The Washington Post published then deleted a political cartoon depicting a spokesman for Hamas after the paper received backlash. Many readers felt the cartoon, which was published on Wednesday, was racist and offensive — promting WaPo opinion editor David Shipley to issue an apology.
The cartoon by Michael Ramirez, which can still be found online, depicted a Hamas spokesman with Palestinian women and children tied to him with the speech bubble: “How dare Israel attack civilians.”
It was a direct comment on Hamas using civilians in Gaza as human shields during the Israel-Hamas War. After the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel that killed over 1,400 civilians, Israel struck back in Gaza, where thousands of civilians were killed.