Reuters reports that an upcoming London exhibition on anti-Semitic imagery was inspired by one particular cartoon depicting Ariel Sharon eating a Palestinian baby well-remembered by HonestReporting readers. The collection of cartoons and prints, belonging to Simon Cohen, includes portrayals of Jews as hairy apes, serpents with children’s legs hanging from the jaws, as well as a 15th century German print of a Jew taking a child’s blood. After initial uncertainty, Cohen convinced Britain’s Political Cartoon Society to host the display early next year:
The Sharon cartoon by artist David Brown for Britain’s Independent newspaper helped persuade him: To Cohen, anyone who failed to see the cartoon as anti-Semitic must be ignorant of the history of such images.
Despite heavy criticism, the UK Press Complaints Commission ruled Brown’s cartoon wasn’t anti-Semitic, and members of the cartoon society awarded Brown first prize in its annual competition.
