We were stunned by a cartoon by Amos Biderman that appeared last week in the Israeli left-wing daily Haaretz depicting Prime Minister Netanyahu piloting an airplane marked “ISRAEL” which was hurtling toward a building resembling a World Trade Center tower.
There was no accompanying caption, but the cartoon could not help but feed the anti-Semitic canard that Israel was responsible for 9/11.
In response to widespread criticism, Haaretz editor-in-chief Aluf Benn offered an official explanation saying in pertinent part:
Amos Biderman’s editorial cartoon was a reaction to the current state of mistrust between Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Obama administration, as reflected in Jeffrey Goldberg’s story in The Atlantic. Our famed, veteran cartoonist was aiming his criticism at Netanyahu’s recent announcements of new settlement expansion plans in East Jerusalem and the West Bank and his insinuations that America is acting against Israel, depicting them as a wrong turn in Israeli policy that has rightfully elicited strong criticism from Washington. Biderman sought to warn against what he views as a grave threat to Israel if its leadership continues to escalate its diplomatic confrontation with the United States.
Of course political cartoonists must be accorded great leeway in expressing their views, but choosing to use 9/11 imagery seems gratuitous and needlessly incendiary. Mr. Benn says Haaretz stands by the cartoon. We hope the paper will reconsider. Haaretz is entitled to give vent to its deep disagreements with Mr. Netanyahu. But with that right comes the responsibility to not give aid and comfort to anti-Semites.
