UC Berkeley student newspaper removes criticized cartoon

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 07: Alan Dershowitz attends the 2016 New Group Gala at the Tribeca Rooftop on March 7, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images) NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 07: Alan Dershowitz attends the 2016 New Group Gala at the Tribeca Rooftop on March 7, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images) Photo: Theo Wargo, Getty Images Photo: Theo Wargo, Getty Images Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close UC Berkeley student newspaper removes criticized cartoon 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

The independent student newspaper at UC Berkeley has removed an editorial cartoon from its website that critics including UC Berkeley’s chancellor called anti-semitic.

The depiction of attorney Alan Dershowitz that gave him distorted features and showed him stamping on a Palestinian person, “should not have been published, and we sincerely apologize that it was,” Daily Californian editor-in-chief Karim Doumar wrote in a blog entry posted on the paper’s website on Friday.

The cartoon, which appeared in the paper on Oct. 13, “hearkened to clearly anti-Semitic tropes,” Doumar wrote. Because of that, it has been taken off the website.

In addition, wrote Doumar, “we are ensuring that a detailed knowledge of the history of harmful visual propaganda becomes an integral part of how we train our staff.”

The cartoon appeared after a speech on campus by Dershowitz, who supports the nation of Israel although he opposes its settlements in Palestinian territories.

It quickly brought letters criticizing what one former student called a “wholly inappropriate and grotesque” caricature. Chancellor Carol Christ in a letter called the cartoon “offensive, appalling and deeply disappointing.”

John King is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jking@sfchronicle.com Twitter: johnkingsfchron