A Norwegian newspaper published an anti Israel and anti-Semitic cartoon, comparing Israel to Nazi Germany. The editor has refused to apologize.
A Norwegian newspaper has published a comic strip likening the purchase of produce from Israel to doing business with Nazis, and is refusing to apologize for the extremely offensive cartoon.
The Dagbladet on Thursday ran the comic strip, which shows a woman at an organic supermarket, were she repeatedly encounters products of notorious regimes, including Israel.
“Organic food, huh? But what’s the point if the food is produced unethically?” the first panel says, according to Israel’s Ynet.
In the next scene a woman says “these oranges are from Israel. You are supporting murderers” as she holds up produce, apparently from Israel.
Next, she picks up a box of pasta and examines its label. “This macaroni was manufactured in North Korea? How did you even get this?” she asks.
In the last panel, the woman holds a box of frozen pizza marked with a swastika bearing a “Made in Nazi Germany” label. “And this pizza is from G… What is this store, anyway?” she declares.
The Israeli embassy in Oslo strongly condemned the newspaper and called the comparison “inappropriate” and rejected the comparison between Israel, “a democracy fighting for its security,” and Nazi Germany and North Korea, “unstable dictatorships with a fascist and murderous regimes.”
The cartoon was also “offensive because it implies that Israeli products are unethical, and by purchasing them consumers support murderers.”
The embassy filed a complaint with Dagbladet, warning that the comic could trigger violence. “There is a fine line between freedom of speech and hate speech, and this cartoon crossed that line,” the embassy wrote in the complaint.
According to Ynet, Dagbladet’s editor dismissed the Israeli outrage saying the drawing was “only a cartoon” and that their outcry was “disproportionate,” and declined to apologize for the offensive comic.
The newspaper in known for its anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias and been criticized for its comics in recent years.
