The New York Times will issue an editor’s note in the international edition of its Monday paper that will take responsibility for an “anti-Semitic” cartoon of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump.
The cartoon, which appeared in Thursday’s paper, features Netanyahu as a dog with a Star of David collar leading a blind Trump, who is wearing a yarmulke. There was no caption or text alongside the caricature.
The NYT published this antisemitic caricature. pic.twitter.com/wlp5E1xG3E
— Zemer Mizrahi (@zmiz713) April 27, 2019
“A political cartoon in the International print edition of The New York Times on Thursday included anti-Semitic tropes, depicting the prime minister of Israel as a guide dog with a Star of David collar leading the president of the United States, shown wearing a skullcap,” The New York Times Opinion Twitter account tweeted Saturday morning. “The image was offensive, and it was an error of judgement to publish it. It was provided by The New York Times News Service and Syndicate, which has since deleted it.”
An Editors’ Note to appear in Monday’s international edition. pic.twitter.com/1rl2vXoTB3
— New York Times Opinion (@nytopinion) April 27, 2019
The New York Times Opinion Twitter account then issued a second statement Sunday afternoon. It says in part, “We are deeply sorry for the publication of an anti-Semitic political cartoon last Thursday in the print edition of The New York Times that circulates outside the United States, and we are committed to making sure nothing like this happens again.”
We apologize for the anti-Semitic cartoon we published. Here’s our statement. pic.twitter.com/nifZahutpO
— New York Times Opinion (@nytopinion) April 28, 2019
Netanyahu has a close relationship with President Donald Trump, which the Israeli prime minister used to his benefit in the lead-up to the general election earlier this month. Netanyahu secured an unprecedented fifth term in office. The two leaders met last month and Trump announced that he would recognize Israel’s 1981 annexation of the Golan Heights. (RELATED: Police Warn Of Brooklyn Teens Targeting Jews In Anti-Semitic Hate Crimes)
In another historic decision, the president officially announced the United States would recognize the capital of Israel as Jerusalem instead of Tel Aviv back in December 2017.
Editor’s note: The information about The New York Times’ second statement was added after the initial publication of this article.