Sydney Morning Herald can’t apologize enough for editorial cartoon and accompanying column
The fact-based cartoon has been retracted
Sydney, Australia — An influential Australian newspaper, the Sydney Morning Herald, has retracted and said it was "wrong" to publish a July 26 cartoon about Gaza that ignited howls of outrage from Zionists. In an August 3 editorial, the Herald denounced its own cartoon, saying that it "invoked an inappropriate element of religion, rather than nationhood, and made a serious error of judgment.” The cartoon, by Glen Le Lievre, depicted "an elderly man, with a large nose, sitting alone, with a remote control device in his hand, overseeing explosions in Gaza," according to the newspaper. His armchair had a Star of David on it, "and the man was wearing a kippah, a religious skullcap.”
Initially, the newspaper defended the cartoon, explaining that Le Lievre's drawing was inspired by "news photographs of men seated in chairs and lounges, observing the shelling of Gaza.”
The Herald’s initial defense was correct. As Harriet Sherwood reports (below), Israelis did indeed gather on hillsides to watch and cheer as their military dropped bombs on Gaza: "Israelis drank, snacked and posed for selfies" against a background of explosions in civilian areas.
Why is it wrong to satirize, in a cartoon, an actual occurrence that is now part of the history of the Gaza war — the heartless contempt which many Israelis have exhibited for the lives of Palestinian civilians? This is reality. Why can’t Israeli partisans stomach reality? Why must the supposedly secular and independent media of Australia bow to the demands of nationalist and religious-fanatic reality-deniers, who find truth highly offensive to their tender sensibilities and raging egotism?
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