The New York Times got into some major trouble over the weekend for publishing a cartoon that was by all angles anti-Semitic. The cartoon depicted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a dog, with the Star of David on his collar, while he was leading a blind President Trump. Following a round of backlash, the Times published the following apology.
An Editors' Note to appear in Monday’s international edition. pic.twitter.com/1rl2vXoTB3
— New York Times Opinion (@nytopinion) April 27, 2019
That's not enough, according to leaders like Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League. While it wouldn't surprise him if something like that was published in Tehran, it is especially "unacceptable" for it to make the pages of the Times.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) agreed.
What kind of person would even submit a cartoon like this for approval? An anti-Semite.
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) April 28, 2019
Deleting the anti-Semitic cartoon doesn’t delete the anti-Semitism inside the organization that led to its publication. https://t.co/81mZStoC9g
CNN's Brian Stelter, who was on the same panel as Greenblatt on Monday, compared the cartoon to Nazi propaganda.
Worse yet, the cartoon was published a few days before a mass shooter attacked a Jewish synagogue in San Diego, killing one woman and wounding three others.
President Trump used the controversy to ask the NYT's editors when they are going to apologize for all the past cartoons aimed at him. He said the paper has reached the "lowest level of 'journalism.'"
The New York Times has apologized for the terrible Anti-Semitic Cartoon, but they haven’t apologized to me for this or all of the Fake and Corrupt news they print on a daily basis. They have reached the lowest level of “journalism,” and certainly a low point in @nytimes history!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 29, 2019