Controversial Guardian cartoonist Steve Bell – whose work was frequently the subject of analysis on these pages – has been told that his services will no longer be required at The Guardian when his contract expires next year.
During his 40 years with the paper Bell repeatedly sparked outrage over his drawings, some of which have clear antisemitic and racist themes.
The UK’s Jewish Chronicle reports that despite the announcement, coming amid plans to cut 180 jobs at the Guardian, “the decision not to renew Mr Bell’s contract is said to be unrelated to the latest round of redundancies.”
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
A litany of lies and hate
Over the years, Bell produced numerous instances of dubious and vile cartoons for The Guardian, many of them crossing the line from criticism of Israel into poisonous antisemitism.
In truth, Bell’s departure is long overdue. A 2012 cartoon of his depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a puppeteer controlling British politicians Tony Blair and William Hague drew sharp condemnation from the British Jewish community.
The suggestion that Jews dominate the world and control leaders is an indisputably antisemitic theme. Responding to complaints, readers’ editor Chris Elliott agreed at the time that the cartoon showed poor judgment on Bell’s part:
I don’t believe that Bell is an antisemite, nor do I think it was his intention to draw an antisemitic cartoon. However, using the image of a puppeteer when drawing a Jewish politician inevitably echoes past antisemitic usage of such imagery, no matter the intent.
The Holocaust and its causes are still within living memory. While journalists and cartoonists should be free to express an opinion that Netanyahu is opportunistic and manipulative, in my view they should not use the language – including the visual language – of antisemitic stereotypes.
While Elliott charitably viewed Bell as unwittingly crossing the line by echoing “past antisemitic usage”, the cartoon was criticized by the Community Security Trust’s Dave Rich as comparable to those featured in Nazi publications.
At many other news outlets, publishing such a cartoon would have proved a sackable offense. This being The Guardian, however, Bell was allowed to retain his position and spew hate for many years thereafter.
Featured Post: As Racial Tensions Boil Over, Are Car Rammings In Israel Covered Differently?
In 2019, his cartoon “Mike Pompeo’s prayer for Middle East peace” portrayed Gaza as lying behind a barbed wired fence in the shape of a Star of David (middle-left frame in cartoon below), while armed and helmeted troops stand outside (middle-left frame). Such a juxtaposition seemingly conflates Gaza with a Nazi concentration camp where Israelis are the Nazis.
As we noted at the time:
The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism has been adopted and endorsed by a growing number of governments and organizations (including HonestReporting). It includes: “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.”
In 2014, Bell responded to the funerals of three Israeli teens kidnapped and murdered by a Hamas cell by comparing their deaths to those of Palestinians. By pitting the value of Israeli lives against the value of Palestinian lives, Bell clearly suggested that people cared too much about the deliberate murder of three innocent teenagers.
Beyond the pale…even for The Guardian
Despite having a wretched reputation when it comes to Israel, even The Guardian found Bell’s work beyond the pale from time to time.
In June 2018, the paper refused to run a deeply problematic cartoon that editors said evoked “antisemitic tropes.” That cartoon featured prime ministers Benjamin Netanyahu and Theresa May as Palestinian medic Razan al-Najjar burns in the fireplace behind them. Najjar was killed by an Israeli soldier during violent clashes at the Gaza border.
In an email sent to all journalists at the paper, Bell declared he felt “unfairly traduced and censored” and accused Guardian editor Kath Viner of “not really having an argument” for refusing to publish the cartoon. It’s worth noting how uncomfortably close this cartoon came to visually conflating the mass murder of European Jews during the Holocaust and the current situation in Gaza.
And another scrapped cartoon in July 2019 characterized Labour deputy leader Tom Watson as an “antisemite finder general” for criticizing Jew-hatred in the party. Context is critical here: Bell’s cartoon was inked at a time when the UK Labour party was repeatedly found to be hosting individuals who spewed antisemitic vitriol and an obsessive hatred of Israel.
With a record of repeatedly straying into antisemitic territory and fueling hatred of Israel, the only real question is: Why did the bell for Bell not toll long, long ago?
