Netanyahu vampire cartoon stirs outrage
Montreal’s La Presse has apologized and took down the caricature
A French-language digital newspaper in Montreal has apologized for caricaturing Israel’s leader as a vampire.
La Presse also took down the cartoon on Wednesday after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, several of his ministers, Canadian politicians and Jewish leaders criticized the newspaper, calling its cartoon “distasteful.”
“It is unacceptable to bring back anti-Semitism and allusions like that,” Trudeau said.
La Presse editor-in-chief Stephanie Grammond said the cartoon was meant to be a criticism of the Israeli government, “not the Jewish people.”
“It was never our intention to promote anti-Semitism or harmful stereotypes,” Grammond said.
Montreal is home to a large Jewish community.
The cartoon showed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with pointed ears and claws, standing in a long coat on the deck of a sailing ship, reminiscent of the vampire in the 1922 film Nosferatu.
Beneath it was a caption that read “Nosfenyahou en route to Rafah.”
Long-standing anti-Semetic tropes, including those used by the Nazis, have likened Jews to vampires.
Concern has mounted in Canada and globally over the military conflict in Gaza — including a planned Israeli assault on the city of Rafah — in which Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas terrorists in response to a deadly attack by its militants on 7 October.
Ministers called it “egregious” and an “anti-Semitic trope,” and warned that it risked increasing already high tensions in Canada related to the fighting in Gaza.
Israel forces and Hamas terrorists are fighting in Gaza Strip as the former vowed to eliminate the latter.