A veteran political cartoonist for the Guardian was axed by the UK publication over an “antisemitic” caricature of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to reports.
Steve Bell, who has worked at the paper for four decades, submitted the cartoon last Monday in which Netanyahu’s torso bears an outline of the Gaza Strip that he prepares to cut away with a scalpel while wearing boxing gloves.
The illustration was captioned “Residents of Gaza, get out now.”
His editors immediately called to voice concerns that the troublesome image harkened to the controversial Shakespeare character Shylock, the Jewish moneylender in “The Merchant of Venice” who demands a “pound of flesh” as security on a loan, Bell told the BBC.
A befuddled Bell said the call was “cryptic” and didn’t get the connection to one of the most notorious antisemitic tropes in literature.
Bell said the Netanyahu caricature was an homage to a famous drawing about the Vietnam War.
“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 told the BBC.
Bell argued that a key part of the image was Netanyahu “wearing boxing gloves,” according to the Morning Star.
However, his arguments failed to sway his longtime employers, who canned him after 42 years.
His contract runs through April 2024.
“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,” a spokesperson for the British newspaper told The Post.
The Post has sought comment from Bell.
Bell ended up posting the cartoon to his account on X, setting off additional backlash.
“Steve Bell is into casting Israel as Shylock,” one user shared on X. “He calls this cryptic. I call him an inhumane antisemitic blood libelling beast.”
Another wrote: “Tbh, this does ‘seem’ to be riffing on the anti-Semitic ‘pound of flesh.’ The whole situation is a tragedy, we really need voices/artists for peace rather than encouraging more hate.”
“Bloody hell. You actually published this? No words to describe how offensive, inappropriate and ill-timed this is,” another user said.
