'Makes no sense': UK daily Guardian fires cartoonist over Netanyahu artwork

Cartoonist Steve Bell, who has worked with the British daily The Guardian for over 40 years, has been fired for allegedly evoking anti-Semitic tropes in his artwork.

The cartoon spiked by the publication showed the Israeli prime minister preparing to operate on his own stomach that had a Gaza map drawn on it with a caption: 'Residents of Gaza, get out now', referring to the evacuation order.

Bell said he received an "ominous phone call" from the publication with a message "pound of flesh", referring to the Jewish character Shylock in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, hours after submitting the artwork.

“Just to explain. I filed this cartoon around 11am, possibly my earliest ever. Four hours later, on a train to Liverpool I received an ominous phone call from the desk with the strangely cryptic message "pound of flesh," Bell said on X.

"“I’m sorry, I don’t understand", I said and received this even more mysterious reply: ‘Jewish bloke; pound of flesh; antisemitic trope’. Clearly it was self-evident, anybody could see it..."

According to Bell, the cartoon was inspired by a 1966 David Levine cartoon of US President Lyndon Johnson, who was famed for lifting his shirt to show off a scar from his gall bladder surgery.

Speaking to the BBC, Bell said it "made no sense to me, as there is no reference to that play in my cartoon, which shows Netanyahu, poised to perform a surgical operation on himself while wearing boxing gloves, the catastrophic consequences of which are yet to be seen".

"The image itself was inspired by the late, great David Levine's cartoon of President Lyndon Johnson (LBJ) showing off his operation scar, which Levine draws in the shape of a map of Vietnam," Bell added.

Bell’s cartoons have often caused controversy.

In 2018, The Guardian rejected one of his artwork featuring former British prime minister Theresa May alongside Netanyahu. The cartoon showed the pair sitting in front of a fireplace where a Palestinian nurse named Razan al-Najja being burned. Razan was killed by an Israeli solider.

A Guardian News and Media spokesperson said "The decision has been made not to renew Steve Bell's contract. Steve Bell's cartoons have been an important part of the Guardian over the past 40 years – we thank him and wish him all the best."