Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon (front) addresses a Security Council open debate on the situation in the Middle East at the UN headquarters in New York, April 29, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Israel's permanent representative to the United Nations (UN) Danny Danon on Monday demanded punitive action against an anti-Semitic cartoon carried by The New York Times.

"We just saw The New York Times, one of the world's leading publications, print a political cartoon that could have been taken from the pages of The Streamer, the Nazi propaganda paper," Danon told reporters at the UN Headquarters in New York.

"And yet these actions have gone unpunished. I haven't seen The New York Times take anyone accountable for this horrible cartoon. The time for talking and having a conversation is over. What Israel and the Jewish community around the world demand is action," said the ambassador.

The cartoon, which appeared on Thursday's international edition of the paper, portrays U.S. President Donald Trump as a blind person being led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who was drawn on a leash like a guide dog wearing a Star of David collar, a generally recognized Jewish symbol.

The New York Times apologized on Sunday for the publication of the cartoon.

"The image was offensive, and it was an error of judgment to publish it," the paper said in an editors' note on Sunday that will be published in print in Monday's international edition.

Eileen Murphy, a New York Times spokeswoman, said the paper was "deeply sorry" for publishing the cartoon.

"Such imagery is always dangerous, and at a time when anti-Semitism is on the rise worldwide, it's all the more unacceptable," Murphy said in a statement. "We are committed to making sure nothing like this happens again."

Asked about The New York Times' apology, Danon said that he was not in a position of accepting or not accepting the apology. "If somebody made a mistake, I think somebody should be accountable."