Washington Post Apologizes for Racist Hamas Cartoon That Shouldn't Have Been Published in the First Place [View all]

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Source: The Root

Washington Post Apologizes for Racist Hamas Cartoon That Shouldn't Have Been Published in the First Place

Editorial Page Editor David Shipley said he “missed something profound, and divisive.”

By Candace McDuffie
Published 5 hours ago

On Wednesday, The Washington Post finally removed a racist editorial cartoon that showed a Hamas leader using civilians as human shields. It shouldn’t have been published in the first place considering how distasteful and downright inhumane it is to Palestinians.

Michael Ramirez created the cartoon, entitled “Human Shields,” depicting Palestinians with heavily exaggerated features: A man with a sizable nose and growling mouth labeled “Hamas” is bound by rope to four scared children and a woman wearing a hijab.

“How dare Israel attack civilians,” the man remarks in the cartoon.

In a letter to readers, Editorial Page Editor David Shipley tried to the diffuse the backlash by stating that the cartoon was intended to satirize Hamas. However, he soon realized that the audiences were upset at its discriminatory undertones. Shipley wrote:

“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. In this spirit, we have taken down the drawing. We are also publishing a selection of responses to the caricature. And we will continue to make the section home to a range of views and perspectives, including ones that challenge readers. This is the spirit of opinion journalism, to move imperfectly toward a constructive exchange of ideas at all possible speed, listening and learning along the way.”

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Read more: https://www.theroot.com/washington-post-apologizes-for-racist-hamas-cartoon-tha-1851008172