January 19, 2006
An anti-Sharon cartoon in one of Australia’s leading newspapers has been stirring controversy. Melbourne’s leading broadsheet paper "The Age" printed a cartoon last week depicting two characters discussing Ariel Sharon’s health. One tells the other, “There was a small movement in his right arm.” The other character responds, “So he’s fit enough to work. That’s all the movement it takes to order a missile attack against an old Palestinian man in a wheelchair,” a reference to Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin whom Israel assassinated in 2004. Cartoonist Michael Leunig had already come under fire in 2002 for a cartoon equating Nazi Germany and Israel. The paper’s acting editor, Paul Ramadge, was quoted by JTA as saying that “We thought it was important in terms of what 'The Age' stands for – a broad church of voices and democracy – to allow Michael to express his view.” Following letters condemning the cartoon, Leunig wrote an 800-word reply, saying “My offending cartoon raises the very serious question of political assassinations and the moral ease with which they are conducted.”
