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Aussie Paper Publishes Photo, Caricatures Jews

Put aside the attitude of Amin Saikal as he almost crows with glee over the perceived blow to Israel following the signing of the Iran interim nuclear deal. The first thing that most readers will…

Simon Plosker
November 28, 2013
12:00 am

Reading time: < 1 minutes

Put aside the attitude of Amin Saikal as he almost crows with glee over the perceived blow to Israel following the signing of the Iran interim nuclear deal. The first thing that most readers will notice before reading the text of his Sydney Morning Herald op-ed is the accompanying photo.

What exactly does an uncaptioned photo of silhouetted ultra-Orthodox Jews have to do with the Israel-Iran situation?

Considering that the ultra-Orthodox are representative of some 15% of the Israeli population, the photo, artistic as it may be, cannot be said to be an accurate representation of Israel or Israelis.

While the image by itself is neutral, within the context of the story, it is inappropriate.

Could it be that the Sydney Morning Herald is simply using a “classic” image of Jews to caricature rather than to illustrate the story?

UPDATE

Following an email from HonestReporting and the exposure created by this post, the Sydney Morning Herald has removed the offending photo.

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Tags: haredi, Iran, israel, nuclear, photo bias, Sydney Morning Herald, Ultra-Orthodox

Simon Plosker

With over two decades of experience in various non-governmental organizations in the UK and Israel, Simon Plosker returned to HonestReporting in October 2022 as Editorial Director having previously been part of the organization’s management team from 2005 to 2020. Prior to his first spell at HonestReporting, Simon worked in Israel for NGO Monitor, BICOM, and served for a short period in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit. He was Managing Editor of the Geneva-based NGO United Nations Watch for two years before moving back to the frontline defending Israel from media bias. Simon has a BSoc.Sc in International Studies and Political Science from the University of Birmingham and an MSc in History of International Relations from the London School of Economics. He immigrated to Israel in 2001 from London.

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