MOSCOW, October 31 (RIA Novosti) – A cartoon published by Israeli newspaper Haaretz in which the author compares Israel's Prime Minister to the 9/11 plane hijackers has sparked controversy on Twitter and elsewhere.
The cartoon depicts Benjamin Netanyahu flying a plane into one of the World Trade Center skyscrapers.
"I never imagined that by using an image that evoked 9/11 I would cause such a storm," Haaretz quoted Amos Biderman, the cartoon's creator, as stating on his Twitter account Thursday.
Biderman added he had used even worse incidents as a background for his cartoons in the past.
The cartoonist explained his intentions by pointing out Netanyahu's "arrogance" as well as Israel's policies.
"The message is that Bibi [Netanyahu] is arrogantly and wantonly destroying Israel's ties with the U.S. and leading us to a disaster on the scale of 9/11," Biderman wrote on Twitter. "He's been acting like a bull in a china shop with the United States, which is Israel's most important strategic asset," he added.
In an interview with The Times of Israel on Thursday, Biderman pointed out that he was referring to Netanyahu's construction of settlements that has played such a negative role in Israel's relationships with the United States.
In September, Washington condemned Israel's plans to construct settlements in the West Bank, saying that the move would undermine the peace process with Palestinians.
