Muted Bell

Britain's leading liberal newspaper has refused to publish a cartoon by Britain's leading political cartoonist, on the grounds that it contains antisemitic tropes. The cartoon depicts the dead-eyed warden of HM Prison UK having a cosy chat with her counterpart from the Righteous State, in front of a fire on which Razan al-Najjar, the Palestinian medic who fanatically threw herself in front of an Israeli sniper's bullet just to make the Jews look bad, is seen burning. Cremations and fires are antisemitic, you see; as is blood when the Righteous State is depicted as shedding it, and weaponry when the Righteous State is depicted as using it. Even the implication of censorship is no doubt morally dubious, given the parallels to Nazi book-burning which are likely to be drawn by the malevolent and simple-minded. Britain's leading liberal newspaper is clearly to be commended for its policy of fair and balanced caution, and it is certainly to be hoped that the forces of antisemitism do not poke their noses in and engineer a Streisand effect.