by Media Hawk on 28 January 2013 15:35

The Commentator was the first to highlight the deplorable cartoon in yesterday's Sunday Times. Our reporting and commentary was picked up across a range of media outlets from around the world, and has resulted in condemnations of the toon from some of the world's largest anti-racism organisations such as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

Now, Members of the British Parliament are acting to force an apology from the Sunday Times, with Louse Ellman MP the first to file her letter stating her 'disgust'.

See the full letter below:

Mr Martin Ivens

Acting Editor

The Sunday Times

3 Thomas More Square

London E98 1XY



28 January 2012

I am writing to express my disgust over the Sunday Times’ publication of Gerald Scarfe’s cartoon on 27th January, depicting the Israeli prime minister using blood to build a wall out of Palestinians.

As you are no doubt aware, the Jewish people have been accused throughout the centuries of the so-called “blood libel,” so I find it all the more shocking that you would publish Gerald Scarfe’s evocation of this anti-Semitic trope on 27th January, Holocaust Memorial Day.

This gross insensitivity demands a full apology, not the excuse that it was somehow in reference to Israel’s elections. At a time when civilians are being killed by their own regimes across the region, I fail to see how Scarfe’s blood imagery, in reference to Israel’s peaceful democratic elections, helps you to fulfil your duty of keeping your readership accurately informed.

Undoubtedly there are debates to be had about the complex situation in the Middle East, but depicting the ongoing conflict in terms of emotive and offensive imagery will not pave the way to a solution.

I urge you to make a full apology.

Louise Ellman MP

Chair of the Jewish Labour Movement