Haaretz caricaturist Amos Biderman slammed the court management's decision to order the removal of a political caricature criticizing outgoing Supreme Court Chief Justice Esther Hayut.
Biderman himself recently tweeted a caricature he drew of a right-wing MK flying on a broomstick, dropping bombs on IAF planes. The caricature was captioned, "I smell leftists here." It was not condemned by the courts, or anyone else.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi (Likud) slammed the court management's demand that Shvi'i remove the cartoon, insisting that the court must allow freedom of expression and not overstep its authority.
In an interview with 103FM Radio, Biderman backed Karhi, saying, "Shlomo Karhi on this issue is 100% correct. This time, the Right is absolutely correct. There is no justification for censoring this caricature."
"I don't like, don't approve, of censorship and limits of this type," he added.
"If he overstepped the boundary and from a legal perspective it crossed into the realm of incitement, then their honors can please go and defend that. But the caricature was published on the front page of a synagogue newspaper - that is completely legitimate. Secondly, this caricature is a type of political billboard, and so there is the claim that it absolutely is not allowed to be censored."
Biderman stressed that he "very much objects" to the request, and "does not understand where they took the audacity, the legal authority, to act as a censor. The illustrator has the full right to express his opinion in this caricature, and censorship, from my perspective, is a very negative thing."