The Guardian Political Cartoonist Steve Bell Fired After Allegations of Anti-Semitic Cartoon

British editorial cartoonist Steve Bell was fired from his paper The Guardian after a 42 year career there due to a cartoon that he drew:

 

Bell's cartoon is a reference to David Levine's 1966 editorial cartoon of LBJ, who opens his shirt to expose a scar in the outline of Vietnam:
 

Levine's drawing references the then-famous 1965 photo of President Johnson lifting his shirt to show the scar from surgery on October 8, 1965 to remove his gall bladder. 

Via The Daily Cartoonist:

"The London Press Gazette reports on Steve Bell‘s description of what happened and Bell’s history with the problem:

"Bell posted the blocked cartoon to Twitter/X on Monday, saying that after he filed it that morning he received a 'cryptic message' from Guardian editors saying: 'pound of flesh,'

"In Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice the antagonist, Jewish moneylender Shylock, demands 'a pound of flesh' as security for a loan made to his Christian rival, Antonio.

"Bell said he responded to the desk saying he did not understand the allusion, 'and received this even more mysterious reply: 'Jewish bloke; pound of flesh; anti-Semitic trope.'

"Bell’s drawing includes a note referencing a cartoon by David Levine from the 1960s, picturing then-US president Lyndon Johnston with a scar on his belly shaped like the map of Vietnam.

"In another tweet on Monday, Bell said: 'It is getting pretty nigh impossible to draw this subject for The Guardian now without being accused of deploying ‘anti-Semitic tropes.'

"The Guardian declined to comment."

The Daily Cartoonist has more.

Here's Daryl Cagle talking about Bell's cartoon and a video of a political cartoonist roundtable discussion:

"Our favorite cartoonist, Steve Bell, was fired from the Guardian newspaper in Britain for drawing an anti-Semitic cartoon. The three top editorial cartoonists in Israel tell us why it wasn't an anti-Semitic cartoon and why Steve should not have been fired - this special @caglecast 

"Uri Fink is a very popular comic book artist and writer along with being an editorial cartoonist. He's published 22 books of his popular Zbeng! comic strip and comic book and is the editor of the Zbeng magazine which has had over a two hundred issues. Uri is the president of the Association of Israeli Cartoonists and is an old convention buddy of mine. He went to Bezalel Art Academy in Jerusalem. 

"Michel Kichka is an editorial cartoonist for various Israeli TV channels, he draws graphic novels including an impressive one about his father who was a Holocaust survivor. Michel won the cow at St Just le Martel and a ton of other awards, and he's a professor at the Bezalel Art Academy in Jerusalem. 

"Moshik Gulst is an editorial cartoonist originally from Ashqelon, a city which has recently been devastated by rockets from Gaza. He currently lives in Tel Aviv area and is the head cartoonist for Israel's largest circulation newspaper Israel Hayom, as well as several other newspapers. He is the author of several national award winning comic books And works closely with international human rights organizations. He studied at the Bezalel Art Academy in Jerusalem."