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David Rowe Cartoon Accused of Using Antisemitic Tropes

Published: March 24, 2026 1 minute 11 comments

Australian cartoonist David Rowe and his outlet the Australian Financail Review (AFR) are coming under fire after they published a cartoon that shows Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu controlling U. S. President Donald Trump in the Iran War. The objection is the use of Jewish tropes rather than just accusing the Israeli state.

On SkyNews Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin called the cartoon “odious”, dissecting the “piece of propaganda” which appealed to “rusted on antisemites” while AFR editor-in-chief James Chessell told Sky News host Sharri Markson he approved of the cartoon and found no issue with it.

“I’m supportive of the cartoon,” he said.

David Rowe, Australian Financial Review

Rob Klein at JWire reports:

Alex Ryvchin criticised the imagery and language used in the cartoon, arguing it relied on familiar and harmful tropes…

“Chanting ‘Torah’ as the Jew leads him to disaster because the Jews are our misfortune. ‘Oy vey’, the Yiddish phrase of angst. Not Hebrew, the official language of Israel, but Yiddish, the language of exiled European Jews, which mockingly adorns a million neo-Nazi tweets and cartoons.

Anti-Defamation Commission chair Dr Dvir Abramovich criticised the cartoon in a letter … He described the imagery as much closer to old antisemitic imagery than to ordinary political satire. Abramovich argued that the elements depicted together revive classic tropes of Jewish manipulation and control over world leaders and events, and urged the newspaper to reflect on the harmful meaning of such images, especially at a time of heightened antisemitism in Australia.

The AFR Facebook page dates the cartoon back to March 20, 2026.

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Comments 11

  1. They even made a movie called “Tora Tora Tora” about Pearl Harbor, which attack is noted in the lower right corner. It’s Japanese, not Yiddish, as that notation makes clear to anyone who wants clarity. We should focus instead on all the cartoons showing Pinocchio with a large nose.

    1. I completely agree with Atanwat. Criticizing Netanyahu is no more anti-semitic than criticizing Donald Trump is anti-American. Criticizing individuals, especially those whose tenure in office is the only thing preventing their imprisonment, is not an outrage. Rowe should probably have anticipated the antisemitism charge due to his adding the h to Tora, but on the other hand that would presuppose that Donald Trump understood the two different spellings, and used one on purpose, which I think is demonstrably impossible.

    2. Tora in Japanese means tiger; Torah in Hebrew means Bible. Donald may not know the difference, but Rowe should have more sense. That, and the yiddish cliché, makes it seem like Rowe is mocking Netanyahu for his Jewishness rather than criticizing his policies. He is also pandering to the right-wing trope that Trump was manipulated into the war by the Jews.
      It weakens the impact of the cartoon, because it just makes it easier to dismiss it as the product of bigotry rather than considering any point it might have.

      1. How should Rowe depict that Trump was manipulated into the war by Netanyahu (possibly with assistance from SIL Jared) and yet avoid the “trope” that Trump was manipulated into the war by “the Jews?”

      2. ‘How should Rowe depict that Trump was manipulated into the war by Netanyahu (possibly with assistance from SIL Jared) and yet avoid the “trope” that Trump was manipulated into the war by “the Jews?” ‘
        Mostly, by avoiding crude antisemitic caricatures of Netanyahu, caricaturing the man rather than making irrelevant references to his ethnicity. I mean, like, “Oy Vey”? Netanyahu was born in Israel – it is unlikely he even speaks Yiddish. English and Hebrew, sure, Yiddish not really.
        Basically, if you like that Trump-released video of Barack and Michelle as monkeys from The Lion King, you will just love Rowe’s cartoon.

    3. “Tora tora Tora” in Japanese means “tiger tiger tiger” and was the code phrase for the success of the first phase of the Pearl Harbor attack.

      Also, the cartoon in question isn’t original. It’s an update of one dating from 1982 and the Israeli intervention in the Lebanese civil war (which had been raging for 7 years at that point without Israel firing a shot).

      I don’t remember who did it, but the guy got into tons of trouble.

  2. I cannot understand why it should be considered improper to lampoon two disgusting leaders for their incessant criminal behavior.

  3. The cartoon is not Rowe’s best, and not in the best of taste, but I don’t find it as offensive as what these ‘leaders’ are doing.

  4. It’s a good cartoon. Aside from “Oy Vey” there’s no basis for the accusation of antisemitism. The problem of the increase in antisemitism has a lot to do with Isreal declaring itself the Jewish State which puts it in the same category as the Islamic Republic of Iran or any other faith-based state. The founding of the USA had a lot to do with rebelling against the concept of a faith-based state.

  5. hi,to add a little perspective shari markson would be your jesse watters or ingraham equivalent and ryvchin is a netanyahu apologist platformed regularly on murdoch sites.both ,quite rightly ,were horrified at the bondi attack but i assume they may be looking for antisemitism whereas i am anti-netanyahu/trump

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