Zuckerberg cartoon prompts Israeli ire
AAP
February 25, 2014, 10:15 pm
A cartoon of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg published by a German newspaper has prompted accusations of anti-Semitism in Israel.
The caricature in Friday's Sueddeutsche Zeitung depicts Zuckerberg as a big-nosed octopus, whose tentacles are taking hold of computers and smart phones.
His hat, on curly hair and above a thick-lipped smile, has the Facebook logo. In one tentacle he holds the logo of WhatsApp, which his company purchased last week for $US19 billion ($A21.09 billion).
Efraim Zuroff, of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Jerusalem, called the cartoon "shocking" and "almost a replica of a Nazi caricature from 1938."
"I have no doubt there is a scent of anti-Semitism emanating from this," he said on Tuesday.
"Zuckerberg doesn't have a big nose, but in the caricature his nose is emphasised. The hook nose is a typical caricature of a Jew.
"It is clear that whoever drew the caricature is emphasising the fact that Zuckerberg is Jewish. It's classic. The Jews are taking control of the world. It reinforces all the stereotypes about Jews."
The drawing also drew attention on Twitter.