Cartoonist sacked by British daily Guardian over Netanyahu cartoon

In a row over alleged antisemitism, famed cartoonist Steve Bell has been fired by British daily The Guardian over a cartoon critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, media reports said Monday.

The cartoon showing Netanyahu preparing to operate on himself with an outline of Gaza visible on his stomach was rejected for allegedly evoking the anti-Semitic "pound of flesh" trope.

Bell said that the cartoon was rejected after he received an "ominous phone call" from the Guardian with the message "pound of flesh," in reference to the Jewish character Shylock in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand," Bell said to the phone call, and then "received this even more mysterious reply: 'Jewish bloke; pound of flesh; antisemitic trope'," he related on X.

Far from being antisemitic, Bell said, the cartoon was inspired by a 1966 David Levine cartoon of U.S. 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. The undeclared U.S. war in the Southeast Asian country had proved one of Johnson's most intractable issues, and one though which he did himself great harm, similar to the Gaza conflict for Netanyahu, as Bell argued.

A Guardian News and Media spokesperson said of the sudden sacking: "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."