London: The Guardian newspaper in UK fired senior editorial cartoonist Steve Bell after refusing to publish a caricature of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
According to critics, the cartoon was seen to have antisemitic imagery.
“The decision has been made not to renew Steve Bell’s contract,” The Guardian said.
“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,” publisher Guardian News and Media said in a statement sent to Associated Press on Thursday.
Hundreds of Bell’s cartoons have been published in The Guardian since he started contributing in 1983.
Some of his cartoons have been accused of referring to anti-Jewish stereotypes over the years.
Bell’s latest cartoon, which he posted on social media, shows Netanyahu holding a scalpel and preparing to cut a Gaza-shaped incision in his abdomen, with the caption ‘Residents of Gaza, get out now.’
The cartoon, labelled ‘After David Levine’, recalls a Vietnam War-era cartoon depicting US President Lyndon Johnson pointing at a Vietnam-shaped scar. Levine, an American illustrator, had drawn inspiration from a picture of Johnson showing reporters his scar from gall-bladder surgery.
Bell said he had been accused of evoking the ‘pound of flesh’ demanded by the Jewish character Shylock in Shakespeare’s play ‘The Merchant of Venice.’
He firmly denied depicting any ‘harmful’ antisemitic imagery.
“The Merchant of Venice had nothing to do with the cartoon. I don’t promote harmful antisemitic stereotypes. Never have I done such a thing, I would not dream of doing such a thing,” the Press Gazette quoted Bell as saying.
Bell’s cartoon subjects include former PMs – he portrayed John Major wearing underpants over his trousers, Tony Blair with a demonic oversized eye and David Cameron with a condom over his head.
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