Iconic British cartoonist Steve Bell has recently been sacked by The Guardian for a cartoon of Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu.
Bell has been unknowingly found guilty of an anti-Semitic trope. Bell’s illustrious 42-year career at The Guardian has been truncated by ignorant editors because of a literary misinterpretation. The Guardian’s own illustrious 200-year history sinks further into the mire.
This is an occasion to confront that the cartoonist fraternity is rife with those prone to produce anti-Semitic tropes. This is a scandal of the first order. Time to troll through some examples to see what the right-thinking world is up against.
(Glen le Lievre, Sydney Morning Herald, July 2014. This cartoon was modelled on a photograph of Israelis viewing the Gaza bombing as a spectator sport. The cartoon accompanied an article by columnist Mike Carlton, the only SMH journalist prepared to call a spade a spade. The article and cartoon produced a furious response from the usual suspects and Carlton resigned out of principle.)
(Jacek Woźniak, Le Canard Enchaîné, June 2014 — "When I grow up I will already be dead")
(Alan Moir, Sydney Morning Herald, February 2009 — Ehud Barak, Tzipi Livni)
(Bruce Petty, Melbourne Age, June 2008)
(Ian Sharpe, Canberra Times, July 2006)
(Jonathan Zapiro, South African Sunday Times, July 2006)
(Khalil Bendib, February 2005)
(Michael Leunig, 2002. This cartoon was rejected by Melbourne Age editorial)
(Carlos Latuff, 2002)
Dr Evan Jones is a political economist and former academic.
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