We've been seeing this political cartoon posted to a lot of feeds on X. It depicts Hamas using women and children as human shields, which is pretty spot-on — we're kind of surprised there was a political cartoonist based enough to criticize Hamas.
The Free Beacon's Drew Holden reports that the Washington Post was pressured by staffers to remove the cartoon because it was "racist."
The Washington Post & editor @SallyBuzbee caved to staff pressure to remove an anodyne cartoon accurately depicting Hamas’s use of human shields for being “racist,” according to emails obtained by @FreeBeacon.
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) November 9, 2023
Story is here & quick 🧵to break it down ⤵️ https://t.co/fNuvNW0OKq
Holden reports:
[Executive Editor Sally] Buzbee forwarded an email that [Post Opinions editor David] Shipley had sent opinions staff in which he said he had personally "taken down" the cartoon. Shipley included the full text of an editor's note in which he publicly expressed "regret" that he had "missed something profound, and divisive" in publishing the image.
"A cartoon published by Michael Ramirez on the war in Gaza, a cartoon whose publication I approved, was seen by many readers as racist. This was not my intent. I saw the drawing as a caricature of a specific individual, the Hamas spokesperson, who celebrated the attacks on unarmed civilians in Israel," Shipley wrote.
Racist? Since when is Hamas a race?
The cartoon depicted a man labeled “Hamas” with a woman and children strapped to him, asking “How dare Israel attack civilians…” pic.twitter.com/mOB6wt4DQf
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) November 9, 2023
Recommended
@washingtonpost has engaged in a struggle session about the cartoon since yesterday, including the self-flagellating posting of criticisms from their readers, many of whom really seem to dislike Israel. pic.twitter.com/rDX9yO3J0v
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) November 9, 2023
Their opinion editor @davidjshipley claimed that he had missed something “profound” and “divisive” in posting the cartoon.
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) November 9, 2023
But the suggestion in the cartoon is accurate. pic.twitter.com/s7chh2J4gD
It's absolutely accurate. Washington Post staffers and readers are upset that a terrorist organization is being lampooned.
Hamas has a long history of using women and children as human shields in Gaza, as the Biden admin has said repeatedly.
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) November 9, 2023
Is pointing that out dehumanizing? Perhaps the anger would be better directed at Hamas for using Gazans as human shields? pic.twitter.com/prIFEobyWy
Even @washingtonpost has covered how Hamas uses human shields (per Biden) and prevents civilians from leaving Gaza/Gaza City in the Post’s otherwise ridiculous coverage of the conflict.
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) November 9, 2023
It isn’t really a matter of dispute. pic.twitter.com/rKZ13vYohI
And the underlying racism charge is preposterous. Even a cursory look back at cartoons from Michael Ramirez, a Pulitzer Prize winner, who created the cartoon shows that exaggerated facial expressions are a standby.
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) November 9, 2023
He is, after all, a cartoonist. pic.twitter.com/lfp2AxzZaH
As an aside, this is from the same outlet who’s Global Opinions editor @KarenAttiah (and other staffers) has been actually racist online…against Jews and Israelis. pic.twitter.com/nvlaX5GPMs
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) November 9, 2023
Is it any wonder that the media’s coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict has been so suspect? https://t.co/aObdUZlvUt
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) November 9, 2023
How absolutely gutless.
Newsrooms need to be cleaned out. Currently they are filled with activists and terrorist sympathizers
— Jon Nicosia (@NewsPolitics) November 9, 2023
Hamas is now a race? Is this like gender? There are unlimited numbers of races now?
— Jim Campbell (@jfcsoup) November 9, 2023
Race was not a thing in the cartoon
— GeronL (@geronl) November 9, 2023
Truth dies in the dark, or something
— Boston joe (@ramadiroach) November 9, 2023
Lunatics running the asylum
— PizzaCzar 🎄☃️❄️ (@PizzaWanchovies) November 9, 2023
Shame on you, Sally. You ghoul.
— DeadYup (@DeadYup1) November 9, 2023
Along with Shipley's editor's note, the Post published letters to the editor that variously called the cartoon "deeply malicious," "deeply racist," and "full of bias and prejudice."
The Post also reported on Wednesday evening about its removal of the cartoon by Ramirez, who twice won the Pulitzer Prize at the Las Vegas Review-Journal before joining the Post in May. The report said "the drawing was criticized as racist and dehumanizing toward Palestinians" and described the Hamas caricature as having a "large nose and snarling mouth."
Ah, the cartoon made the terrorists look bad. That "dehumanizing Palestinians" crap is exactly what came out of Rep. Rashida Tlaib's mouth when she was asked to denounce the October 7 massacre.
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