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ADL Welcomes Murdoch Apology for Outrageous Anti-Semitic Cartoon in The Sunday Times

New York, NY, January 28, 2013 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today welcomed the apology of News Corp Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch for a cartoon in The Sunday Times of London that portrayed the Israeli prime minister constructing a wall with the blood and bodies of murdered Palestinians.

“There was nothing subtle about the caricatured image of Prime Minister Netanyahu using the blood of Palestinians to build a wall,” said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director.  “While Mr. Murdoch’s apology is welcome, we nevertheless found it disturbing that the newspaper’s senior editors have vigorously defended the cartoon as a form of legitimate criticism.  The cartoon, which is so shocking and reminiscent of the virulently anti-Semitic cartoons we see routinely in the Arab press, is clearly indefensible.”

ADL earlier condemned the cartoon as blatantly anti-Semitic, saying that the image of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu using Palestinians and their blood to build a wall to “protect” Israelis constituted a modern day evocation of the ancient "blood libel" charge leveled at Jews through the centuries.

On Twitter, Mr. Murdoch, whose company owns The Sunday Times, wrote that the cartoon was “grotesque” and “offensive” and he said that the cartoonist responsible for the image, Gerald Scarfe, had never reflected the opinions of the newspaper.

1/29/13 - Acting Editor of The Sunday Times, Martin Ivens issued an apology to the Jewish Community:

"You will know that the Sunday Times abhors anti-Semitism and would never set out to cause offence to the Jewish people - or any other ethnic or religious group. That was not the intention last Sunday. Everyone knows that Gerald Scarfe is consistently brutal and bloody in his depictions, but last weekend - by his own admission - he crossed a line. The timing - on Holocaust Memorial Day - was inexcusable. The associations on this occasion were grotesque and on behalf of the paper I’d like to apologise unreservedly for the offence we clearly caused. This was a terrible mistake.”

ADL is the world’s leading anti-hate organization. Founded in 1913 in response to an escalating climate of anti-Semitism and bigotry, its timeless mission is to protect the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment for all. Today, ADL continues to fight all forms of hate with the same vigor and passion. A global leader in exposing extremism, delivering anti-bias education, and fighting hate online, ADL is the first call when acts of anti-Semitism occur. ADL’s ultimate goal is a world in which no group or individual suffers from bias, discrimination or hate.

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