WASHINGTON — Politico was forced to yank a controversial cartoon depicting a blood-soaked President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with an oversized nose sitting among bags of cash.
The cartoon, published Friday by the outlet — which is owned by the German media group Axel Springer — shows the world leaders sitting on a rickety ship alongside a handful of top GOP officials wearing blood-stained Jewish prayer shawls and yarmulkes.
The boat features a sign that reads “Amalek,” the Hebrew word for enemy, and is careening off a cliff toward the direction of Iran.
The cartoon, titled, “Ship of Neocons,” was published by the outlet in its weekly carousel of work from cartoonists across the country and political spectrum and taken down Saturday over accusations of antisemitism after reporting by the Washington Free Beacon.
“We removed a cartoon by independent cartoonist Sean Delonas from this week’s gallery after weighing comments from readers that it did not meet our standards,” Politico said in a statement.
“Sharp arguments and provocative imagery in political cartoons are within bounds. Images that could be reasonably interpreted to rely on ethnic stereotypes or employing tropes that have been involved in historically hateful ways are not.”
Delonas previously worked as a cartoonist for The Post’s Page Six between 1990 and 2013 and now has his work syndicated with Cagle Cartoons.
“The neocons have been criticizing me and fellow journalists lately for our anti-war stance,” he wrote in a blog post responding to the controversy.
“As is typical, neocons avoid debating any issue, which in my case is a cartoon about the war with Iran that Israel instigated. Instead, they resort to name-calling against all they disagree with.”
Neocon is short for neoconservative, a political ideology that includes the blend of “traditional conservatism with individualism and qualified support for free markets,” according to Britannica.
Delonis’ cartoon includes Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) wearing a bloody yarmulke and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) draped in a bloodied prayer shawl. Neither of the men is Jewish.
Graham is shown pouring blood on an elephant, symbolizing the Republican Party.
Vice President JD Vance also looks menacingly off the edge of the cliff, where the water and ship are headed, and a very blood-soaked Secretary of War stares intently in the distance, seemingly unfazed or unaware of the danger ahead.
The ship sails past two feeble-looking, shirtless MAGA-hat-wearing people who appear to be begging for scraps.
Hanging over the ship was a “Mission Accomplished” sign.
Critics slammed the cartoon for trafficking in antisemitic tropes by exaggerating Netanyahu’s nose and using Jewish symbols to suggest that the Jews have been manipulating events to push the war in Iran.
Delonas hit back at those accusations in his response, arguing that cartoonists are constantly exaggerating body features and that he referenced “Amalek” because Netanyahu recently said, “Remember what Amalek did to you. We remember, and we act.”
“All the figures have exaggerated features — it’s a cartoon. I drew more exaggerated noses on Senator Ted Cruz and the GOP elephants in the cartoon than on Bibi. Is that anti-Semitic as well?” he argued.
Politico did not respond to a Post request for comment.
