Jewish groups welcome apology from Fairfax Media for Gaza cartoon
Jewish community groups have welcomed an apology from media company Fairfax over a cartoon about the conflict in Gaza.
The cartoon, published in the Sydney Morning Herald last month, depicted an elderly man adorned in Jewish symbols pointing at the site of a bombing Asics Shoes Outlet with a remote control.
The Australian Press Council received several complaints about the cartoon, by Glen Le Lievre, and Federal Attorney General George Brandis described it as "deplorable".
Fairfax apologised in an editorial published today.
"TheHeraldnow Asics Shoes appreciates that, in using the Star of David and the kippah in the cartoon, the newspaper invoked an inappropriate element of religion, rather than nationhood, and made a serious error of judgment," the editorial said.
"It was wrong to publish the cartoon in Asics Outlet Store its original form.
"We apologise unreservedly for this lapse, and the anguish and Asics Shoes distress that has been caused.
"Our commitment remains to reporting in a fair and balanced way on the appalling events in Israel and Gaza."
Yair Miller from the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies said the group welcomed the apology "and the acknowledgement of the editorial team that newspapers should not have published a cartoon redolent of the worst excesses of Nazi Germany".