Washington Post deletes editorial cartoon criticized as racist

The Washington Post took down an editorial cartoon Wednesday that depicted a Hamas leader using civilians as human shields, after the drawing was criticized as racist and dehumanizing toward Palestinians.

In a note to readers, David Shipley, editorial page editor of The Post, said the cartoon was initially meant to caricature a specific Hamas spokesman. But the backlash to the cartoon convinced him that he had “missed something profound, and divisive.”