Political cartoons, when done right, can play an important role in societal discourse, criticizing and illustrating the foibles of those in power.
Yet all too often, cartoonists use their poison pen to launch one-sided attacks against the only Jewish state. While The New York Times following controversy over a clearly antisemitic cartoon announced in 2019 that it would no longer publish editorial cartoons, artists around the world have ramped up their efforts to demonize Israel.
Here’s our top 10 of the worst anti-Israel cartoons published this year.
1. ‘If Israel Played at the World Cup…’
This cartoon, which made the rounds on Palestinian social media during the November 20-December 18 soccer World Cup in Qatar, is not only detached from reality — it also exhibits a stunning lack of self-awareness. As one Twitter critic put it, referencing the 1972 massacre by Palestinian terrorists of 11 Israeli Olympians in Munich: “Between Israel and ‘Palestine’ only one of them has a history of massacring athletes during an international tournament that occurs once every 4 years.” A well-deserved number one on our list.
2. Carlos Latuff Takes on HonestReporting
Carlos Latuff’s new work depicts the dismissal of Hosam Salem from the New York Times and Katie Halper from The Hill. pic.twitter.com/jzQ5KgR0nL
— MintPress News (@MintPressNews) October 11, 2022
Carlos Latuff, infamous for his anti-Israeli and antisemitic illustrations, claimed second prize in the 2006 Iranian International Holocaust Cartoon Competition. So when HonestReporting revealed in August that Gaza-based New York Times photographer Hosam Salem publicly praised the mass murder of civilians in Israel, Latuff naturally jumped to his defense in a cartoon published by the far-left MintPress News website. In a display of twisted logic, the Brazilian “artist” conspiratorially implied that the “Israeli lobby” is somehow the bad guy here.
3. Another Latuff Conspiracy Cartoon
Palestinian journalists are under attack by #Israel lobby groups for reporting the truth from #Palestine
https://t.co/V9skDbYIzc@Mondoweiss pic.twitter.com/jUimYgNjxj— Carlos Latuff (@LatuffCartoons) October 28, 2022
Our forensic research into the people shaping the coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict, which led to the dismissal of six journalists in the second half of 2022, clearly put Israel’s detractors on the defense. Case in point: Within two weeks, Carlos Latuff dedicated not one, but two cartoons to our work!
4. Hamas Terrorists as ‘Resistance’ Fighters?!
Every American should be offended by this Palestinian cartoon comparing the heroes of Iwo Jima to Hamas terrorists. pic.twitter.com/7ja1Mx0bPT
— Elder of Ziyon 🇮🇱 (@elderofziyon) December 27, 2022
One can always count on Palestinian media outlets — in this case Felesteen, the largest newspaper in the Gaza Strip — to make bizarre and faulty comparisons. For the record: American soldiers during the Battle of Iwo Jima defeated Nazi-allied Japanese forces. Meanwhile, US-designated Hamas terrorists seek inspiration from Adolf Hitler’s plans to “obliterate” the Jewish people.
5. SA’s Daily Maverick Promotes Apartheid Slur
Zapiro’s cartoon published @dailymaverick (18 May 2022) on Again and again @AlJazeeraWorld #shireenabuakla – https://t.co/D9IBl3eNi9 pic.twitter.com/TIjSM2eiyi
— Zapiro (@zapiro) May 20, 2022
The tragic death of Shireen Abu Akleh, the Palestinian-American reporter shot on May 11 during a counter-terrorism operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, brought about many misleading anti-Israel cartoons (see, for instance, here, here, and here). Perhaps the vilest sketch was printed by South Africa’s Daily Maverick, a leading newspaper with approximately eight million readers per month. The dishonest drawing by “anti-Zionist” cartoonist Zapiro draws a direct line between the 1976 murder of Hector Pieterson by the Apartheid police and Abu Akleh’s accidental death in a conflict zone.
6. The Tiresome Ukraine/’Palestine’ Parallel
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As HonestReporting has repeatedly pointed out (see here, here, here, and here), moral equivalences between the plight of the Ukrainian people under attack by Russia and Palestinians attacking Israelis are simply not grounded in facts. Crucially, Palestinian terror groups do not discriminate between soldiers, civilians, men, women, children, or babies, with Gaza-based Hamas referring to all citizens of the Jewish state as “Zionist soldiers,” all the while encouraging their members to carry out unprovoked attacks on Israelis. Unfortunately, it appears that Eli Valley didn’t get the memo.
7. ‘Santa Claus in Palestine’: The Jews Ruined Christmas!
#IsraeliCrimes #MerryChristmas pic.twitter.com/EDvoz5BfJz
— Mutaz M. ALMasloukhi (@MutazALMaslokhi) December 24, 2022
Nothing and no one is safe from appropriation by the anti-Israel propaganda machine — not even Santa Claus. Every December, Palestinian artists, in their endless creativity, pump out countless graphics that blame the Jews for ruining Christmas (see, for example, here, here, and here). Al Jazeera producer and cartoonist Mahmoud Abbas (no, not the Palestinian Authority chief) really went above and beyond in his antisemitic depiction of an Israeli soldier.
8. Mohammed El-Kurd’s Favorite
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Mohammed El-Kurd, The Nation’s so-called “Palestine correspondent,” in July came under fire when he shared a sketch by Palestinian artist Azeez Azeez. HonestReporting discovered that Azeez more than once invoked overt anti-Jewish tropes and blood libels in his work, frequently illustrating Jews as subhuman creatures secretly controlling world affairs. Despite El-Kurd’s numerous faux pas’, The Nation’s D.D. Guttenplan has inexplicably defended the decision to hire the Jerusalem radical.
9. Not Again: Israel Poisoning Palestinian Wells
En marcha planes macabros del sionismo desde mucho antes#Israel #Palestina #Caricatura #Jorge pic.twitter.com/ob6y00UnAJ
— Al Mayadeen Español (@almayadeen_es) October 18, 2022
While Al Mayadeen, Hezbollah’s TV channel in Lebanon, ran one of the most boring cartoons of this year, its Spanish-language Twitter account still made the top 10 for using a centuries-old antisemitic myth. “Two cups of chemical products, three [cups] of racism and apartheid, two more of violence and hate, and we are ready to poison the Palestinian water,” the October 18 cartoon imagines David Ben-Gurion as saying. Wow.
10. Dutch Repeat Offender Mocks Jew-hatred
Strategic Map Israel pic.twitter.com/00JpXW8eM6
— Jos Collignon (@CollignonJos) May 20, 2022
Jos Collignon, the lead cartoonist for the Dutch daily De Volkskrant, first appeared on HonestReporting’s radar some four years ago when he suggested that the IDF slaughtered innocent Palestinians to celebrate Israel’s 70th anniversary. Fast forward to 2022, and Collignon’s overt hatred for the Jewish state is once again on full display. In this May 20 cartoon, he shamelessly mocks the fight against antisemitism, while promoting the baseless conspiracy theory that the government in Jerusalem is seeking to establish a “Greater Israel” including the territory of modern-day Jordan.
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