OPINION: Why I left Private Eye after six years over its Gaza front page
Cartoonist Zoom Rockman on quitting the satirical magazine after it framed Israel’s policy of defending its citizens against Hamas as "wanting to kill everyone in Gaza".
Appearing in Private Eye is what most aspiring cartoonists dream about. My first, a Palace of Westminster in Grenfell style cladding, was published when I was 16 and since then I’ve had 136 more published including my ‘Ascent of Ma’am’ cartoon which appeared on the cover of the Platinum Jubilee issue.
The day issue 1609 came out I received lots of messages asking how could I work for Private Eye and by the afternoon I decided to do something I’d never done before, which was to post my cartoon on X/Twitter that appeared inside that issue (as a cartoonist it’s bad practice to post the content of the current issue).
I wanted to say that despite there being messaging on the cover that would negatively impact my community, there was still content inside the magazine that calls out antisemitism.
The cartoon was of somebody throwing a brick through a synagogue window saying, “You can’t do anything nowadays without being seen as antisemitic”.
One of the comments posted underneath said, “I hope that you and your extended family get to meet Hamas in person very soon”.
Given the stories coming out of Israel at the time, I found that comment absolutely horrific. Private Eye published that issue on the same day the BBC falsely reported that the IDF had bombed the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza which exacerbated the level of antisemitism directed towards the Jewish community.
By Monday, when I would normally think about cartoons to submit to the next issue, I made the decision to submit only one cartoon that week, a parody cover cartoon.
Alongside this, I wrote a letter to the letters page, expressing concern that just because the cover made the distinction between the Israeli government and Jews, this does not mean that ignorant people on the street do.
By framing Israel’s policy as Wanting to Kill Everyone in Gaza, they’ve inflamed hatred towards my community.
My letter also referred to the death threat I had received in response to my tweet about my antisemitism cartoon defending Private Eye.
I sent this to the letters page believing it would be seen by the editorial team. The reason I took this more public approach (intending for the criticism to appear on the letters page rather than making a private contact) is that I needed to distance myself from the messaging of the cover.
They haven’t printed my letter but what has upset me is that no one responded to me in the lead-up to the current issue.
Until I tweeted.
I have since spoken with the editor and based on his reputation and my personal experiences of having met him I have accepted his assurances that he personally had not seen my letter and that, had he seen it, he would have contacted me.
However, given my rigour in submitting the letter using the correct channels through which I have previously corresponded, I remain unconvinced that my letter was not seen by anyone.
Any response, even a simple acknowledgement, would have been sufficient.
I’ve always assumed that Private Eye was a forum for differing opinions.
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