UCLA student newspaper under fire for anti-Semitic cartoon

Civic and campus organizations, among them a pro-Palestinian student group, strongly condemn a cartoon called anti-Semitic that was published in the University of California–Los Angeles student newspaper.

The cartoon published yesterday in UCLA’s Daily Bruin shows 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.

In a letter to the Daily Bruin, the SJP board at UCLA condemns the cartoon, stating that Abejon is currently not an SPJ member.

On Facebook and in letters to the editor, most critics of the cartoon argue that by involving the sacred Tablets of the Law, the cartoonist crossed the line from anti-Zionism to anti-Semitism.

Tanner Walters, editor-in-chief of the Daily Bruin, points to an editorial lapse of judgment. “This was a mistake that should have been caught at any point in the process, and it didn’t get caught,” Walters says.

— JTA