HOLOCAUST SCHOLAR “CANCELLED” AFTER REFUSING TO DENOUNCE ISRAEL

News Release

CONTACT:  Jennifer Kutner, Director of Media Relations / jenniferk@standwithus.com

Los Angeles, CA – A leading comic book publisher has canceled the publication of a book about the Holocaust following the author’s refusal to publicly denounce Israel.

Dark Horse Comics had scheduled publication of Dr. Rafael Medoff’s book, Cartoonists Against the Holocaust, for this summer—but a Dark Horse imprint editor told Medoff that he would block publication unless the book’s introduction stated that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Shortly after, the editor followed up in writing, demanding that the book include text accusing Israel of “war crimes and crimes against humanity” and claiming there are “concentration camp-style prisons” in the United States.

Dr. Medoff refused to give in to that demand, which was made to him, in writing, by then-Dark Horse imprint editor, Craig Yoe. Dark Horse subsequently canceled publication of the book.

Cartoonists Against the Holocaust presents 150 editorial cartoons from American newspapers in the 1930s and 1940s, accompanied by Dr. Medoff’s commentaries, to illustrate what was known in America about the Holocaust as it was taking place.

Dr. Medoff explains, “Accusing Israel of genocide is a lie, and requiring a Holocaust scholar to denounce Israel to see his book published is antisemitic bullying.”

Prior to the current controversy, Dark Horse published two of Dr. Medoff’s other books, Whistleblowers and Cartoonists Against Racism without incident. It was only after the October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion of Israel that Mr. Yoe began demanding that Dr. Medoff denounce Israel as the price to be paid for publishing Cartoonists Against the Holocaust.

Medoff adds, “It’s troubling to see McCarthyism rearing its ugly head in 21st century America. Historians should be free to write about history, without being subjected to political litmus tests.”

This is the latest in a series of cancelations of Jewish public figures, including comic book creator Miriam Libicki, who was canceled by the Vancouver Comic Arts Festival in 2024 (and later allowed to return after an outcry); filmmaker Nadav Lapid, who was pushed out of the FID Marseille film festival that will take place this month; and David Kaganovsky (Drexel U.) and Morton Schapiro (Georgetown Law School) who were forced to withdraw as commencement speakers earlier this year, because they are Israeli or pro-Israel.

In an April 2026 opinion piece for the Jewish media outlet Unpacked, writer Debbie Lechtman observed that “the marginalization of Zionist Jewish authors since [October 7, 2023] is more than anecdotal; it is a trackable pattern… [Jewish] writers are subjected to political litmus tests simply for being publicly associated with Jewish identity…Threats and professional retaliation have become part of the environment Jewish writers now navigate… Their book events have been canceled under pressure… In that climate, publishers have grown increasingly wary of a particular kind of Jewish writer: the Zionist author, or even the author who might simply be perceived as one.”

Carly Gammill, Director of Legal Policy & Litigation at StandWithUs Saidoff Law, noted, “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.” She further explained that “we are seeing an alarming trend in which Jewish professionals are expected to pass ideological tests before they can fully participate in public life. Whether in academia, the arts, or publishing, Jewish authors should be evaluated on the quality of their work—not on whether they are willing to denounce a core part of their Jewish identity.”

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