The Washington Post reportedly took down a cartoon late Wednesday, originally published on Nov. 8, that criticized Hamas after the outlet’s “many deep concerns and conversations.”
The Post’s opinion editor, David Shipley, said he removed the cartoon from the website after many readers perceived it to be “racist,” according to his editor’s note. The cartoon depicted a caricature of a Hamas terrorist strapping a woman wearing a hijab, and four children to himself with rope and a thought bubble above the caricature reading, “How Dare Israel Attack Civilians.”
“As editor of the opinion section, I am responsible for what appears in its pages and on its screens. The section depends on my judgement. A cartoon we published by Michael Ramirez on the war in Gaza, a cartoon whose publication I approved, was seen by many readers as racist. This was not my intent. I saw the drawing as a caricature of a specific individual, the Hamas spokesperson who celebrated the attacks on unarmed civilians in Israel,” Shipley’s editor’s note reads.
“However, the reaction to the image convinced me that I had missed something profound, and divisive, and I regret that. Our section is aimed at finding commonalities, understanding the bonds that hold us together, even in the darkest times,” Shipley continued.
Kind of surprised the Washington Post pulled this cartoon, given that it’s a completely accurate depiction of Hamas’s tactics. pic.twitter.com/jvI2DnbAgd
— Sonny Bunch (@SonnyBunch) November 9, 2023
The newspaper received several letters to the editor calling the cartoon “deeply malicious,” “deeply racist,” and “full of bias and prejudice,” according to the editor’s note. One reader complained of the “racial stereotypes that were offensive and disturbing,” and another accused the cartoon of “excusing Israeli war crimes.” (RELATED: CNN, AP Photographer Shares Kiss With Hamas Terror Attack Architect In Unearthed Photo)
Sally Buzbee, the executive editor of the Post, sent out a memo informing staffers of the deleted cartoon, and forwarded Shipley’s email to opinion staffers, according to an email obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
“A cartoon published by Michael Ramirez on the war in Gaza, a cartoon whose publication I approved, was seen by many readers as racist. This was not my intent. I saw the drawing as a caricature of a specific individual, the Hamas spokesperson, who celebrated the attacks on unarmed civilians in Israel,” Shipley wrote, the outlet noted.
During the 2014 Gaza war, the Post infuriated Jewish people after publishing a cartoon depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu punching a Palestinian infant.
Hamas terrorists kidnapped, raped, slaughtered and burned Israelis alive during its Oct. 7 attack against Israel. The attack killed 1,400 Israelis and 31 Americans. Over 200 people remain as hostages. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reported the discovery of beheaded infants and children’s bedrooms covered in blood stains.