It's very typical, but also really sloppy reporting, that none of the articles I've seen have actually included even a thumbnail of the cartoon he says was the inspiration. It took me one search to find several links to it:

http://academics.wellesley.edu/Polisci/wj/Vietimages/Cartoon...

The reference then is very obvious. One might of course try to imply that the changes were made to intentionally change the context and reference Shylock and that the reference is just a smokescreen, but to me at least it seems contrived and driven by the same willingness to just view everything in the worst possible light when it is convenient that pervade the British press.

Bell has been a thorn in the sides of a lot of people for a long time, so I'm not surprised.