I’m not sure what I find more disturbing: the publication of an
anti-Semitic cartoon in the New York Times or the fact that similar disgusting images have been appearing in the media, and on social media, for a long time without causing very much fuss.
Of course, the
NYT has apologised for publishing the cartoon, which shows the
Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, as a guide dog wearing a Star of David, leading a blind
President Trump in a kippah. It’s a classic trope: powerful Jews leading the world’s politicians astray.
But the apology had an air of calculated indifference to the harm that the cartoon caused. ‘The image was offensive, and it was an error of judgement’, said the insincere statement. For me, the use of the term ‘error of judgement’ to describe the publication of an anti-Semitic cartoon is more significant than the hateful image itself. For what the
NYTis really saying when it uses this term is that the publication of the cartoon was not a big deal.
For some time now, I have wondered why cartoonists, journalists and public figures who describe themselves as leftists or progressives are so cavalier about circulating anti-Semitic images. It first hit me in 2002, when the editor of the
New Statesman had to apologise for a front cover which featured a Star of David imposed on the Union flag next to the headline: ‘A Kosher Conspiracy.’ The accompanying article was devoted to exposing the supposed machinations of Britain’s pro-Israel lobby. That the
NS could publish such a hideous cover image indicated that journalists were increasingly relaxed about crossing an important line. It was the first of many ‘errors of judgement’ regarding media promotion of
anti-Semitism.
Another example, one of the worst, was the dreadful motif of Jewish infanticide that appeared in a 2003 cartoon in the
Independent. The cartoon showed Ariel Sharon eating the head of a Palestinian baby and saying: ‘What’s wrong? Have you never seen a politician kissing a baby?’ This time there was not even a perfunctory ‘error of judgement’ apology for a cartoon that played on racist prejudices of Jews sacrificing non-Jewish children.
Instead, the cartoon won the 2003 Political Cartoon of the Year Award.
The casual anti-Semitism of the woke cartoonist