Süddeutsche Zeitung, Germany’s most widely-read broadsheet daily, has a brutally antisemitic cartoon attached to a review of Jewish-American commentator Peter Beinart’s new book, according to the HonestReporting.com watchdog website.
The cartoon shows a woman assumed to be German serving a meal on a tray to a monster, who is supposed to represent Israel. The caption reads: “Germany is serving. For decades now, Israel has been given weapons, and partly free of charge. Israel’s enemies think it is a ravenous Moloch. Peter Beinart deplores this situation.”
The caption’ reference to Moloch is a hint to the 1000-year-old blood libel of Jews as those who killed Christian children to use their blood to make matzahs for Passover. Moloch was an ancient Canaanite and Phoenician god who demanded child sacrifice.
After the cartoon was published and was criticized, the paper asserted that the cartoon was not antisemitic and there had been a “misunderstanding.” The paper protested:
Ernst Kahl’s horned, hungry monster has nothing to do with anti-Semitic stereotypes. One must look at the picture along with the caption. … So, only the enemies of Israel see Israel in a way that is similar to the monster pictured. In addition, the State of Israel is not to be equated with Judaism.
Yet the original use of the cartoon was originally done for a culinary magazine. Ernst Kahl was horrified to find his cartoon used by the paper to target Israel.
Germany recently allowed products made in Judea and Sanaria to be labeled so consumers would be dissuaded from buying them.
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