Leading Israeli cartoonist fired over a cartoon on PM Benjamin Netanyahu
A leading Israeli newspaper has fired one of its veteran cartoonists after a drawing critical of the country’s new “nation state” law was slammed as antisemitic for depicting politicians as pigs.
The Jerusalem Post dismissed Avi Katz on Wednesday for his illustration portraying prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other members of the Likud party as pigs in clothes along with the caption, “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others” – a quotation from George Orwell’s authoritarian satire Animal Farm.
Speaking to The Independent, Katz said he thought his firing was "idiotic."
"I thought my cartoon was relatively mild, and that firing me over it was idiotic."
The illustration immediately inflamed opinion on social media, where users pointed out that pigs are considered unclean in Judaism.
“In six months, the issue depicted will be forgotten, but this cartoon will be the new Shylock cartoon. It will give permission for hatred of orthodox, of fat, of men, of Jews in general,” one Facebook commenter said.
Knesset member Oren Hazan takes a selfie with Israel’s prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, centre, and MP David Bitan, right of Netanyahu, after a Knesset session passed the contentious nation state bill on 19 July 2018
“The law sucks… but the cartoon is also permanent, uncontainable.”
The picture parodied a photograph of Mr Netanyahu and fellow Knesset members taken as they took a selfie after the nation state bill passed last week.
The new legislation, designed to strengthen Israel’s identity as the “national home of the Jewish people”, has been condemned as discriminatory towards the country’s Arab minority.
Among other measures, it downgrades Arabic from being an official language and encourages settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, and has been met with fierce protests.
The cartoon was published on Tuesday in the Jerusalem Report, a biweekly magazine supplement of the Jerusalem Post. Katz also posted his work to his personal Facebook page, describing the new law as “shameful”.
Following vocal criticism, the Jerusalem Post released a statement on Wednesday announcing that “in accordance with editorial considerations, it was decided not to continue the relationship” with the cartoonist.
Katz has worked for the company since 1990.
In a statement, the Union of Journalists in Israel voiced its support for the cartoonist.
“Causing harm to a journalist because he expressed an opinion, let alone when it was approved by his editors, is a dangerous step that must not be accepted. We call on Katz’s editors to retract this unacceptable step,” it read.
"I’m excited to see the enormous amount of support I’ve seen over the last couple of days," Katz told The Independent.
A crowdfunding page set up by the Animix animation and comics festival to help Katz has already raised 80 per cent of its 80,000 shekel (£16,600) goal.
A statement from the event’s organisers said that while they found the cartoon “shocking”, they believed freedom of speech in Israel must be upheld.
Courtesy: www.independent.co.uk
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Maharashtra assembly session begins with full recital of 'Vande Mataram'
Nagpur (PTI): Members of the Maharashtra assembly on Monday recited the full version of 'Vande Mataram' on the opening day of the legislature's winter session here, marking the 150th anniversary of the national song.
The House proceedings began with the customary recital of the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram, followed by 'Jai Jai Maharashtra Majha', the official state song.
Speaker Rahul Narwekar said, "It is a tradition of the legislature to recite the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram on the first day of every session. However, as this year marks 150 years since its composition, the House will recite the entire song."
The legislators then recited the full song.
Notably, the Lok Sabha has listed 'Discussion on the 150th anniversary of national song Vande Mataram' on Monday and allocated 10 hours for the debate.
The debate in Parliament is part of the year-long celebrations on the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram, a poem written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, and set to tune by Jadunath Bhattacharya.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had hit out at the Congress, accusing it of removing key stanzas from the song in 1937 and sowing the seeds of partition.
On November 7, Modi launched year-long celebrations to commemorate the 150th year of Vande Mataram, aimed especially at youth and students to deepen awareness of the song's significance.
During the assembly session, Narwekar also announced the names Chainsukh Sancheti, Kishor Patil, Rahul Patil, Uttamrao Jankar, Ramdas Masram, Sameer Kunawar and Saroj Ahire as presiding officers. They will chair proceedings in the speaker's absence.
