April 17, 2013

Press Complaints Commission cloud still hangs over Scarfe but not his boss Murdoch

From November 2012 to January 2013 there were two complaints of antisemitism against people connected to the Sunday Times.  The first was from anti-racists against Rupert Murdoch for the following tweet:
The second was from zionists about this cartoon by Gerald Scarfe:



Of course Murdoch's antisemitic tweet asserting Jewish press ownership and a failure of Jews to live up to his expectations didn't appear in any of his papers.  I just searched The Jewish Chronicle website for mention of the tweet and found nothing.  The Gerald Scarfe cartoon for which Murdoch and Scarfe apologised  got nearly twenty mentions in the JC and there were complaints to the Press Complaints Commission.

Well apparently the PCC is still on the case, three months down the line.  Apparently there were two grounds for complaint.  One is that showing an Israeli leader with blood on his hands recalls the blood libel even though saying Netanyahu has blood on his hands is perfectly true.  The other is that the cartoon appeared on Holocaust Memorial Day.  There are then two problems here involving the privileging of Israel. One is, no matter how violent the State of Israel is to its natives and neighbours, cartoonists are not allowed to show blood on an Israeli leader's hands.  The other is that even if you are allowed to draw such images, there is a day of the year when all other leaders can be portrayed with blood on that hands but not Israeli leaders.

Anyway, here's the JC on the continued consideration of the PCC:

The Press Complaints Commission is still considering what, if any, action it will take over Gerald Scarfe's cartoon about Israel, nearly three months after it appeared in the Sunday Times.
The watchdog has resolved three complaints about the publication of a drawing depicting the Israeli Prime Minister wielding a bloodied knife over a wall dripping with blood on Holocaust Memorial Day.
After the Sunday Times admitted error for the cartoon and printed an apology, three people withdrew their complaints.
But a PCC spokesman said others had confirmed that they did wish to pursue the matter, and their complaints are still under consideration.
What do they want, blood?


No comments:

Post a Comment