The daily Haaretz has created a storm in its Thursday, 17 Teves Hebrew edition, carrying a cartoon by Amos Biderman showing Aryeh Deri with a bomb belt around him, heading towards an AM:PM convenience store and blowing himself up.

Deri has come under considerable criticism over recent days as he continues efforts to pass the Shabbos/Makolet Bill, including reported efforts to bring MK Yehuda Glick to Knesset to vote on the bill shortly after the levaya of Glick’s wife Yaffa A”H. The caption to the cartoon is “work accident” as Deri is seen blowing up prior to entering the store, which operates on Shabbos, resulting in his demise but without injury to shoppers in the store.

Shas activists call the cartoon “incitement to murder”, no less so than the guillotine carried by left-wing anti-government protesters in Tel Aviv on Rothschild Blvd.

MK Yaakov Litzman called the publishing of a cartoon “crossing a red line of incitement”, slamming the newspaper for publishing a cabinet minister as a suicide bomber. However, Haaretz publisher Amos Schocken had a different view, justifying the decision to publish the cartoon, explaining that Deri is a suicide bomber due to his efforts to push the Shabbos Bill, which will negatively impact the lives of secular Israelis.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)