Yet another case of the joker of anti-Semitism being used to persecute and silence any opinion that does not conform to the genocidal propaganda narrative. In this case an editor has been taken to task for the publication of a cartoon.
Gannet, owner of The Palm Beach Post (Florida), decided to fire its editor , Tony Doris, after the paper published this syndicated cartoon by Jeff Dazinger that was flagged as "anti-Semitic".
Lark-Marie Anton, spokesperson for The Palm Beach Post apologised for the cartoon and called its publication a "mistake":
The cartoon "did not meet our standards", "would not have been published if proper protocols had been followed".
"We sincerely regret the error and have taken appropriate measures to avoid a repetition.
The company did not detail what these protocols were, nor did it comment on the dismissal of Tony Doris, citing confidentiality reasons.
The image shows two Israeli soldiers helping a hostage step over the bloodied bodies of Palestinians with the caption"Some Israeli hostages are home after more than a year of merciless war", one of the soldiers tells him"Watch your step". The bodies read: "More than 40,000 Palestinians killed".
Doris, 67, had been editor of the editorial page since April 2021, but had worked for the paper for more than 20 years. He said he considered the cartoon by Counterpoint Media's Jeff Danziger, published on 26 January, to be anti-Israel but not anti-Semitic.
In "An Open Letter to the Community" published on 9 February in The Post, the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County said the cartoon trivialised "the suffering of Israelis kidnapped and held brutally captive for 16 months" and"worse, spread dangerous anti-Semitic tropes, including the false and inflammatory accusation of bloodlust, a modern-day 'blood libel' used for centuries to incite hatred and violence against Jews". (Source: Stet News).
For these people, any criticism of the savage massacre of the civilian population is anti-Semitism. To this must be added the unwritten rule, but one that is enforced by virtually the entire US media, not to criticise the Israeli government for the invasion of Palestine under any circumstances.
That the cartoon shows the blood of the tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians they have murdered is now a "modern blood libel". It is impossible to be more hypocritical and twisted.
Danziger, an 81-year-old veteran cartoonist, told Stet News that he had never before been fired for one of his cartoons, adding that the cartoon criticised the war as a solution, a product of his experience as a combat veteran in Vietnam.
After the editor's dismissal, although no one has confirmed it, I understand that it must be taken for granted that the newspaper will no longer publish his cartoons, or at least not those along these lines.
An outspoken anti-war cartoonist whose father was Jewish, he said he was surprised that The Post, in an area with a large Jewish population, published the cartoon. The Rutland Herald of Vermont, his local newspaper, also published it, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) noted in a post condemning the cartoon on 31 January.
Gannett Co., Inc. is a publicly traded media holding company headquartered in New York City and is the largest newspaper publisher in the United States, measured by total daily circulation.
Gannett was founded by Frank Earnest Gannett, who incorporated the company in 1906. By the early 2000s, Gannett was publishing more than 100 newspapers.
Today, Gannett publishes USA TODAY alongside hundreds of local media outlets across the United States and more than 150 news titles in the United Kingdom. Gannett's diverse portfolio includes LocaliQ, a suite of digital business and marketing solutions, and USA TODAY NETWORK Ventures, which is the largest media-owned events business in the country.
About Jeff Dazinger
Jeff Danziger (b. 1943) lives in Vermont. He is represented by Counterpoint Syndicate. He is a recipient of the Herblock Award and the Thomas Nast (Landau) Award. He served in the US Army in Vietnam and was awarded the Bronze Star and the Air Medal. He has published eleven comic books, a novel and a war memoir.
Humour in trouble, a collection of cases
Cases of cartoonists who have had problems of some importance because of their cartoons or satirical illustrations. There are also some stories of other people who, without being cartoonists, have got into trouble for sharing them.
