Holocaust scholar says publisher cancelled book after he refused demands to condemn Israel
Rafael Medoff says his Holocaust book was dropped after he refused political demands, as publisher disputes his account
A Holocaust scholar has claimed his latest book was cancelled after he refused what he says were demands to condemn Israel before it could be published, despite the project already being ready to enter production.
Dr Rafael Medoff, founding director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies in Washington DC, said Cartoonists Against the Holocaust had been scheduled for publication by Dark Horse Comics in summer 2026.
The dispute first emerged in reporting by the New York Post, which said Medoff objected to proposed wording for the book’s introduction that referred to alleged Israeli “war crimes” and compared US immigration policies to “concentration camp-style prisons”.
Speaking to Jewish News, Medoff said the project had already reached its final stages before the disagreement.
“Dark Horse accepted Cartoonists Against the Holocaust for publication, sent me a contract, and scheduled it for release in the summer of 2026. The designer completed the layout, the book was ready to enter the production process, and then the editor suddenly began making outrageous political demands. Denouncing Israel became the prerequisite to publishing my book.”
He said the requests began during discussions with editor Craig Yoe before later being put in writing.
“Beginning last summer, the Dark Horse editor assigned to my book, Craig Yoe, began making extremist political demands. He said during one of our conversations that he would not publish a book about the Holocaust unless I agreed to state that – as he put it – ‘the Jews are now committing another Holocaust’ and that there are ‘concentration camps’ in the US. He sent me the demands in writing. When I refused to comply, Dark Horse cancelled publication of the book.”
Dark Horse has denied that politics was behind its decision to drop the title.
In a statement previously provided to StandWithUs, the publisher’s legal counsel, Philip Simon, said Craig Yoe “failed to make our planned schedule for this book as the project’s packager” and that Dark Horse decided not to publish the book because of “our company’s financial needs and some scheduling issues that had delayed the project too much already.”
Responding to the publisher’s explanation, Carly Gammill, legal director at StandWithUs, said: “When a comic book publisher pressures a Holocaust scholar to denounce the Jewish state before his own book on the Holocaust can see print, the irony is hard to miss.”
Medoff rejected Dark Horse’s explanation.
“The only ‘scheduling’ problem was the one caused by the Dark Horse editor refusing to proceed because I would not obey his political demands to alter the book,” he told Jewish News.
“As for financial issues – that is, sales expectations – Dark Horse obviously thought it would sell well enough when they accepted it for publication last year. Nothing happened between then and now that would have affected sales.
“On the contrary – I guaranteed a large advance order, multiple Jewish organisations offered to help promote the book, my Institute offered to underwrite some of the advertising, and more than a dozen Holocaust studies professors expressed their serious interest in using the book in their classrooms.”
Medoff said he fears the episode reflects a wider trend.
“Antisemitism and Holocaust-inversion are infecting a large part of Western culture, including segments of the comics industry. Unless there is a significant outcry, it will spread.”
Asked whether he plans to publish the book elsewhere, Medoff said: “I’m considering all my options.”
Jewish News has contacted Dark Horse Comics for comment.
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