Kariel Gardosh (15 April, 1921 – 28 February, 2000) was an Israeli cartoonist and illustrator known mostly by his nickname Dosh. He worked as a political cartoonist for the Israeli daily newspaper Ma'ariv and for the Jerusalem Post. His works were published through the years in book form as well.
Gardosh was a prominent cartoonist for many decades and his illustrations were very well known and popular in the in Israeli society. Gardosh is the creator of the character Srulik which became a symbol for sabras and the State of Israel, just like Uncle Sam is a symbol of the United States.
Gardosh was born as Karl Gardosh (Hungarian: Gárdos Károly) in Budapest in 1921 to an assimilated Jewish family, whose name was initially Goldberger. With the outbreak of World War II he was sent to forced labor. After he returned to Budapest he learned that his parents and most of his family members were murdered by the Nazis. In early 1946 he left Hungary and moved to France. He studied comparative literature at the Sorbonne University.
In 1948 he immigrated to Israel and changed his name to Kariel. Due to his lower level of Hebrew he Choose to work as a cartoonist in Hebrew Journalism. In 1953 he joined the staff of the "Maariv" newspaper where he used to publish a daily political cartoon for many years. Gradually he began to engage in writing articles, stories and skits for the newspaper as well.
Gardosh, as well as three of his colleagues in Maariv - Yosef Lapid, Ephraim Kishon and Yaakov Farkash (Ze'ev), were affectionately called "The Hungarian mob".
Between 1981–1983 Gardos worked at the Israeli embassy in London as a Cultural attaché.
On 28 February 2000 Gardosh died at the age of 78 of heart failure. He and his partner Tova Pardo had two children. He has a street named after him in Tel Aviv.
Through the years Gardosh won the Herzl Prize, the Nordau Prize, the Jabotinsky Award and the Sokolow Prize in recognition of his work
As a political cartoonist in a daily newspaper, Gardosh was required to express his political stance in all the cartoons he published.
Gardosh supported the Israeli settlements in the Israeli-occupied territories and opposed The Israeli left wing.