Before the ink dried on its first anti-Semitic cartoon, the editors over at The New York Times decided to run another derogatory illustration of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the paper’s international edition.
Honest Reporting, a watchdog monitoring for anti-Israel bias in the media, argued the new cartoon, which ran over the weekend, proves the Times “is deliberately giving the Jewish community the proverbial finger, even while it apologizes for its other cartoon.” The organization went on to say there’s someone on the Times’ editorial board who has a “serious obsession” with Netanyahu.
For those who might not understand the context of the cartoon by Roar Hagen, it appears the Norwegian illustrator was depicting Netanyahu as Moses, who led the Israelites out of captivity in Egypt, according to the Old Testament book of Exodus.
The small caption in the corner of Hagen’s cartoon appears to read: “Victory according to Exodus.” He employed a similar theme here:
The anti-Semitic message of this latest cartoon, for which the Times has not apologized, seems to be that the recently re-elected Israeli prime minister has picked up the mantel from Moses, continuing to lead the Jewish people. The tablets Netanyahu and President Donald Trump are holding are apparently meant to represent the 10 Commandments, which Moses received on tablets when he ascended Mount Sinai.
Didn’t we already go through this?
The most puzzling part of all this is that just a couple days before, the Times faced criticism for running another anti-Semitic cartoon in its international edition.
That illustration depicted Netanyahu as a dog being held on a leash by a blind Trump:
The outlet ultimately apologized for the derogatory cartoon, after facing intense backlash from critics around the world.
“We are deeply sorry for the publication of an anti-Semitic political cartoon last Thursday in the print edition of The New York Times that circulates outside of the United States, and we are committed to making sure nothing like this happens again,” the paper said in a statement.
On behalf of the Times’ opinion section, spokeswoman Eileen Murphy said such illustrations are “always dangerous, and at a time when anti-Semitism is on the rise worldwide, it’s all the more unacceptable.”
Editors with the newspaper further stated the initial cartoon was published by a rogue editor who acted without the appropriate supervision. There’s no telling what the excuse will be this time.