Twitter has corrupted liberal media cartoonist Steve Bell’s cancellation is a knife to free speech – Telegraph.co.uk

Lefties loved it; the rest of us were disgusted, but took it as the price we pay for living in a free society. He recently depicted Michael Gove as a goat; Boris Johnson is depicted with a backside for his face (and, in the same cartoon featuring Ms Patel, with a ring through his nose and horns on his head). In Mr Bells view, being Jewish, or Hindu, may not exempt someone from being worthy of attack in the most offensive way. It is what he has done to scores of white politicians over four decades. He is an equal opportunity cartoonist.

His critics argue that there is a world of difference between depicting Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, meeting Theresa May while a Palestinian roasts in the fireplace behind them (a cartoon of 2018 that Mr Bells editor refused to publish) and repeatedly deriding John Major, as he famously did in the 1990s, by depicting him wearing his underpants over his trousers. I find Mr Bells repeated attacks on Netanyahu deeply unpleasant, but in a free society one should not deny him the chance to make his points. It is also far from certain that most of his newspapers readers would disagree with him, the cause of Palestinians have been dear to their hearts for many years, and Mr Netanyahu one of their favourite hate-figures.

Mr Bell is accused of is not drawing a distinction between the activities of the state of Israel (against which a perfectly rational case can be made, even if one does not agree with it and I generally dont) and broadcasting a blanket dislike of Jews (for which arational case cannot be made). There is a sensitivity to anti-semitic tropes, which he himself has satirised, making the point that he dislikes Israeli policy because of what it is, not because of who actually executes it.

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Twitter has corrupted liberal media cartoonist Steve Bell's cancellation is a knife to free speech - Telegraph.co.uk