‘A dangerous mistake’: New York Times admits its cartoon an example of rising anti-Semitism

The political cartoon in the New York Times that sparked backlash around the globe is just one example of the “insidious” way anti-Semitism is rising in society again, the newspaper said on Tuesday.

The cartoon depicted U.S. President Donald Trump as a blind man wearing a skullcap being led by a wiener dog with Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu’s face and a star of David on his collar and was printed in Thursday’s edition of the paper.

In an apology issued two days later, the paper said the image contained anti-Semitic tropes and was an “error of judgment” on their part. An editor’s note was published in the Monday issue of the Times.

On Tuesday, the paper went one step further in the opinion piece written, outlining how the cartoon was a symptom of the rising “creep” of anti-Semitism.

The editorial board called the cartoon “appalling” and said the cartoon represented 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.”

The newspaper points to recent examples, such as the recent synagogue shooting in San Diego, and cites statistics from the Anti-Defamation League that show assaults against American Jews have nearly doubled in 2018 from previous years.

In Canada, the statistics are also rising. According to B’nai Brith, incidents of anti-Semitic harassment, vandalism and violence have risen 16.9 per cent in 2018 over the previous year — with that number jumping to 142.6 per cent in the Prairie provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

“We are experiencing a disturbing new normal when it comes to anti-Semitism in this country, with expressions of anti-Jewish hatred surfacing in regions that are typically less prone to such prejudices,” said B’nai Brith Canada’s Michael Mostyn.

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While the New York Times acknowledged they have played a part in the issue by publishing the cartoon, it also accused the country’s leaders of not doing more to stop the rise.

“As anti-Semitism has surged from the internet into the streets, President Trump has done too little to rouse the national conscience against it. Though he condemned the cartoon in The Times, he has failed to speak out against anti-Semitic groups like the white nationalists who marched in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017 chanting, ‘Jews will not replace us.'”

The Charlottesville riots culminated when a white nationalist drove his car through counter protesters, killing one woman.

At the time, Trump said there were “very fine people” on both sides of the protest.

“The responsibility for acts of hatred rests on the shoulders of the proponents and perpetrators. But history teaches that the rise of extremism requires the acquiescence of broader society.”

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The Times also called the rise of anti-Semitism “historically resonant,” while comparing recent times to pre-Second World War times.

“In the 1930s and the 1940s, The Times was largely silent as anti-Semitism rose up and bathed the world in blood. That failure still haunts this newspaper… Apologies are important, but the deeper obligation of The Times is to focus on leading through unblinking journalism and the clear editorial expression of its values.”

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*with files from Global News’ Sam Thompson