ALBAWABA - The Guardian newspaper announced the sacking of cartoonist Steve Bell after a controversial drawing for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The British newspaper was angered after the cartoonist drew Netanyahu in a comic way where the PM was seen undergoing an operation on his own stomach, showing a cut in the outline of the Gaza Strip.
Following the controversial cartoon, The Guardian confirmed the decision not to renew the contract of cartoonist Steve Bell.
Bell said that he was rejected by the newspaper following a huge debate for "evoking the anti-Semitic "pound of flesh" trope, a reference to the character Shylock in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice," BBC reported.
The British cartoonist said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he submitted the drawing earlier this month. He added: "Four hours later... I received an ominous phone call from the desk with the strangely cryptic message 'pound of flesh'..."
Bell continued that he didn't get The Guardian's response to his cartoon but they said: "Jewish bloke; pound of flesh; antisemitic trope."
The cartoon comes amid aggressive airstrikes by Israeli forces on the Gaza Strip, with the latest being the Israeli army targeting Arab National Hospital killing hundreds of Palestinian civilians.
At least 500 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Oct. 17. The attack was described as "massacre" and "shame on humanity," by Jordan King Abdullah II.
"This is outrageous and again it shows a flagrant disregard for the lives of civilians," the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said on social media.
