Sounds like the guardian wanted to get rid of him for a while. Apparently he has been involved in antisemitism incidents in the past. They don’t need the controversy he brings.
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I mean I always found his cartoons annoyingly unfunny but I don’t think there’s anti-Semitism in this one. The general state of newspaper political cartoons actually being funny is pretty pathetic, they’re still about as good as The Day Today’s physical cartoonist Brandt.
But back on topic I it certainly looks like there’s no grounds for anti-Semitism for this one.
Crtitising the government of Israel’s foreign policy = antisemitism in 2023
The description of the comic didn’t sound anti-semetic, unless there’s some anti semetic trope that I’m unaware of. Being against the state of Israel, apartheid, ethno-states and genetic cleansing of Palestinians isn’t anti-semetic. Self surgery with boxing gloves actually seems rather apt imagery.
There’s no mention of past anti-semetism in the article either as far as I can see, something about Tories which I don’t quite understand the reference, nose rings? Is that a trope I don’t understand?
Help me out here.
https://pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/nationals/guardian-steve-bell-cartoon-netanyahu/ this article goes into the past accusations a bit more, tbh I’m struggling to see it as well:
" The incident is not the first involving Bell, The Guardian and allegations of anti-Semitism against his cartoons. In 2018 he said he was censored by the newspaper’s editor, Katharine Viner, when the editorial team declined to publish a cartoon depicting a Palestinian medic shot dead by Israeli forces in a fireplace besides Netanyahu and then-prime minister Theresa May.
Bell subsequently sent the cartoon in an email to the entire Guardian editorial staff, from where it was leaked to Huffpost. Critics argued the image evoked Nazi gas chambers, which Bell responded was “the last thing on my mind when I drew it”.
Viner told The Guardian’s reader’s editor that Bell’s point “could easily have been made in a way that didn’t reference fire or ovens”.
In 2019, another of Bell’s cartoons – this time depicting Labour deputy leader Tom Watson as a witch hunter looking for anti-Semitic tropes – was blocked. In November 2020, The Guardian received 32 complaints of anti-Semitic imagery over a Bell cartoon which did make it to print and depicted Labour leader Keir Starmer holding the head of predecessor Jeremy Corbyn on a plate, alluding to the beheading of St John the Baptist. "
Honestly what I get from here is “repeat it long enough it will start sounding true”
My understanding is that the cartoon is based on a cartoon of Lyndon B Johnson from decades ago. However, the cartoon uses the common metaphor of taking a “pound of flesh” from something to make it’s point.
That metaphor is attributed the character Shylock from Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice. Shylock is considered by many to be an offensive stereotype of a Jewish person (I think it is) that is sort of “tolerated” when used in a historical context, but not otherwise. i.e. if you call a Jewish person “Shylock”, expect rightly to be called a racist.
The cartoon applied to LBJ isn’t offensive because, afaik, he isn’t Jewish. But take the character and Netanyahu, smush them together and bam: antisemitism claims.
The cartoon applied to LBJ isn’t offensive because, afaik, he isn’t Jewish. But take the character and Netanyahu, smush them together and bam: antisemitism claims.
Also Johnson isn’t operating on himself - he’s just lifting his shirt to show the scar.
Sounds like a crock of shit to me.
The Daily Mail has helpfully republished the cartoon to report on the story. Link to image, not the paper
Criticizing hardcore Zionism isn’t anti-semitic. Equating Jewish people with these genocidal maniacs is though.
And the Lyndon B Johnson cartoon referenced.
I can see the issue as it’s not Johnson operating on himself.
This alone doesn’t seem bad. I can only assume the guardian had a growing file on him and this image tipped them over the edge.
He could always sue The Guardian for libel; that’s the traditional way of clearing one’s name in England.
they suspended martin rowson for the same, i suspect this was the last straw. Rowson only recently came back
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Long-serving Guardian cartoonist Steve Bell has been sacked by the newspaper in a row over a drawing he created of Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu.
Bell said the cartoon was spiked after a phone call from the paper suggested it may reference Shakespeare’s Shylock’s “pound of flesh” line.
Moneylender Shylock, from Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, is considered to be one of the most notorious Jewish stereotypes in English literature due to his greedy nature.
Bell told the BBC that the interpretation by the Guardian "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 issue has arisen during a time of heightened tension following the Hamas attacks on Israel earlier this month and the subsequent retaliatory strikes on Gaza.
In the same year, senior Conservative MP Sajid Javid tweeted that Bell’s cartoon - depicting former Home Secretary Priti Patel and ex-Prime Minister Boris Johnson as bulls with rings through their noses - was “incredibly offensive”.
The original article contains 475 words, the summary contains 186 words. Saved 61%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Perhaps he can get a job at the Daily Mail.
The Guardian was started by Unitarians who are supposed to be open to ideas, but now it fully embraces cancel culture and censorship, like any orthodoxy.
Fucking lol. Say more things, I’ve still got popcorn left.
Take it to a witch-burning.
Ah, a conservative favorite. No thanks, I’m not in to mindless cruelty like right-wingers.
Careful with that pitchfork, Eugene. Free speech is a civil liberty, not right wing.
Yeah and it’s within everyone’s free speech to say they don’t wanna platform you any more. Whine more.
Ooof. Very brave of you to say this. RIP your inbox.
That’s how far democracy has gone down the drain, that even criticising cancel culture is ‘brave’.
