The Washington Post has issued an apology after publishing a political cartoon which was criticized for its “dehumanizing” depiction of Palestinian people.
People inundated the paper with complaints after it ran a cartoon titled, “Human Shields,” online and in its print edition on Tuesday.
Artist Michael Ramirez’s drawing, which has since been pulled from The Post’s website, showed a snarling Hamas spokesman with wide-eyed women and children tied to his body.
Hovering over his head, was a speech bubble that read, “How dare Israel attack civilians.”
Hamas has accused Israel of targeting Palestinian civilians in its response to the Oct. 7 attacks which killed 1,400 people.
Israeli officials claim they only strike legitimate military targets and that the thousands of Palestinian casualties are the result of Hamas using civilians as “human shields.”
Though Ramirez was likely trying to paint the Palestinian militant organization as hypocrites, readers responded by calling his cartoon “racist,” “deeply malicious,” and “full of bias and prejudice.”
“Depicting Arabs with exaggerated features and portraying women in derogatory, stereotypical roles perpetuates racism and gender bias, which is wholly unacceptable,” reader Hind Kamal explained in a letter published by The Post.
Other readers wondered if the cartoon was trying to justify the mounting Palestinian death toll, which now surpasses 10,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
By Thursday, the paper had pulled the image from their website and issued an apology from its Opinion Editor David Shipley.
In the letter, Shipley admitted he “missed something profound and divisive” when he approved the cartoon.
Expressing his regret, he said, “Our section is aimed at finding commonalities, understanding the bonds that hold us together, even in the darkest times.”
He also promised The Post’s Opinion section would “continue to make the section home to a range of views and perspectives” in hopes of moving “imperfectly toward a constructive exchange of ideas at all possible speed.”