Age and SMH apologise for ‘antisemitic’ Cathy Wilcox cartoon

The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald have today issued apologies after publishing a controversial cartoon by Cathy Wilcox that addressed the political fallout from the Bondi Beach massacre and prompted widespread claims of antisemitism.

The two mastheads, owned by Nine Entertainment, ran matching editorials on January 11 expressing regret over the offence caused by the January 7 illustration, which critics said relied on harmful stereotypes.

The drawing showed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu beating a drum labelled “Royal Commission into Antisemitism”, followed by Australian political figures including Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and former prime minister Scott Morrison. A small dog said, “Don’t mention the war.” It was presented as commentary on the politicisation of the December 14 attack at Bondi Beach that killed 15 people and injured dozens.

In their apologies, the newspapers said Wilcox intended to criticise opportunistic reactions to the tragedy but acknowledged the deep hurt felt by many readers, particularly Jewish Australians. “We have heard their distress, and for this pain, we sincerely apologise,” the editorials said. The papers added that “Wilcox’s intention was to scrutinise the almost immediate politicisation following the horrific attack at Bondi” and that she “by no means intended to cause hurt to the Jewish community”.

The Bondi attack, one of Australia’s deadliest domestic terror incidents, led to immediate calls from victims’ families, survivors, athletes and politicians for a federal inquiry into rising antisemitism and security failures. The cartoon, however, was condemned for echoing classic antisemitic imagery associated with Nazi-era propaganda, including portrayals of Jews as shadowy manipulators.

Jewish organisations reacted with anger. The Zionist Federation of Australia said, “The cartoon could have been published in Der Stürmer, a pro-Nazi German newspaper that called for the extermination of Jews as early as 1933. Senior people at Nine have some very serious questions to answer.”

Australia’s Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, Jillian Segal, said the cartoon repeated damaging imagery at a time when the Jewish community felt exposed, following a sharp rise in incidents since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel. The Executive Council of Australian Jewry said the image risked fuelling hostility and division.

The newspapers also defended the role of political cartooning while acknowledging its limits. “For decades, the Herald’s cartoonists have held up a mirror to reflect hypocrisy in public life,” the editorial said, adding that they “lampoon the powerful – in politics, business and, sometimes, their own publishers”. At the same time, it stressed that “this masthead stands in support of free speech, but it acknowledges the harm it is capable of causing”, adding, “There is no place in this country for hate speech.”

Public figures also weighed in. Sports journalist Ronny Lerner called the work “disgusting” given the loss of Jewish lives on Australian soil. Former senator Nova Peris, who appeared in the illustration, labelled it antisemitic, as did surfer Mick Fanning and other athletes. Victims and survivors expressed dismay, with one telling The Australian the cartoon used their grief for political purposes. Former defence minister Mike Kelly said it was “heinous” and ignored Australian suffering.

Former Age editor-in-chief Michael Gawenda delivered one of the strongest critiques, describing the Wilcox illustration as “full of terrible ugliness” and “uglier and more hateful than anything Michael Leunig ever drew”.

Writing in The Australian, Gawenda said he felt “shock and subsequent anger” on seeing the cartoon, arguing it portrayed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “master manipulator” orchestrating calls for a royal commission and reduced Australians seeking accountability to “silly-looking people”.

He questioned how any editor could have approved a cartoon published less than a month after the Bondi Beach terrorist massacre, saying, “It has come to this at The Age, the paper where I worked for many decades and which I edited for seven years. The paper I once loved.”

The episode adds to a series of disputes surrounding Wilcox’s work since October 7, 2023. A December 2024 assessment by the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) said some of her Israel-focused cartoons had skirted stereotypes, drawing repeated complaints from Jewish readers.

The apologies come as renewed calls are made for scrutiny under racial discrimination laws, underscoring the ongoing tension between satire and harm as Australia grapples with a sustained rise in antisemitism.