I give Rupert Murdoch credit for not sweeping it under the rug. The hatred of Israel and Jews in the British media has become quite palpable.
Gerald Scarfe has never reflected the opinions of the Sunday Times. Nevertheless, we owe major apology for grotesque, offensive cartoon.
by Katherine Rushton
Netanyahu cartoon in Sunday Times
Media baron Rupert Murdoch has apologized for a Sunday Times cartoon depicting Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahubuilding a wall using blood-red mortar, an image Jewish leaders said was reminiscent of anti-Semitic propaganda.
The political cartoon, which was published on Holocaust Memorial Day, shows Netanyahu wielding a long, sharp trowel and depicts agonized Palestinians bricked into the wall’s structure. It was meant as a comment on recent elections in which Netanyahu’s ticket narrowly won the most seats in the Israeli parliament.
“Will cementing the peace continue?” the caption read, a reference both to the stalled peace process and Israel’s separation barrier, a complex of fences and concrete walls which Israel portrays as a defense against suicide bombers but which Palestinians say is a land grab under the guise of security.
[.......] “Nevertheless, we owe (a) major apology for (the) grotesque, offensive cartoon,” Murdoch tweeted.
Jewish community leaders were particularly disturbed by parallels they saw between the red-tinged drawing and historical anti-Semitic propaganda – in particular the theme of “blood libel,” the twisted but persistent myth that Jews secretly use human blood in their religious rituals.
Their anger was heightened by the fact that the cartoon was published on a day meant to commemorate the communities destroyed by the Nazis and their allies in the mid-20th century.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews, which represents the country’s roughly 265,000-strong Jewish community, said it had lodged a complaint with the UK press watchdog.
The deputies said in a statement that the depiction of a Jewish leader using blood for mortar “is shockingly reminiscent of the blood libel imagery more usually found in parts of the virulently anti-Semitic Arab press.” Israel’s ambassador to Britain echoed the statement, while the speaker of Israel‘s parliament, Reuven Rivlin, wrote to his UK counterpart to express “extreme outrage.”
[......]
In a statement, the paper’s acting editor, Martin Ivens, said that insulting the memory of Holocaust victims or invoking blood libel “the last thing I or anyone connected with the Sunday Times would countenance.”
“The paper has long written strongly in defense of Israel and its security concerns, as have I as a columnist,” Ivens said. “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.”
[......]
Distorted features, blood, and excrement are commonplace. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair, a once-popular leader whose reputation was badly damaged by his decision to support the US invasion of Iraq, was often depicted with ghoulish features, sharpened fangs, or with his hands or mouth drenched in gore.
Scarfe, whose career with the Sunday Times stretches back to the 1960s, often makes use of blood in his cartoons.
The red fluid is splashed across his website and featured, for example, in a recent cartoon of Syrian leader BasharAssad, who was pictured as a green, wraith-like creature drinking greedily from an oversized cup labeled “Children’s Blood.”
Read the rest – Murdoch apologizes for Sunday Times’ Netanyahu cartoon
This is typical of the “civil” discourse we can expect from Liberals. What is untypical is Murdoch’s appology for it. Usually this kind of thing gets passed over as simply “normal” discourse. Of course it is offensive, but most of what Liberals do is offensive. Without ad hominimum and straw men, they would have no arguements at all.
Looking at the larger picture, does anyone else see parallels to the symbology of Pink Floyd’s “The Wall”?
@ PaladinPhil:
No giant, carniverous vaginas in this Wall…
@ Iron Fist:
What do liberals have to do with this? A conservative cartoonist publishes a cartoon in a conservative newspaper, owned by Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch rightly apologized. Tell me what the liberal connection is?
@ theoutsider:
Conservative cartoonist? Got any proof of that? He is on the Liberal side of the Israel question. That is evidenced by this cartoon. Do you deny that the Liberal side is most uncivil? We see evidence of that from your own President and from every editorial page in publishing.
@ Iron Fist:
Surprise surprise. Gerald Scarfe was the artist for “The Wall”.
@ theoutsider:
And the artist appears to be far from conservative. Just peruse his art.
@ the outsider:
Excuse me, but I think you have smoke coming from your ass…..
@ Iron Fist:
His artwork looks pretty conservative, and he works for the Sunday Times. He wouldn’t have been hired there if he wasn’t right leaning. Finally, the liberal side is not most uncivil. Who is more uncivil than Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, etc.
@ PaladinPhil:
People assume that because he owns Fox, Murdoh is a Conservative. I think that this is mistaken. Murdoch is a businessman, and he sees a vast, untapped market for conservative news. SO Fox taps that market, and is quite a success, especially when compared to Liberal outlets like CNN and MSNBC. That is a business decision. I don’t kno wthat it reflects Murdoch’s personal views.
theoutsider wrote:
His art looks conservative? Really? And just because he works for a “Conservative” paper doesn’t mean he’s a right winger. Just like because I am a photographic artist doesn’t mean I am a liberal leftist.
@ theoutsider:
Did you actually click on Palidin Phil’s link and look at his work? Margaret Thatcher hung from a scarf is conservative? You’re delusional. And Limbaugh has never accused Obama od murdering anyone. Obama essentially accused Romney of murdering a woman. Game, set, match.
@ theoutsider:
Missed this part. Alec Baldwin, Sean Penn, Michael Al-Moore, Al Gore, Maher….and that’s off the top of my head. I could add a hell of a lot more leftist artists that are a hell lot more uncivil then those conservatives you mentioned.
@ PaladinPhil:
Mike al-Moor tops the list. It is har d to get more uncivil than him without actually maiming someone.
@ Iron Fist:
I clicked on Paladin Phil’s link. Did you read the dozen or so cartoons at the front of Paladin Phil’s link. There was no liberal angle to this story. That was my point.
OT, but I just wanted to warn you that, later today, you’ll likely see them ahead of you in the convenience store buying Malt Liquor and a stack of scratch-off lottery tickets.
theoutsider wrote:
The liberal angle is that were Murdoch a liberal, he would not have apologized.
theoutsider: theoutsider
Mark Levin is civility incarnate
I hope Murdoch gave a severe reprimand — or better yet, sacked — the editor who approved the cartoon.
Good morning. Greta broadcast her interview with Hillary last night.
Disappointing, very soft.
@ MacDuff:
I disagree. Any publisher that put that cartoon out would have to apologize, no matter what his or her politics.
Speaking of incivility from the Left, they aren’t above manufacturing claims against the Right. In other words, lying outright. Only fools trust the MFM.
theoutsider wrote:
Why, because it’s overtly anti-Semitic, rather than the usual fare of more subtle anti-Semitism in more liberal papers?
@ MacDuff:
that’s our 1130 thread.
@ theoutsider:
To my knowledge, the Washington Post never appologized for this.
RIX wrote:
I’m starting to think that it’s dark-side-of-the-force Jedi mind tricks. Uh, oh, I said “dark side”……
coldwarrior wrote:
That oughta be fun…….
And we’re almost Officially back in Recession. Right on cue:
That’ll help our unemployment numbers! it’s the Obama Boom™!
PaladinPhil wrote:
Roger Waters is a big Israel hater.
@ Iron Fist:
But I thought the economy was booming!
theoutsider wrote:
1. The Sunday Times has always been anti Israel
2. Mike Malloy, Keith Olbermann, Lawrence O’Donnell, Ed Schultz, Chris Matthews, Piers Morgan, Toure, Janeane Garfalo
@ Rodan:
It’s a sub-sonic boom…
Sunday Times acting editor apologises for cartoon
Rodan wrote:
My company (you know where I work) has laid off dozens in the past week.
You will report to reeducation at 0800 hours tomorrow Citizen!
@ Speranza:
So, Rupert Murdoch is Anti-Israel in your opinion?
@ Iron Fist:
@ Speranza:
I wonder what Outsider has to say about this?
@ Iron Fist:
I must have missed where we left being in a recession / depression.
@ theoutsider:
What do you have to say about the 4th Quarter GDP contraction?
theoutsider wrote:
Don’t be an ass, Murdoch is pro Israel, his newspaper The Sunday Times is not. However The New York Post which he also owns is pro Israel.
The video of Chuck Hagel speaking at the first “J Street” conference in 2009 that “J Street” does not want you to see.
Rodan wrote:
They will talk about “jobs saved”.
citizen_q wrote:
Welcome to America’s “managed decline,” brought to you by Obama.
Everything is going according to plan.
@ lobo91:
But the economy is booming like never before!
@ Rodan:
It’s still about the same. A minor contraction is not that big a deal. All of the economic experts say that the economy is really going to grow this year.
It is probably common knowledge, but Kerry was confirmed with only
three no votes.
There should be a counter Mount Rushmore with him , Benedict Arnold
& the Rosenbergs.
theoutsider wrote:
please, stop now. you just made my MS in economics weep at your ignorance.
how could you be so mean to that sheepskin?
@ theoutsider:
They’ve been predicting that since 2009, and it hasn’t materialized yet. It isn’t really likely to. Unemployment is high, taxes are up, regulation is up, and so on. What makes you think that there would be significant growth in this environment? Most of the growth in the last three years has been in the government sector. That is parasitic on the rest of the economy.
@ Speranza:
Clearly, “theoutsider” expects all of Mudoch’s news organs to be in ideological lockstep and under strict editorial control in the manner of leftist media.
MacDuff wrote:
He projects Obama totalitarian tendencies onto others.
RIX wrote:
I’ll bet McCain was leading the praise of “my good friend John Kerry”.
Rodan wrote:
I am surprised they did not hold off and release the bad economic news on Friday afternoon or on Super Bowl Sunday.
@ Speranza:
I knew Kerry would sail through, though. He’ll be the worst Secretary of State we’ve ever had, but it wouldn’t do for his compatriots in the Senate not to be collegial, now would it?
theoutsider wrote:
I have heard the “experts” say that your 401K’s and stocks will take a blood bath this year.
theoutsider
Iron Fist wrote:
Ah yes, “Recovery Summer”, I remember it well! The left has been writing us post-dated checks on this elusive recovery for four years now and, from my own perspective, the economic state of this country is worse than when W was President.
Iron Fist wrote:
Collegiality in the Senate means Republicans bow to the Democrats, and Democrats take a whiz on the Republicans. It would be hard to be worse then Hillary Clinton.
No doubt about it.
@ Speranza:
Jobs report comes out Friday. I wonder how they’ll spin it? Unemployment remains the same, but x hundred thousand workers dropped out of the workforce?
MacDuff wrote:
Yeah the Summer of 2009 which Joe Hair Plugs named “The Recovery Summer”. Well it went as good as “The Summer of George”.
@ Iron Fist:
Don’t forget the demonization of success, and calls for redistribution.
It would give me pause to try for a 2nd mortgage and hitting up friends and family for seed money to start a new venture.
Speranza wrote:
He absolutely was! Of course, they have a lot in common, they both married rich women, though McCain got one who actually looks like, ya know, a woman.
theoutsider wrote:
The only reason there’s any economic activity at all is because Bernanke is printing $40 billion a month in imaginary money.
He’s going to end up hanging from a lamp post when this is all over.
And there are lots of lamp posts in DC.
//Just sayin’
MacDuff wrote:
I refuse to buy any Heinz product because of Tah-ray-zah!
Iron Fist wrote:
“Unemployment went up ‘unexpectedly’ ” will be in the report.
That’s it exactly, he is just flooding cash.
It’s nothing but empty calories & will just make things worse.
lobo91 wrote:
I’m no economics major, but all of this Federal Reserve Stimulus seems a lot like taking periodic shots of Jack Daniels in order to ward of those pesky effects of alcohol withdrawal.
theoutsider wrote:
Contractions are OK? Dude, you really are spinning.
@ lobo91:
Stout Hemp Rope!
@ coldwarrior:
Weapons grade stupid.
@ Rodan:
Look at me! Look at me! Look at me!!!
@ MacDuff:
This is the “Weekend at Bernie’s” recovery.
theoutsider wrote:
How does a “contraction” foretell economic growth? You do know the definition of “contraction”, right?
Israel strikes Hizb’Allah convoy
Carolina Girl wrote:
Economic ignorance is just amazing.
@ lobo91:
I read earlier today that Zimbabwe is down to their last $217. That money-printing works out great, doesn’t it? It has only failed in th epast because the right people haven’t tried it…
Looks like the outsider has been busy writing to his local paper:
Rodan wrote:
I’m sure he agrees with Mary Landrieu about spending, too.
Iron Fist wrote:
That’s our 11 AM thread.
@ lobo91:
I think I found his latest letter to the editor:
http://weaselzippers.us/2013/01/30/genius-obama-supporter-democrats-must-amend-the-constitution-to-allow-c-section-babies-to-run-for-president/#disqus_thread
@ lobo91:
GMTA Lobo, GMTA!!
Rodan wrote:
In this day and under all these conditions, it is inexcusable.
@ lobo91:
That is the OFA talking points. Economic contraction is OK and Fox is making up that spending is out of control.
@ lobo91:
The stupid is strong with that one.
Reminds me of the “man in the street” type interviews local news likes to do on just about any subject. The ones they air are usually a hoot / sad. Makes me wonder what they didn’t choose to air.
@ Rodan:
$1.6 trillion more debt just last year, but spending is OK. We just need to raise taxes more, nevermind that the economy would crash if we raised taxes enough to cover the spending. What economic geniuses these Liberals are.
The rather enormous headline in the Louisville Courier-Journal, Kentucky’s largest newspaper:
Majority in Kentucky supports many of Obama’s proposals for ADDITIONAL GUN CONTROL (emphasis theirs)
Maybe in Louisville, but Kentucky at-large? Not bloody likely. This is a perfect example of the metro-rural political schism that’s widening by the day in this country.
@ Rodan:
Heritage Foundation yesterday advised that the Sandy spending bill just signed by Obama has now spend all monies that will be collected this year through the tax increase “on the rich” plus another $10 billion.
@ MacDuff:
Where do the city people think their food comes from?
@ Rodan:
My guess is Mary Landrieu is enjoying her final term in the Senate.
waldensianspirit wrote:
Kroger.
waldensianspirit wrote:
The grocery store. Duh!
///////
@ Iron Fist:
@ Carolina Girl:
I just looked at several progressive blogs. They are saying we need more spending to get the economy booming. They do not get it!
@ waldensianspirit:
Safeway. Raley’s. Von’s. Piggly Wiggly. All they know.
@ Rodan:
Compare this economic recovery with that of Reagan’s. And Reagan had runaway inflation, a prime rate hovering at over 10% when he took office. First this he did was to cut taxes and cut spending. And the damn economy took off.
Rodan wrote:
Alan “Feret Face” Colmes says that the initial “stimulus” was too small.
@ Carolina Girl:
Gun control will term limit her out if the Democrats keep pushing it. Did you see where Harry Reid declined to endorse Feinstein’s Bill? It’ll be interesting to see what the Senate does there, but it is all Kabuki Theater, because there’s no way it passes the House.
@ Carolina Girl:
By this point in the Reagan boom, he had 10 million real jobs created with an expanding labor force participation. The Boomers were in their 30′s and 20′s.
@ Speranza:
Unreal.
@ Rodan:
They are full Euro Social Democrats in every sense of the word. They think they are invulnerable to the consequences.
@ Rodan:
Here’s a good pic I grabbed earlier that may be good for that Zimbabwe thread…..
Rodan wrote:
Yeah but what about “jobs saved”. /
@ Rodan:
Why don’t they just print more money and gives us all checks? ///
MacDuff wrote:
Is Robert Mugabe still there?
@ Speranza:
Colmes is so delusional it sits on him like a halo.
@ Iron Fist:
I’m not believing the whole “66% favor amnesty” either -- I know liberals who voted for Obama in California that are not in favor of nothing short of deportation for illegals. Maybe if you polled the ABC newsroom, but nationally? No, I don’t think so.
In taking on the NRA, Obama is dealing with an organization he cannot “Alinsky” into submission. The NRA doesn’t give a crap what the media thinks of them, they’re used to being vilified. I don’t think Feinstein’s bill will pass the House, and I don’t think that it’ll make it out of the Senate.
Iron Fist wrote:
Diane Feinstein and Patty Murray are the two dumbest members of the Senate.
Rodan wrote:
…and trust me, times were good- right up until the late 90s when Bubba’s Bubble started showing some signs of stress.
PaladinPhil wrote:
Scarfe drew the illustrations for that album and dd the animations in the movie, IIRC.
Speranza wrote:
Yeah. Alas, someone has yet to put a slug in his forehead.
Speaking of “Weekend at Bernie’s,” the Dems just trotted out Gabby Giffords to make a plea for new gun laws at a Senate Judiciary committee hearing.
These people have no shame.
lobo91 wrote:
She’s the new James Brady.
@ lobo91:
They never have. They were talking about their plans to demolish the second amendment before those poor children had been taken away from the school.
Meanwhile, that evil, callous organization the NRA takes smear after smear, hit after hit for a week and waits a respectful length of time to respond and are STILL called “unfeeling.”
@ MacDuff:
Guess who we’re not hearing a lot about? The parent of one of the children who was killed at Newtown who has stated “gun control laws wouldn’t have prevented this.” They’re trotting out a lot of gun-control happy Newtown residents but failing to mention that none of them are people who lost children that day.
MacDuff wrote:
Updated the thread with the pic!
lobo91 wrote:
Of course not, they are democrats. Say what you will about the GOP, I don’t see them acting so cynically.
Didn’t they keep Giffords around just long enough so that she could vote for embalm-a-care?
@ MacDuff:
Yes I caught the late 90′s boom. We will never have good economic times like we did in the 80′s and 90′s again. The Democrats even if the economy continues to contract will probably have power for the next few election cycles until the GOP gets its act together.
My generation was robbed!
Speranza wrote:
she and the senator kerry get 0 money from the heinz products.
@ Iron Fist:
that is the 1130 post with added articles
Grassley just said that Obama “turned the Constitution on its head” with his calls for new gun laws.
About time someone said it.
Speranza wrote:
Sadly yes. And the ANC in South Africa is following in his footsteps.
coldwarrior wrote:
Thank God she never became First Lady.
The Osprey wrote:
Can’t say I am surprised.
Carolina Girl wrote:
the bigger thanks for that goes to fed chair paul volker.
he broke the back of inflation in a move so audacious and stiff-spined that it still resonates today and is the only reason we dont have 20% inflation right now.
Speranza wrote:
john heinz kept her in line pretty well. she wasnt always this goofy and lefty. but hey, cut her some slack, she is an african american after all.
@ coldwarrior:
I had quite forgotten about Volker’s moves. Unless I missed it (and you might know if he had), I was always hoping he would write extensively about how that economic turnaround was effected. It would certainly be a great and educational read.
@ coldwarrior:
Moved up to 11.
@ coldwarrior:
I can’t see what she saw in Kerry. We all know what he saw in her.
@ Speranza:
@ coldwarrior:
Remember her convention speech talking about Venus, Mars and the Stars?
@ Carolina Girl:
Money is a great aphrodesiac to some people…
@ Rodan:
All of us were robbed…I was born at the tail end of the baby boom, and I will probably be sharing kibble with the cat
to feed myself after I retire at age 78…Either that or shooting squirrels for food if I can still see and
.22LR ammo ever shows up on the shelves again.
@ Iron Fist:
I’ll never turn it down, but I’d certainly never marry for it. Kerry isn’t even one step above gigolo -- he’s a SERIAL gigolo.
@ The Osprey:
Hey -- the Duck Dynasty guys have a great recipe for squirrel -- even includes breading and dumplings!
@ The Osprey:
Yeah, very true. We all have been screwed!
Even in New York Gun COntrol hurts your popularity:
I don’t see how New York’s new law gets past the current Supreme Court. If it can, the Second Amendment is essentially meaningless. I guess it’ll depend on how Justice Roberts votes.
@ coldwarrior:
Portuguese from Mozambique or Angola, IIRC?
Like the guys who founded Nando’s.
Be back in a bit…need to start dinner prep- “Rum Marinated Pork Chops” Sounds yummy, and it’s only 5 points on the Weight Watchers scale.
@ Iron Fist:
That is what I am worried about!
Carolina Girl wrote:
i’ll have to do a saturday lecture on that. maybe for this weekend
Carolina Girl wrote:
I’ll have to check that out.
@ The Osprey:
mozambique
MacDuff wrote:
Isn’t it a bit early?
@ coldwarrior:
That would be outstanding! Now that football’s over, I should try to find something to write about. It’s not like I’m ever at a loss for words or something like that.
Speranza wrote:
Not to get the chops in the marinade…the longer the better.
MacDuff wrote:
Gotcha.
Speranza wrote:
Yes. For 10 more years!
Just like they’ll amend our constitution so Obama can go beyond two terms.
coldwarrior wrote:
Two in the chest, one in the beak!