(HorizonPost.com) – The Washington Post on Wednesday removed an editorial cartoon critical of Hamas after receiving complaints from readers who claimed that it was “racist,” The Hill reported.
In a note to readers, David Shipley, the Washington Post’s Opinion Editor, said many readers viewed the cartoon as racist.”
Shipley insisted that this was not his intent in publishing the cartoon by political artist Michael Ramirez. Instead, he viewed the drawing as a caricature of the Hamas spokesman who had “celebrated the attacks on unarmed civilians in Israel.”
The cartoon in question shows Hamas spokesman Ghazi Hamad shielded by civilians who are tied to him with a rope. The terrorist asks why Israel is attacking civilians.
Shipley said in his note to readers that the reaction to the cartoon had convinced him that he “missed something profound” and “divisive” about it. He expressed his regret for that and said that the Opinion section aims at “finding commonalities” and “understanding the bonds” holding Americans together “even in the darkest times.”
The Washington Post also published some letters from angry readers criticizing the cartoon and describing it as dehumanizing and insensitive to Palestinians.
One letter writer accused Ramirez of employing “offensive” and “disturbing” “racial stereotypes” to depict Arabs with “exaggerated features” and portray women in a derogatory way. The writer claimed that Ramirez’s cartoon perpetuated “racism and gender bias.”
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