Dear Mr. Hurbain:

We were outraged by the blatantly anti-Semitic cartoon by Pierre Kroll which your newspaper published on December 18, 2006.

The cartoon depicts a stereotypical Orthodox Jew with a large nose and sidelocks smiling with satisfaction at the sight of the intra-Palestinian clashes which have occurred in recent days. The implication is that Jews are gloating over the violence.

We find completely unacceptable the use of classic anti-Semitic imagery. Mr. Kroll's caricature of a Jewish figure is grotesque. Such imagery is reminiscent of the demonization of the Jews in the Nazi press or in much of the Arab and Iranian press today.  That such an image can appear only a few days after the Iranian regime sponsored a conference denying the Holocaust makes your decision to publish this cartoon even more disturbing.

We hope you understand how painful it is to see such an ugly, stereotypical caricature of Jews appear in a mainstream European newspaper.  We hope that you will agree that it is offensive and take corrective action to ensure that your newspaper's editorial review process will not permit the use of such offensive imagery in the future.