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German newspaper publishes anti-Semitic cartoon of Netanyahu

A cartoon of Netanyahu published by Sueddeutsche Zeitung recalled “the intolerable depictions of Nazi propaganda.”

By: AP and World Israel News Staff

Germany’s anti-Semitism commissioner accused a leading newspaper of crossing a “red line” with a caricature of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu portraying him with oversized lips, ears and nose.

Felix Klein, who was appointed this year amid concerns over rising anti-Semitism in the country, told the Bild newspaper on Thursday that Tuesday’s cartoon in Munich’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung, published after the US moved its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, recalled “the intolerable depictions of Nazi propaganda.”

The drawing depicts Netanyahu dressed as Israeli singer Netta Barzilai, who won this year’s Eurovision song contest. The heart that forms the “v” in Eurovision is replaced with a Star of David and Netanyahu is hoisting a missile in his hand, saying “next year in Jerusalem.”

The Jewish star on the rocket could also suggest that “behind every war, Jewish interests are hiding,” Jonas Mueller-Töwe commented in an article for t-online.de news, which broke the story

Sueddeutsche Zeitung has apologized for the caricature.

The cartoonist, Dieter Hanitzsch, has previously published cartoons that were criticized for their anti-Semitic undertones. In 2016, he used an octopus strangling Earth as a metaphor for US foreign policy. Critics charged that the image closely resembled anti-Semitic illustrations from the Nazi-era propaganda tabloid Der Sturmer, JTA reported.