Publisher cancels Holocaust education book after author refused to denounce Israel

Dark Horse Comics nixes plans to publish book written by Holocaust scholar about US newspaper cartoons during the Holocaust, after the author refused to accuse Israel of genocide.

By World Israel News Staff

Dark Horse Comics has canceled the planned publication of a book about American newspaper cartoons during the Holocaust after its author refused to include statements accusing Israel of genocide and other crimes, according to the author and his legal advocates.

Historian Rafael Medoff said Dark Horse had been scheduled to publish Cartoonists Against the Holocaust this summer.

The book contains 150 editorial cartoons printed in American newspapers during the 1930s and 1940s, accompanied by Medoff’s commentary on what Americans knew about the persecution and murder of European Jews while the Holocaust was taking place.

According to Medoff, Craig Yoe, who was then an editor for a Dark Horse imprint, told him that the book’s publication would not proceed unless its introduction declared that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza.

Yoe later put additional demands in writing, Medoff said, including language accusing Israel of “war crimes and crimes against humanity” and referring to “concentration camp-style prisons” in the United States.

Medoff refused to add the requested language, and Dark Horse subsequently canceled the book’s publication.

“Accusing Israel of genocide is a lie, and requiring a Holocaust scholar to denounce Israel to see his book published is antisemitic bullying,” Medoff said.

Dark Horse had previously published two other books by Medoff, Whistleblowers and Cartoonists Against Racism, without a similar dispute.

Medoff said the disagreement over his latest book emerged only after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack on Israel and the war that followed. He characterized the publisher’s demand as an ideological condition unrelated to the historical subject of the manuscript.

“It’s troubling to see McCarthyism rearing its ugly head in 21st-century America,” Medoff said. “Historians should be free to write about history without being subjected to political litmus tests.”

The supplied account did not include a public response from Dark Horse or Yoe addressing Medoff’s allegations or explaining the decision to cancel the book.

Supporters of Medoff said the case reflects a broader pattern in which Jewish and pro-Israel writers, artists and academics face professional pressure over their views on Israel.

Carly Gammill, director of legal policy and litigation at StandWithUs Saidoff Law, said the dispute was especially striking because it involved a Holocaust scholar and a book about public awareness of Nazi persecution.

“When a comic book publisher pressures a Holocaust scholar to denounce the Jewish state before his own book on the Holocaust can see print, the irony is hard to miss,” Gammill said.

She said Jewish professionals were increasingly being asked to satisfy political demands before being permitted to participate fully in publishing, academia and the arts.

“We are seeing an alarming trend in which Jewish professionals are expected to pass ideological tests before they can fully participate in public life,” Gammill said. “Whether in academia, the arts, or publishing, Jewish authors should be evaluated on the quality of their work—not on whether they are willing to denounce a core part of their Jewish identity.”

The controversy follows several other disputes involving Jewish or Israeli cultural figures.

Comic book creator Miriam Libicki was removed from the Vancouver Comic Arts Festival in 2024 before being invited back following public criticism of the decision. Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid was also reportedly removed from the FID Marseille film festival, while David Kaganovsky of Drexel University and Morton Schapiro of Georgetown Law withdrew as commencement speakers earlier this year amid opposition connected to their Israeli or pro-Israel identities.

In an April 2026 opinion article for the Jewish outlet Unpacked, writer Debbie Lechtman argued that the exclusion of Zionist Jewish writers since October 7 had become a recognizable pattern rather than a collection of isolated incidents.

“The marginalization of Zionist Jewish authors since [October 7, 2023] is more than anecdotal; it is a trackable pattern,” Lechtman wrote.

She said Jewish writers had increasingly faced canceled appearances, professional retaliation and demands that they publicly distance themselves from Israel.

“[Jewish] writers are subjected to political litmus tests simply for being publicly associated with Jewish identity,” she wrote. “Threats and professional retaliation have become part of the environment Jewish writers now navigate.”

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