American Jewish Committee to NY Times: ‘Apology Not Accepted’ on Anti-Semitic Cartoon

TEL AVIV – The American Jewish Committee (AJC) slammed the New York Times‘ “naked antisemitism” in publishing a cartoon featuring anti-Semitic tropes, saying the caricature was more befitting for a white supremacist paper.

A Times response — which notably didn’t contain an actual apology — was issued later amid outcry. In it, the paper said publishing the cartoon was “an error in judgment.”

The defense doesn’t cut it, the AJC said in a tweet.

“Apology not accepted. How many @nytimes editors looked at a cartoon that would not have looked out of place on a white supremacist website and thought it met the paper’s editorial standards?” the AJC said.

“What does this say about your processes or your decision makers? How are you fixing it?”

Apology not accepted. How many @nytimes editors looked at a cartoon that would not have looked out of place on a white supremacist website and thought it met the paper’s editorial standards? What does this say about your processes or your decision makers? How are you fixing it? https://t.co/HD5LdeZ9z3

— AJC (@AJCGlobal) April 27, 2019

The cartoon, published in Thursday’s print edition, featured a blind, Jewish President Donald Trump with a skullcap on his head being lead by a guide dog with the face of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a Jewish star of David around its neck.

In an earlier tweet, the AJC excoriated the newspaper for even employing the term “error in judgment” in its defense.

“Naked antisemitism such as in this image is not ‘an error of judgment.’ We have to wonder if the @nytimes editors would’ve published a similar cartoon depicting any other country or people,” the Jewish group said.

Anti-Defamation League (ADL) chief Jonathan Greenblatt described the cartoon as “vile, anti-Semitic propaganda.”

“I thought the cartoon was disgusting,” he told the Times of Israel. “I thought it was despicable.”

“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.”