Following the publication of this story, a Politico spokesman said the cartoon was removed and replaced with an editor’s note.

By Alana Goodman, The Washington Free Beacon

Politico published a cartoon on Friday featuring anti-Semitic imagery in an attempt to criticize the war in Iran.

The image depicts President Donald Trump, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Republican members of Congress wearing blood-covered Jewish prayer shawls and yarmulkes.

The cartoon, drawn by former New York Post cartoonist Sean Delonas, depicts the lawmakers aboard a rowboat labeled “Ship of Neocons”—a play on the Hieronymus Bosch painting Ship of Fools—that is about to plummet over a waterfall.

A bag of blood-smeared money crowns the mast, and the word “Amalek,” a reference to a historical enemy of the Jewish people from the Hebrew Bible, appears in the background.

Netanyahu, depicted with an exaggerated nose, is also shown wearing a blood-covered Jewish prayer shawl and eating from a table covered in blood, while Trump, also in a Jewish prayer shawl, is drawn underneath the word “Amalek.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), who is not Jewish, is depicted wearing a yarmulke and a Jewish prayer shawl and holding a bottle of blood.

Graham and Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas), also drawn in a blood-covered Jewish prayer shawl, have supported the Iran war and are longtime supporters of Israel.

The cartoon plays on classic anti-Semitic tropes about Jews covertly controlling events, in this case the decision to launch the war in Iran, and using financial exploitation to do so.

The exaggeration of Netanyahu’s nose in a grotesque, caricatured style plays on age-old efforts to dehumanize Jews.

The drawing was published as part of Politico’s “Cartoon Carousel,” which Politico describes as a round-up of the “best” political cartoons of the week.

Following the publication of this story, a Politico spokesman said the cartoon was removed and replaced with an editor’s note.

“We removed a cartoon by independent cartoonist Sean Delonas from this week’s gallery after weighing comments from readers that it did not meet our standards,” the note reads.

“Sharp arguments and provocative imagery in political cartoons are within bounds. Images that could be reasonably interpreted to rely on ethnic stereotypes or employing tropes that have been involved in historically hateful ways are not.”

Delonas declined to comment, saying he “charge[s] $500 for a 1/2 hour interview and $750 for a full hour.”

Politico is owned by the German publishing company Axel Springer, which acquired the Arlington, Va.-based company for $1 billion in 2021.

The New York Times reported at the time that Politico employees would be exempted from signing Axel Springer’s mission statement, which includes support for Israel and the trans-Atlantic alliance.

Axel Springer’s corporate values include the statement “We support the right of existence of the State of Israel and oppose all forms of antisemitism.”

In that context, Politico’s overwhelmingly negative coverage of Israel has attracted attention in recent years, including in 2024, when it published a cartoon suggesting that Israel was exploiting centuries of discrimination—including the Holocaust—to carry out the war in Gaza.

An Axel Springer board member, Martin Varsavsky, also publicly rebuked the publication last year.

Delonas was a cartoonist for the Post for over two decades.

He drew national controversy in 2009 for his cartoon depicting two police officers shooting a chimpanzee under the caption “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.”

Although the cartoon came out shortly after the highly publicized police shooting of a chimpanzee who mauled a woman, critics claimed that the drawing was actually a racially charged reference to then-president Barack Obama.

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Varsavsky said the Politico report “fails to mention that the airstrikes were aimed at eliminating top Hamas military and [that] Israel was successful at doing so.”

By Matthew Xiao, The Washington Free Beacon

A member of the board of Politico’s parent company on Tuesday condemned the outlet for pro-Hamas reporting on Israel’s new airstrikes in the Gaza Strip.

“I am on the board of Axel Springer that owns Politico. I consider this article one-sided Hamas support,” Argentine businessman Martín Varsavsky wrote on X, responding to the outlet’s Monday article “Israel Hits Gaza With New Airstrikes That Kill At Least 200.”

Axel Springer acquired Politico in 2014, the same year that Varsavsky joined the company’s supervisory board.

Varsavsky said the Politico report “fails to mention that the airstrikes were aimed at eliminating top Hamas military and [that] Israel was successful at doing so.”

“It also quotes casualty figures given by Hamas that are not believed to be accurate,” he added.

Israel launched a series of airstrikes early Tuesday that eliminated senior Hamas officials.

The attack “comes after Hamas repeatedly refused to release our hostages and rejected all proposals presented by U.S. President’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, as well as the mediators,” Israeli defense minister Israel Katz said in a letter.

The Trump administration, which said that Israeli officials had consulted it before launching the offensive, in a Monday statement voiced support for Israel.

“Hamas could have released hostages to extend the ceasefire but instead chose refusal and war,” a spokesman for the National Security Council told Fox News.

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Politico employees in the US will not have to sign a pledge to support Israel when German media giant Axel Springer takes ownership of the new company, despite it being a requirement for European staff.

By Donna Rachel Edmunds, World Israel News

Politico’s American staff will not have to sign a mission statement pledging support for Israel when the media outlet changes hands, despite the requirement being part of its new owner’s mission statement.

Politico has bucked the trend in media for falling figures with a focus on Beltway politics and policy, and has now been snapped up by German media giant Axel Springer for a cool billion.

Axel Springer, the publisher of some of Europe’s most widely read outlets including Bild and Die Welt, is open about its strong support for Israel – so much so that the second of the company’s five core principles reads, “We support the Jewish people and the right of existence of the State of Israel.”

Its European staff are required to sign a pledge of commitment to the company’s values, which also includes support for freedom of speech and the free market, commitment to the rule of law and democracy, and support for the Transatlantic Alliance between Europe and America.

Matthias Dopfner, CEO of Axel Sprinter, reiterated his company’s values earlier this year when, during the latest round of fighting between Israel and Hamas, he flew the Israeli flag over his company’s headquarters in support.

“I think, and I’m being very frank with you, a person who has an issue with an Israeli flag being raised for one week here, after anti-Semitic demonstrations, should look for a new job,” he told Israel Hayom at the time, referring to any employees who might object

However, in an article on the sale published in the New York Times, journalist Ben Smith mentions that Politico’s American staff will not have to confirm their support for Israel and Axel Springer’s other values when the deal goes through.

He quotes outgoing owner Robert Allbritton as saying: “In some ways, they [Axel Springer] are more American than most Americans are these days. They’re about freedom of the press, they’re about freedom of thought, they are blatantly pro-Transatlantic alliance.”

By contrast, Politico’s audience is, according to Allbritton, “professional folks in D.C.”

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A senior U.S. official told the LA Times that the Politico story “is completely false. Absolutely false. I checked.” 

By World Israel News Staff 

President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he did not believe that Israel was spying on the United States.

“I don’t believe that, I don’t think the Israelis are spying on us,” he told reporters on the South Lawn of the White House. “I really would find that hard to believe.”

Trump added: “Anything’s possible, but I don’t believe that.”

Politico had reported that “the U.S. government concluded within the last two years that Israel was most likely behind the placement of cell-phone surveillance devices that were found near the White House and other sensitive locations around Washington, D.C.”

A senior administration official told the Los Angeles Times that the Politico story “is completely false. Absolutely false. I checked,” according to reporter Noga Tarnopolsky.

She also noted that Politico correspondent Daniel Lipman was standing by his story, telling Israeli Channel 12 News that his three former U.S. administration sources are “ironclad.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the Politico report “a complete fabrication,” adding that there is “a directive…not to engage in any intelligence operations in the United States. This directive is rigorously enforced without exception,” the Israeli premier insisted.

“These allegations are absolute nonsense. Israel doesn’t conduct espionage operations in the United States, period,” said Elad Strohmayer, spokesman at the Israeli Embassy in Washington.

The miniature surveillance devices referred to in the report are “colloquially known as ‘StingRays,’” said Politico.

The devices “mimic regular cell towers to fool cell phones into giving them their locations and identity information,” it says, adding that “they also can capture the contents of calls and data use.”

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“In this dangerous climate of rising anti-Semitism, all media organizations have a responsibility to be careful not to perpetuate anti-Semitic tropes,” said the ADL.

By World Israel News Staff

Politico, a U.S. political news outlet, is under fire for a cover illustration this weekend of presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders standing next to a tree with dollars for leaves. The feature, entitled “The Secret of Bernie’s Millions,” was promoted with a since-removed tweet from Politico anouncing, “Bernie Sanders might still be cheap, but he’s not poor.”

The news outlet asked in a sub-headline: “How did he amass three houses and a net worth approaching at least $2 million? The surprisingly conventional middle-class climbing of a radical-sounding socialist.”

Critics charge that it smacked of anti-Semitism.

“Can Politico⁩ explain to us how photoshopping money trees next to the only Jewish candidate for president and talking about how ‘cheap’ and rich he is *isn’t* antisemitic?” asked Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) on Twitter in a post on Saturday.

“Or are they just letting this happen because he’s a progressive politician they don’t like?” she added.

“In this dangerous climate of rising anti-Semitism, all media organizations have a responsibility to be careful not to perpetuate anti-Semitic tropes, such as those about Jews and wealth,” commented the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in a tweet.

Ocasio-Cortez compared reactions to the Politico feature to responses to a statement in February by virulently anti-Israel Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) in which she accused the pro-Israel AIPAC lobbying group of buying off politicians to ensure their support for the Jewish state.

It was the latest incident in which Omar faced anti-Semitism accusations, which date back to a 2012 tweet in which she accused “evil” Israel of “hyponotiz[ing] the world” and include other instances in which she accused people who support Israel of “push[ing] for allegiance to a foreign country.”

“It’s all about the Benjamins baby,” tweeted Omar in February, implying that elected officials support Israel for the sake of “Benjamins,” a euphemism for money that refers to Benjamin Franklin’s appearance on the $100 bill.

In her tweets on Saturday, Ocasio-Cortez accused conservatives of employing a double standard in condemning Omar for what she said about pro-Israel politicians but not speaking out against the Politico illustration of Sanders.

“Notice the people willing to explain this away, yet when Ilhan’s words are taken out of context, they are the first to jump on her,” tweeted Ocasio-Cortez.

In the article, Politico senior staff writer Michael Kruse cited “Bruce Seifer, a friend of Sanders, an economic aide in his administration and one of many people who know him” who described Sanders as “frugal.”

According to the senior writer, Seifer then paused and added: “That’s a nice way of saying he’s a cheap son of a bitch.”

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