The Anti-Defamation League issued a statement on Wednesday condemning a cartoon appearing in the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet, which grossly demonized Jewish ritual circumcision, as “deeply offensive and appalling.”
The cartoon, which was printed on May 28, depicts a bloodied crying baby lying on a table with his toes being cut off with pruning shears and severed toes scattered around. A bearded and hatted man is holding what appears to be a Jewish holy book in one hand, while with the other, he holds the baby down on the table with a pitchfork. A woman, who is also holding what appears to be a prayer book, says to entering policemen “Mistreating? No, this is tradition, an important part of our belief!” The police say, “Belief? Oh yes, then it is all right.”
“This grotesque cartoon of a bloodied, mutilated baby, suffering at the hands of adults, is a deeply offensive and appalling distortion of a core Jewish ritual,” said ADL National Director Abraham Foxman. “The image harkens back to the centuries of anti-Semitic illustrations depicting Jews engaged in ritual ceremonies involving gratuitous and fabricated bloodletting.”
“In no way can this sickening cartoon be justified as an acceptable graphic representation in support for the campaign to legislatively restrict ritual circumcision, which unfortunately has gained some traction in Europe.
“We call on the editors of Dagbladet to issue an official apology and for other government and societal leaders in Norway to speak out against this monstrous cartoon and its deeper messages,” he said.
In November 2011, ADL voiced concern to the Dagbladet regarding a cartoon equating the situation in the Gaza Strip with the Holocaust.
The European Jewish Congress has previously said that it is “carefully considering the possibility of taking legal action" over the cartoon.
“This cartoon has crossed all lines of decency and is dripping with hate and anti-Semitism,” said Dr. Moshe Kantor, President of the European Jewish Congress.