Kariel Gardos; Israeli Caricaturist

Kariel Gardos, 78, Israeli caricaturist whose cartoon character Srulik became as recognizable to his countrymen as Uncle Sam to Americans. Gardos, who was known to generations of Israelis as “Dosh,” created the image of Srulik as a little boy wearing a floppy sun hat, the “kova tembel.” It was Srulik who reacted every morning to the political events of the previous day in a cartoon in the daily newspaper Maariv. Yosef “Tommy” Lapid, once an editor at Maariv and now the head of a small opposition party in parliament, said Gardos was one of the greatest caricaturists of the 20th century and had a profound influence on the opinions of the Israeli public and the actions of politicians. Born Karl Gardos in Budapest in 1922, the artist survived the Holocaust and moved to Israel in 1948, changing his first name to Kariel. He said he became a caricaturist because it enabled him to express his views visually in his adopted country before he learned Hebrew. On Monday in Tel Aviv of cardiac arrest.