A prominent Jewish leader who has twice been named by Newsweek at the “most influential Rabbi in America” has blasted the Huffington Post internet newspaper for running a cartoon by a notorious anti-Semite, which depicts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wringing an Arab infant as ballots with his name on them fall from the child’s body.
In an interview with The Algemeiner, Rabbi Marvin Hier, Founder and Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center said that the image by Brazilian cartoonist Carlos Latuff, which relates to Israel’s current operation in Gaza, was “absolutely outrageous and almost worse than an anti-Semitic cartoon.”
“An anti-Semitic cartoon can be recognized by the reader as such,” Hier explained, “But a cartoon where he attempts to show that Netanyahu started this (Israel’s current Pillar of Defense operation) for votes. It is almost worse than an anti-Semitic cartoon comparing Israelis to Nazis. It is an outrageous lie.”
“A respectable newspaper should know that Israel sat back while Hamas lobbed rockets into civilian population centers. Any (Israeli) Prime Minister that didn’t take action would be hounded out of office. Because Netanyahu wants to protect his citizens, he is to be considered as a person who is simply murdering or choking Palestinian children because he wants to be elected?”
Hier also slammed the cartoonist for his history of publishing cartoons that compare Israelis to Nazis, saying, “This cartoonist does not belong on the Huffington Post, because of his record of being a purveyor of anti-Semitic cartoons.”
“He always compares Israelis to Hitler and the Nazis. For that alone, the Huffington Post should not publish any of his work.”
“If I was a cartoonist working for the Ayatollahs in Iran I would begin submitting cartoons immediately to the Huffington Post,” said the rabbi, drawing a parallel between the Huffington Post cartoon and infamously hateful imagery peddled by the Islamic Republic’s current leaders.
The influential leader who Newsweek described as “one phone call away from almost every world leader, journalist and Hollywood studio head,” said he is considering contacting Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington, whom he says he knows, and asking her to take action. “I say this as someone who knows Arianna Huffington, I am very surprised. I call on them to stop publicizing the works of a notorious anti-Semitic cartoonist. I am shocked by this and I probably will call her,” he said.
“I don’t think it is a good day for the Huffington Post,” Hier concluded.
