The New York Times editorial board criticized the paper on Tuesday for publishing an anti-Semitic cartoon in its international edition last Thursday that featured U.S. President Donald Trump wearing a yarmulke, sporting dark-tinted glasses and being led by a dog with the face of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a large blue Star of David hanging from its collar.
The board stated that a production editor took the illustration from a syndication service “who did not recognize its anti-Semitism.”
“Yet however it came to be published, the appearance of such an obviously bigoted cartoon in a mainstream publication is evidence of a profound danger—not only of anti-Semitism but of numbness to its creep, to the insidious way this ancient, enduring prejudice is once again working itself into public view and common conversation,” they said.
The editorial board acknowledged the threat of anti-Semitism in the United States and worldwide, especially in Europe.
It also recognized that “anti-Zionism can clearly serve as a cover for anti-Semitism—and some criticism of Israel, as the cartoon demonstrated, is couched openly in anti-Semitic terms.”
Additionally, the board criticized Trump for “doing too little.”
Finally, it even acknowledged its infamous history of being silent about anti-Semitism during the 1930s and 1940s, when Adolf Hitler was in power in Germany, eventually leading to the murder of 6 million Jews in the Holocaust.
The Times apologized for the April 25 cartoon and, according to The Daily Beast, cut ties on Monday with the syndication service behind the image.
This comes as Yom Hashoah is to be celebrated on May 1-2.