German newspaper fires cartoonist for 'anti-Semitic' Netanyahu sketch

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem, March 25, 2018. (Abir Sultan, Pool via AP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem, March 25, 2018. (Abir Sultan, Pool via AP)

Published May 17, 2018

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Munich - Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper says it has

fired a cartoonist whose caricature of Israeli Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu was criticized as anti-Semitic.

Dieter Hanitzsch, who has been with the liberal paper for years,

earlier denied any anti-Semitic intent in the cartoon, which

referenced the Eurovision Song Contest and was published on Tuesday.

The Munich-based national daily said the reasons for his dismissal

were "unbridgeable differences between Mr Hanitzsch and the editorial

staff on what constitute anti-Semitic cliches in a cartoon."

"This came out not only in the published cartoon itself, but also in

conversations with Mr Hanitzsch," Sueddeutsche said in a statement.

Hanitzsch has not responded to a request for comment from DPA.

The offending cartoon showed Netanyahu posing as Eurovision winner

Netta, who sang for Israel, while holding a missile marked with the

Star of David. It also has the Israeli national symbol replacing the

V in the words "Eurovision Song Contest," shown in the background.

A speech bubble emerging from the prime minister's mouth says in

German: "Next year in Jerusalem." These words are traditionally

uttered at the end of Passover every year, and were used by Netta

herself in response to her win.

Sueddeutsche editor-in-chief Wolfgang Krach initially said on

Wednesday that Hanitzsch had indicated he merely wanted to point out

that the next Eurovision finals in 2019 would take place in

Jerusalem.

Krach nevertheless acknowledged that the drawing could be interpreted

differently and be seen as anti-Semitic. "Its publication was for

this reason a mistake for which we ask forgiveness."

DPA

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