Private Eye has issued a statement after one of its cartoonists resigned after receiving a ‘death threat’ over a recent front cover.
The satirical magazine announced that it reached out to Zoom Rockman after he received an online threat directed against him and his family.
A Twitter/X user told Rockman they hoped he and his family would encounter Hamas after he posted a cartoon parodying anti-Semitism in the UK.
The front page of the 18 – 31 October issue of Private Eye had no illustrations, instead displaying text saying: “Warning: This magazine may contain some criticism of the Israeli government and may suggest that killing everyone in Gaza as revenge for Hamas atrocities may not be a good long-term solution to the problems of the region.”
Rockman told Press Gazette that, in the wake of the 2015 Al Qaeda attack on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, publishers “should care” about death threats directed toward their cartoonists.
He said: “I was quite disappointed with the cover itself… I wrote a letter to them after I saw that cover, saying that just because they made the distinction between the Israeli government and Jewish people, doesn’t mean that ignorant people won’t.
“Because every time this conflict flares up, just random Jewish people are targeted, and we’re seeing it more and more recently.
“But what’s worse is they exaggerated the Israeli position. They framed it as Israel wanting, and having an active policy, to kill everyone in Gaza. And because it was so incendiary, I really had a problem with it, because I felt it would lead to more anti-Semitic attacks.”
Taking to social media, Private Eye posted: “We are very concerned that one of our contributors should have received a death threat and contacted Zoom as soon as we found out.
“We spoke to him at length yesterday. He did not approve of last issue’s cover and no longer wishes to contribute to the magazine. This is entirely up to him but it is a matter of regret for us.”
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