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."