A cartoon by Gerald Scarfe depicting Israeli leader Binyamin Netanyahu building a wall with blood-red mortar has forced an apology out of Rupert Murdoch after Jewish leaders said it was reminiscent of anti-Semitic propaganda.
Murdoch published his apology on his official Twitter account writing:
‘Gerald Scarfe has never reflected the opinions of the Sunday Times. Nevertheless, we owe major apology for grotesque, offensive cartoon.’
The cartoon was published in The Sunday Times on Holocaust Memorial Day and showed the Jewish leader cementing Palestinians into the wall’s structure, with an accompanying caption that reads ‘Will cementing the peace continue?’
The Board of Deputies of British Jews lodged a formal complaint against the cartoon with the Press Complaints Commission, stating that the cartoon ‘is shockingly reminiscent of the blood-libel imagery more usually found in parts of the virulently antisemitic Arab press. Its use is all the more disgusting on Holocaust Memorial Day, given the similar tropes levelled against Jews by the Nazis.’
Although Murdoch has condemned the publication of the cartoon, acting Sunday Times editor Martin Ivens has denied that the cartoon is anti-Semitic.
‘The last thing I or anyone connected with the Sunday Times would countenance would be insulting the memory of the Shoah or invoking the blood libel,’ he told The Guardian. ‘The paper has long written strongly in defence of Israel and its security concerns, as have I as a columnist. We are, however, reminded of the sensitivities in this area by the reaction to the cartoon and I will of course bear them very carefully in mind in future.
The paper also released another statement, defending the publication of the cartoon as a representation of Netanyahu, and not of Israel as a whole.
It is aimed squarely at Mr Netanyahu and his policies, not at Israel, let alone at Jewish people. It appeared yesterday because Mr Netanyahu won the Israeli election last week,’ a statement read. ‘The Sunday Times condemns anti-Semitism, as is clear in the excellent article in yesterday’s magazine which exposes the Holocaust-denying tours of concentration camps organised by David Irving.
The artist behind the controversial work also published a statement on his official website explaining his motivations behind the cartoon.
‘First of all I am not, and never have been, anti-Semitic,’ he writes. ‘The Sunday Times has given me the freedom of speech over the last 46 years to criticise world leaders for what I see as their wrong-doings. This drawing was a criticism of Netanyahu, and not of the Jewish people: there was no slight whatsoever intended against them. I was, however, stupidly completely unaware that it would be printed on Holocaust Day, and I apologise for the very unfortunate timing.
Scarfe is a well-known British cartoonist, renowned for having worked alongside Pink Floyd and Disney, where he worked as a conceptual artist on the film Hercules.
