Rupert Murdoch, whose company owns the Sunday Times, has apologised over the Gerald Scarfe cartoon which appeared in the paper at the weekend, calling it "grotesque."

Mr Murdoch took to Twitter to denounce the cartoon, which featured a bloodthirsty Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, building a wall with the bodies of Palestinians. In his tweet a clearly exasperated Mr Murdoch said that Gerald Scarfe had never "reflected the opinions of the Sunday Times. Nevertheless, we owe major apology for grotesque, offensive cartoon."

Though welcoming Mr Murdoch's apology, Abraham Foxman of the New York-based Anti-Defamation League said: We nevertheless found it disturbing that the newspaper's senior editors have vigorously defended the cartoon as a form of legitimate criticism. The cartoon, which is so shocking and reminiscent of the virulently antisemitic cartoons we see routinely in the Arab press, is clearly indefensible.”