of flesh; antisemitic trope’,” he associated on X.

Far from being antisemitic, Bell mentioned, the cartoon was impressed by a 1966 David Levine cartoon of U.S. President Lyndon Johnson, who was famed for lifting his shirt to point out off a scar from his gall bladder surgical procedure.

Speaking to the BBC, Bell mentioned 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 U.S. conflict within the Southeast Asian nation had proved one in all Johnson’s most intractable points, and one although which he did himself nice hurt, much like the Gaza battle for Netanyahu, as Bell argued.

A Guardian News and Media spokesperson mentioned 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.”