The Irish Times caricature depicts an Israeli soldier as acting out of a desire to avenge perceived antisemitism.

Canaan Lidor

By Canaan Lidor, JNS

A caricature featuring Holocaust references that depicts Israel’s actions against Hezbollah as owing to a desire to avenge antisemitism is generating controversy in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Ireland’s chief rabbi, Yoni Wieder, on Monday told JNS that the cartoon, which appeared on Sept. 21 in The Irish Times, “is just one example” of several recent media “portrayals that play right into harmful antisemitic tropes.”

The caricature, which a leader of a Northern Ireland conservative party condemned in parliament last week as reminiscent of “Nazi propaganda,” shows a soldier with a Star of David armband thinking: “They all hate us so let’s get ‘em” and a charred individual holding an object that’s exploding in the shape of a yellow Jewish star as a bleeding body lies at his feet.

A text in the caricature by Martyn Turner reads: “When the country which has the biggest chip on its shoulder may also have the smallest chip in your electronic device. If they used as much ingenuity in making peace as they do in making war the Middle East would be a better place.”

The caricature appears to reference the explosion on Sept. 17 and 18 of thousands of pagers and other devices in the possession of Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon and Syria. The explosions, which Hezbollah blamed on Israel, killed dozens of people and wounded thousands.

Depicting Zionism, which predates the Holocaust, and Israel’s defensive actions as owing to a Jewish psychological complex about the genocide is a common theme in anti-Israeli and antisemitic discourse.

The cartoon was “a malevolent trope, redolent of the hideous use of the Jewish caricature that has been part of the antisemitic imagery for centuries and in Nazi propaganda,” said Steve Aiken, the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, during a speech on Sept. 23 in the Northern Ireland Assembly, the regional parliament of Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom. Aiken was quoting and endorsing a statement by the Holocaust Awareness Ireland association about the cartoon.

A screen capture of a caricature that the Irish Times published on Sept. 20, 2024.

The Irish Times did not immediately reply to a request for comment by JNS.

The caricature coincides with an increase in expressions of hostility toward Israel in Ireland, which sometimes feature expression of antisemitism, since the Oct. 7 onslaught by Hamas, in which the terrorist group murdered or killed some 1,200 Israelis and abducted another 251. The massacre prompted an ongoing military operation by Israel in Gaza against Hamas in Gaza.

In recent weeks, Israel has intensified its actions against Hezbollah, which attacked Israel on Oct. 8 in solidarity with Hamas.

Ireland is among the E.U. member states with the most hostile policy toward Israel, and joined Spain and Norway in recognizing a Palestinian state in May.

Last month, Irish President Michael D. Higgins accused Israel of leaking to the press a letter that he had penned to Iran’s new president,  extending Higgins’  best wishes” for “all the challenges we face at this difficult time when we struggle for peace,” adding that “Iran with its long tradition of culture will play a crucial role in achieving this.”

Commenting about the caricature, Wieder, the chief rabbi, told JNS: “It’s awfully disappointing to see double standards like these normalized in Irish media,” which “yet again wilfully ignores the fact that Israel is being attacked on multiple fronts by terrorist groups.”

To describe Israel in these circumstances as having a chip on its shoulder, Wieder wrote, “points to a deep-seated bias—a bias that has become increasingly obvious and apparent in recent months.”