Israeli paper fires cartoonist over Orwell cartoon criticising new ‘nation state’ law

Avi Katz’s controversial illustration depicting prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other politicians as pigs defended on freedom of speech grounds

Avi Katz's cartoon, based on a photo taken after the controversial law passed

A leading Israeli newspaper has fired one of its veteran cartoonists after a drawing critical of the country’s new “nation state” law was slammed as antisemitic for depicting politicians as pigs.

The Jerusalem Post dismissed Avi Katz on Wednesday for his illustration portraying prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other members of the Likud party as pigs in clothes along with the caption, “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others” – a quotation from George Orwell’s authoritarian satire Animal Farm.

Speaking to The Independent, Katz said he thought his firing was "idiotic."

"I thought my cartoon was relatively mild, and that firing me over it was idiotic."

The illustration immediately inflamed opinion on social media, where users pointed out that pigs are considered unclean in Judaism.

“In six months, the issue depicted will be forgotten, but this cartoon will be the new Shylock cartoon. It will give permission for hatred of orthodox, of fat, of men, of Jews in general,” one Facebook commenter said.

“The law sucks… but the cartoon is also permanent, uncontainable.”

The picture parodied a photograph of Mr Netanyahu and fellow Knesset members taken as they took a selfie after the nation state bill passed last week.

Knesset member Oren Hazan takes a selfie with Israel’s prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, centre, and MP David Bitan, right of Netanyahu, after a Knesset session passed the contentious nation state bill on 19 July 2018

The new legislation, designed to strengthen Israel’s identity as the “national home of the Jewish people”, has been condemned as discriminatory towards the country’s Arab minority.

Among other measures, it downgrades Arabic from being an official language and encourages settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, and has been met with fierce protests.

The cartoon was published on Tuesday in the Jerusalem Report, a biweekly magazine supplement of the Jerusalem Post. Katz also posted his work to his personal Facebook page, describing the new law as “shameful”.

Following vocal criticism, the Jerusalem Post released a statement on Wednesday announcing that “in accordance with editorial considerations, it was decided not to continue the relationship” with the cartoonist.

Katz has worked for the company since 1990.

In a statement, the Union of Journalists in Israel voiced its support for the cartoonist.

“Causing harm to a journalist because he expressed an opinion, let alone when it was approved by his editors, is a dangerous step that must not be accepted. We call on Katz’s editors to retract this unacceptable step,” it read.

"I’m excited to see the enormous amount of support I’ve seen over the last couple of days," Katz told The Independent.

A crowdfunding page set up by the Animix animation and comics festival to help Katz has already raised 80 per cent of its 80,000 shekel (£16,600) goal.

A statement from the event’s organisers said that while they found the cartoon “shocking”, they believed freedom of speech in Israel must be upheld.