A book about the Holocaust has been pulled from publication after the author disputed an editor’s assertion that the preface criticized Israel, labeling it as a country committing “war crimes” in Gaza, and the US, under Donald Trump’s leadership, for establishing “centralized prisons” for migrants.
Rafael Medoff, who wrote Cartoonists Against the Holocaust, indicated he could not agree to include what he viewed as inaccurate claims proposed by editor Craig Yow for a book he had planned with Dark Horse.
Before this incident, Dark Horse had successfully published two of Dr. Medoff’s previous works, The Whistleblower and Cartoonists Against Racism.
Medoff, alongside the Jewish civil rights group Stand With Us, noted that after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, Yeo insisted that Israel be denounced to proceed with the publication of Medoff’s new book.
“The book was canceled. So was I,” Medoff remarked in an op-ed.
Yeo had reached out to Medoff on September 1, 2025, mentioning he had pondered adding a note to the book aimed at condemning Israel and the US before its anticipated release.
In his emails, Yeo stated that Trump was attempting to create concentration camp-like facilities and relocating US citizens without due process.
He pointed out that the Israeli prime minister leads a nation representing an ethnic group that suffered horrific atrocities during the Holocaust, adding that the world’s foremost war crimes tribunal has issued a warrant against him for serious violations.
Medoff responded with detailed objections, arguing that Yeo’s claims were not only incorrect but also politicized the book’s content.
“America does not have concentration camps, and we are not a Nazi country. Misusing the term ‘concentration camp’ diminishes the suffering of Jewish victims during the Holocaust,” he emphasized.
Yeo went further, asserting that Israel was committing “crimes against humanity” and accused it of “genocide.”
Medoff rebuked this, stating that claims of genocide are false and that pressuring Holocaust scholars to denounce Israel is a form of anti-Semitism.
Yeo, a former creative director of The Muppets and an experienced cartoonist, has since cut ties with Dark Horse.
Philip Simon, the general counsel for Dark Horse, confirmed the cancellation of the book but did not reference any political disputes.
“Dark Horse decided not to publish this book last year due to scheduling conflicts and unmet expectations by Craig Yeo of Yoe Books,” Simon communicated.
As for Medoff’s assertions, neither Dark Horse nor Yeo offered any comments.
Kari Gamil from Stand With Us highlighted the irony of a comic book publisher pressuring a Holocaust scholar to criticize Israel before his own book on the Holocaust could be published.
The cancellation reflects a broader trend of repercussions faced by Jewish artists and figures since Hamas’s incursion into Israel in October 2023.
Other instances include comic creator Miriam Rybicki, initially uninvited from the 2024 Vancouver Comic Arts Festival and later reinstated after public outcry, and filmmaker Nadav Lapid, who was banned from the upcoming FID Marseille Film Festival due to his Israeli background.
Medoff is the founding director of the David S. Wyman Holocaust Research Institute, located in Washington, DC.
The canceled book included nine editorial cartoons originally published in the Post during the 1940s, depicting the understanding of the Holocaust in America at that time.
