Political cartoonist Steve Bell has reportedly been sacked by the Guardian following accusations that his work was anti-semitic.
A Guardian spokesman said “The decision has been made not to renew Steve Bell’s contract. [His] cartoons have been an important part of the Guardian over the past 40 years – we thank him and wish him all the best.”
Last week, he tweeted about a cartoon related to the Hamas terror attack, which he alleged was rejected by Guardian editors.
The cartoon depicted Benjamin Netanyahu wearing boxing gloves and holding a scalpel over his own abdomen, which featured a map showing the Gaza Strip. The cartoon carried a quote reading, “Residents of Gaza, get out now.”
Bell, who has worked for the paper for four decades, said he filed the cartoon on Monday morning to The Guardian. Four hours later, he claimed, it was rejected by senior editors. He has since published the cartoon on his own Twitter (X) account.
The piece was produced as the Israeli Air Force stepped up bombardments of the Gaza Strip. Critics said its imagery was a reference to Shylock, the antagonistic Jewish moneylender from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice who insisted on the “pound of flesh” he is owed.
Bell claimed it was a reference to a similar 1960s cartoon about former US president Lyndon B Johnson which showed the US commander-in-chief making a Vietnam-shaped incision in his own abdomen.
“The cartoon is specifically about Benjamin Netanyahu’s disastrous policy failure which has led directly to the hideous recent atrocities around Gaza, and about his proposed response that he had announced, using his actual words addressing the citizens of Gaza,” Bell told the Jewish Chronicle.
“The Guardian has every right not to publish my cartoon if it so chooses, but it should not do so using entirely contrived and false reasons. All that does is inhibit discussion of a dreadful but important subject.”
Bell’s previous cartoons have also attracted controversy. In 2020, he drew Priti Patel as a grotesque, fat bull – along with Boris Johnson – which sparked outrage as some said it was a reference to her Hindu heritage.
Bell, who trained as an artist at the Teesside College of Art before graduating in filmmaking and art from the University of Leeds in 1974, will reportedly remain at the paper until his current contract expires in April 2024.
