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Peter Brookes Caricatures Jewish Politico, Accused of Antisemitism

Published: May 3, 2026 1 minute 7 comments

Last week two Jewish men were stabbed in a North London street. On taking the attacker down police took action according to that Guardian article:

An officer uses Pava spray to try to subdue him before the suspect is shot with a Taser.

The suspect falls to the ground and officers kick him in the head shouting repeatedly “drop the knife”, as they try to get the suspect’s hands behind his back to handcuff him.

Another Jewish man, Zack Polanski Green Party political leader, was critical of the police behavior.

From The Times:

The social media post shared by Polanski on X accused police officers of “repeatedly and violently kicking a mentally ill man in the head when he was already incapacitated by Taser”.

Polanski later apologized for posting the video “in haste.”

But the whole episode resulted in a Peter Brookes editorial cartoon for The Times.

Peter Brookes, The Times – May 1, 2026

That resulted in the offended Polanski and others accusing Brookes and The Times of antisemitism.

From Abbi Garton-Crosbie at The National (or here):

Zack Polanski calls out ‘vile antisemitic cartoon’ of him in The Times

Des Freedman, head of department and co-director of the Goldsmiths Leverhulme Media Research Centre, shared the cartoon, writing: “The Times’ front page this morning: “British Jews face greatest ever threat”. A few hours ago, they published this cartoon with a vile representation of @ZackPolanski. The hypocrisy is sickening; the antisemitism [is] real.”

And, Dr Iain Darcy compared the cartoon of Polanski to one published in Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

Zack Polanski
Brookes caricature
Nazi 1930s caricatur

The London Economic is also covering the cartoon story:

With the 2026 Local Elections just a few days away, this whole affair could prove to be detrimental for the Greens. The backlash has been fierce – but the party believes that Peter Brookes, a cartoonist for The Times, have overstepped the mark in his criticism.

Shared on Saturday, Brookes’ animation shows Polanski kicking one of the officers as they arrest Suleiman. However, he stands accused of exaggerating certain features on the 43-year-old’s face, with some critics alleging that he’s accentuating Jewish tropes.

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Comments 7

  1. I mean it’s clear as day. Compare it to the nazi image and you can see he’s even added characteristics to his image that are in that 1930s but don’t exist in real life. The eyebrows are almost a mirror match. And that’s before we even get on to the nose.

  2. Cartoonists should never draw noses on anybody. And if someone has a gap in his teeth, don’t draw that, either. In fact, they should be careful never to depict, much less exaggerate, caricatures of public figures. Draw them like crash dummies with no facial features at all, and then label them.

    1. Well . . . XKCD follows this and has a very strong following.

  3. The interesting thing about the nose, though, is that it is what prevents the caricature from being recognizable. Minor details – the gap in the teeth, the hair style, the big ears – look like Zack. But the nose is totally different, and is what makes it hard to see any resemblance. (Also, the caricature ages him a lot.) Which leaves you to wonder as to why the artist drew the nose that way.

  4. Are we sure he didn’t use Gargamel from the Smurfs or one of the Gringott’s bankers from the Harry Potter films as a reference?

    The nose is bad, but one of the other things I look for in a cartoon like this is how the other caricatures come off. Officer on the left looks to be slobbering with blood lust like an R. Crumb character slobbers with regular lust.

    The situation overall – attacker stabs Jews – the police subdue the attacker – some other Jew (from the Greens) complains about the arrest is deserving of the lampooning.

    1. Funny you mention that, because antisemites have an old ploy of using the odd Jewish person as a tool or a prop to deflect allegations of antisemitism away from themselves.

      And look at Mr Polanki’s background. His real name is David Paulson. He has a small amount of Jewish ancestry on one side and is playing it up, creating a whole fake name and identity for himself. The man is a dupe and has been duped.

  5. Isn’t it funny that this is deflecting attention away from the actual terrorist attack in which two Jewish men were stabbed in London?

    Isn’t it also an interesting coincidence that Polakski was appointed at exactly the same time as the Greens were facing a huge backlash over multiple candidates making antisemetic comments including their deputy leader calling a Rabbi an “animal” and doxxing him?

    Its almost as if Polanski is a tool being used by actual antisemites to deflect attention away from their nasty beliefs.

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