Jonathan A. Greenblatt, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, speaks at the ADL Annual Meeting in Los Angeles on November 6, 2014.(courtesy ADL)
WASHINGTON — Anti-Defamation League chief Jonathan Greenblatt excoriated The New York Times over the weekend for publishing a cartoon that depicted anti-Semitic tropes.
“I thought the cartoon was disgusting,” he told The Times of Israel on Saturday night, during an interview in which he also addressed a deadly shooting at a California synagogue. “I thought it was despicable.”
The paper acknowledged on Saturday that a cartoon it published in its international edition “included anti-Semitic tropes” and called its running the image an “error of judgment.” The Times did not explicitly apologize for carrying the cartoon.
The graphic, which was in Thursday’s international print edition, showed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a guide dog wearing a Star of David on his collar, leading a blind US President Donald Trump, seen wearing a skullcap and Hasidic garb.
A caricature of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump published in the New York Times’ international edition on April 25, 2019, which the paper later acknowledged “included anti-Semitic tropes.” (Courtesy)
“It was provided by The New York Times News Service and Syndicate, which has since deleted it,” said the paper’s statement, which was tweeted through its Opinion section’s account.
Get The Times of Israel's Daily Editionby email and never miss our top stories
“I wouldn’t even credit it as a cartoon,” Greenblatt said. “It was anti-Semitic propaganda of the most vile sort. Not only does it not belong in The New York Times, but it in any credible news outlet. It was unconscionable.”
Greenblatt said the ADL would “be in touch” with the newspaper about the drawing.
Advertisement
Your next read: ToI Editors' Picks
LIMITED TIME OFFER: Join The Times of Israel Community today, and you'll receive a physical book of your choice, carefully curated by our editors.
Choose between two must-reads: When We See You Again by Rachel Goldberg-Polin, a searing portrait of a mother’s grief and strength following unthinkable tragedy;
Or Out of the Sky: Heroism and Rebirth in Nazi Europe by Matti Friedman, the gripping and surprising tale of a forgotten moment during World War II.
As a Community member, you’ll enjoy our outstanding DocuNation series of Israeli documentary films, an ad-free experience of our site and podcasts, commenting privileges, and more.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
