‘Anti-Semitic’ Cartoon of Netanyahu Published By UCLA Student Newspaper
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
LOS ANGELES (JTA) — A cartoon called anti-Semitic that was published in the University of California – Los Angeles student newspaper has been strongly condemned by civic and campus organizations, among them a pro-Palestinian student group.
The cartoon published Monday in UCLA’s Daily Bruin shows Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu standing in front of two stone tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments. However, in the commandment “Thou Shalt Not Steal,” the word “not” has been crossed out in red.
Pointing to another commandment “Thou Shalt Not Kill,” labeled as the seventh by the cartoonist, Netanyahu shrugs his shoulders and says, “#7 is next.”
In the upper left corner of the cartoon, the legend reads: “Israel passes law legalizing seizing any Palestinian land.”
The cartoonist, Felipe Bris Abejon, is an undergraduate student in political science, who last year served as education and resources director of the UCLA chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, or SJP, a strongly anti-Zionist and pro-Palestinian national student group.
A statement by the Anti-Defamation League denounced the cartoon as “deeply offensive… and impugning core Jewish beliefs.”
The editor of the paper apologized for the cartoon.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
