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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Cong takes swipe at PM over India not being part of US-led 'Pax Silica' grouping
New Delh (PTI) The Congress on Saturday said it is perhaps not very surprising that India is not part of a US-led strategic initiative to build a secure silicon supply chain, given the "sharp downturn" in the Trump-Modi ties, and asserted that it would have been to "our advantage if we had been part of this group".
Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the news of India not being part of the group comes after the PM had enthusiastically posted on social media about a telephone call with his "once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC".
In a lengthy post on X, Ramesh said, "According to some news reports, the US has excluded India from a nine-nation initiative it has launched to reduce Chinese control on high-tech supply chains. The agreement is called Pax Silica, clearly as a counter to Pax Sinica. The nations included (for the moment at least) are the US, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia."
"Given the sharp downturn in the Trump-Modi ties since May 10th, 2025, it is perhaps not very surprising that India has not been included. Undoubtedly, it would have been to our advantage if we had been part of this group."
"This news comes a day after the PM had enthusiastically posted on his telephone call with his once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC," the Congress leader asserted.
The new US-led strategic initiative, rooted in deep cooperation with trusted allies, has been launched to build a secure and innovation-driven silicon supply chain.
According to the US State Department, the initiative called 'Pax Silica' aims to reduce coercive dependencies, protect the materials and capabilities foundational to artificial intelligence (AI), and ensure aligned nations can develop and deploy transformative technologies at scale.
The initiative includes Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia. With the exception of India, all other QUAD countries -- Japan, Australia and the US -- are part of the new initiative.
New Delhi will host the India-AI Impact Summit 2026 on February 19-20, focusing on the principles of 'People, Planet, and Progress'. The summit, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the France AI Action Summit, will be the first-ever global AI summit hosted in the Global South.
Prime Minister Modi and US President Trump on Thursday discussed ways to sustain momentum in the bilateral economic partnership in a phone conversation amid signs of the two sides inching closer to firming up a much-awaited trade deal.
The phone call between the two leaders came on a day Indian and American negotiators concluded two-day talks on the proposed bilateral trade agreement that is expected to provide relief to India from the Trump administration's whopping 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods.
In a social media post, Modi had described the conversation as "warm and engaging".
"We reviewed the progress in our bilateral relations and discussed regional and international developments. India and the US will continue to work together for global peace, stability and prosperity," Modi had said without making any reference to trade ties.
