New Zealand’s The Daily Blog publishes antisemitic cartoon three times

The Daily Blog, a far-left website in New Zealand, has shared an antisemitic cartoon three times.

The image depicts Zionism as a virus – reminiscent of the age-old antisemitic trope that Jews spread disease, which has received new life during the coronavirus pandemic – and features an “S” in a font widely associated with the Nazi “SS”. According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” is an example of antisemitism.

The first of the three articles to which the cartoon was attached – back in November – was titled the “crucifixion of Jeremy Corbyn”, a further offensive allusion. The two more recent articles are from earlier this month.

The Daily Blog describes itself as uniting “Top Left-Wing Political Commentators and Progressive Opinion Shapers”. It launched in 2013 and its editor is Martyn Bradbury. Sitting outside of the mainstream media landscape, it is not believed to have a large following.

This cartoon was apparently drawn by the notorious cartoonist Malcolm Evans, who claims that he was sacked from his job at New Zealand’s largest newspaper, The New Zealand Herald, in 2003, for refusing to stop drawing controversial cartoons about the Jewish state, although the newspaper’s editor denied that this was the reason.

The New Zealand Jewish Council has made representations on the issue and is considering appropriate further action.

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