Cartoon depicting Trump, Israeli PM draws criticism from LI Jewish leaders

A cartoon depicting President Trump and the prime minister of Israel is drawing criticism from Jewish leaders on Long Island. The leaders say the are furious with the cartoon that was published in the opinion section of the New York Times last Thursday. T

News 12 Staff

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Apr 29, 2019, 2:10 AM

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Updated 1,999 days ago

A cartoon depicting President Trump and the prime minister of Israel is drawing criticism from Jewish leaders on Long Island.

The leaders say the are furious with the cartoon that was published in the opinion section of the New York Times last Thursday.

The image appears to portray President Donald Trump being led by a guide dog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"I couldn't believe it. I thought it was something from Nazi Germany," says Councilman Bruce Blakeman.

Rabbi Wolowick, at Chabad of the Five Towns, says images like this encourage the rise of anti-Semitism.

"It gets from bad to worse. Unfortunately, it's a build up. That is how they get people used to seeing these things," he says.

The cartoon is also drawing criticism from Rep. Pete King. In a post on Facebook, King said in part, "This vicious, anti-Semitic cartoon in the New York Times demonstrates once again what self-righteous hypocrites own and run this media rag."

The New York Times has since issued an apology saying in part, "The image was offensive, and it was an error of judgment to publish it," but Councilman Blakeman believes it was an empty apology and says it isn't enough.

Blakeman says if the people responsible for this cartoon are not fired from the New York Times, he and others in his community will be protesting.