A cartoon in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age has been labelled “deeply offensive”, after critics said it appeared to mock the widespread calls for a Royal Commission into the Bondi terror attack.

The cartoon, drawn by veteran illustrator Cathy Wilcox, showed Australians from different occupations calling for a Commonwealth royal commission, including “sports greats” and “Labor has-beens”.

Several political figures, including John Howard and Sussan Ley, were depicted lifting up the grass the group was standing on, marching to the beat of what appeared to be Benjamin Netanyahu’s drum.

The cartoon was titled “grass roots” and appeared on the opinion page of the Sydney Morning Herald on Wednesday, next to a letter describing “antisemitism as the most lethal form of prejudice”. It also appeared in The Age.

Former ABC journalist and Liberal senator Sarah Henderson said the image was “deeply offensive”.

“The Age and Sydney Morning Herald should apologise,” she wrote on Twitter, sharing a post by the Australian Jewish Association (AJA).

The AJA also criticised the cartoon, sharing an image of it online.

“(Fifteen) people, including a 10-year-old girl were murdered at Bondi Beach in an antisemitic, Islamic terrorist attack,” it wrote.

“The Jewish community and so many other Australians are calling for an inquiry. The Sydney Morning Herald/The Age runs this cartoon mocking people for speaking up and apparently implying Benjamin Netanyahu is behind it all.”

The AJA describes itself as a “national membership organisation based on authentic Jewish & centre-right Australian values”.

Senator Henderson’s colleague Leah Blythe also criticised the cartoon, saying it carried tones of antisemitism.

“My reaction to that is essentially what I was talking about with this creep of antisemitism into our institutions that there is this I guess acceptance that a cartoon like that which is clearly–, you know, the tones of it are antisemitic,” she said.

“Why are we accepting that?

“(The Bondi massacre) is not something that should have cartoons written about it when people are calling for action.”

She said calls for a royal commission, which have come from current and former Labor MPs, Coalition figures, lawyers, security experts and sportspeople, should be taken seriously.

“I take the Royal Commission on what happened in Bondi and antisemitism very, very seriously,” she said.

“I certainly stand with Senator Henderson in calling that cartoon out for what it is and it is antisemitic and I don’t think that has any place in Australia.”

The cartoon was published amid continuing calls from community groups and public figures for the federal government to establish a Commonwealth royal commission into the December 14 Bondi terror attack.

On Wednesday, a group of security and national defence experts became the latest to call for the Prime Minister to take “decisive action”.

Their comments follow earlier open letters and public statements from victims’ families, legal figures, sporting identities and Labor MPs urging the government to reconsider its position.

Image: SMH/ X