Norwegian Paper Publishes Blatantly Anti-Semitic Cartoon

Courtesy of Dagbladet

On August 7th, a Norwegian newspaper, Dagbladet, published an extremely anti-Semitic cartoon, prompting Israel’s ambassador to Norway to demand the removal of the image and apologize. The cartoon depicts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose body is in the shape of a swastika, punching a Druze Israeli off of a “whites only” bench.

The cartoon was published in response to Israel’s recent passage of a new Jewish Nation-State law, which some have criticized for being discriminatory towards minority groups. While thousands of Druze Israelis protested the new law on August 4th in Tel Aviv, others, like head of the Druze Zionist Council Atta Farhat, have said that the new law does not affect their community. He said, “You should know that the nation-state law does not deprive us in the least; most importantly, it enshrines in law the indisputable fact that Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people.” Regardless, the cartoon published in Dagbladet is not simply an expression of legitimate criticism of Israeli policy. Instead, the paper crossed a line, equating Israel with Nazism and white supremacy. Ambassador Raphael Schutz tweeted that the cartoon was “an example of the most repulsive imaginable #antisemitic imagery.”

This is not the first time that Dagbladet has been accused of anti-Semitism, as they have previously published cartoons that equate Israel to Nazi Germany and North Korea. Additionally, they have published cartoons that demonize circumcision and equate it with pedophilia. Dagbladet has consistently refused to apologize for their blatant anti-Semitism.

With the rise in anti-Semitic attacks in Europe, news outlets should not be adding fuel to the fire. Modern anti-Semitism frequently takes on the form of anti-Zionism, thereby masking Jew-hatred as acceptable political speech. However, this trend is extremely detrimental, as it allows for blatant anti-Semitic rhetoric, imagery, and actions to run rampant.