From The Times of Israel:
A veteran Israeli cartoonist was cut loose on Tuesday from the magazine he worked at for nearly three decades over an illustration portraying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Likud lawmakers as pigs from George Orwell’s “Animal Farm.”
Following the uproar, the Jerusalem Post announced it would no longer work with Katz.
“Avi Katz is a cartoonist who worked as a freelancer at the Jerusalem Post and in accordance with editorial considerations, it was decided not to continue the relationship with him,” it said in a Hebrew-language statement.
From the Israeli newspaper Haaretz:
The Jerusalem Report, a news magazine published by Israeli daily The Jerusalem Post, fired on Tuesday the illustrator Avi Katz after a cartoon of his mocked an image of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Likud lawmakers taking a selfie that was published following the passage of the nation-state law.
Despite the clear homage to George Orwell’s “Animal Farm”, including the use of the well-known quote “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others,” many people on social media were quick to compare it to anti-Semitic caricatures.
Hundreds of comments were posted, mostly outraged by the swine imagery, in response to the cartoon that Katz posted on his Facebook page…
Avi Katz was born in Philadelphia, USA in 1949.
After studying in California he came to Israel in 1970 and decided to live there permanently. He started in painting and art teaching before turning to illustration full time. His drawings, ranging from the realistic to the caricature and comics have appeared in various magazines and newspapers in Israel and around the world. He has been the illustrator of the Jerusalem Report magazine since 1990.
Is it my imagination that Animal Farm and 1984 analogies are becoming more common lately?
UPDATE:
While depicting Israeli politicians as swine in Jewish newspapers is certainly not common, Avi Katz says it is not unknown. Haaretz notes Katz’s remark and shows their 1980 cartoon (with Orwellian overtones).
