New Delhi: Weeks after The Guardian sacked a long-serving cartoonist over a cartoon of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, another cartoon published by a Western newspaper has sparked a fresh controversy, prompting an apology from its Opinion Editor.
On Thursday morning, The Washington Post withdrew a cartoon, titled “Human Shields”, which depicted four children strapped to the body of a man in a suit, and a woman cowering behind him. Above the man, whose suit carries the label “HAMAS”, was a word balloon that read: “How dare Israel attack civilians…”.
The cartoon by two-time Pulitzer winner Michael Ramirez invited sharp reactions from many journalists, academics and regular readers of the American daily who termed it “racist” and “derogatory”.
In a note later in the day, The Washington Post’s Opinion Editor David Shipley expressed “regret” for allowing the cartoon to be published. He also shared a selection of responses from readers, most of whom condemned the cartoon.
One reader, Philip Farah — co-founder and board member of the Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace — wrote to the newspaper saying that even if the cartoonist intended to illustrate that Hamas uses civilians as cover, he “unintentionally put his finger on the reason Israel’s response is indefensible: …murdering all the children just to get the bad guy”.
Critics like Pakistani writer and columnist Fatima Bhutto called the cartoon “anti-Muslim”, “racist” and a “disgrace” while Owen Jones, a columnist for The Guardian, described it as “racial dehumanisation” of the residents of Gaza.
This cartoon is so anti-Muslim, so racist it boggles the mind that any newspaper could print it. Beyond which, Israel has murdered over 4,000 children- do you have absolutely no shame depicting Palestinian children in this manner? What a disgrace @washingtonpost. https://t.co/QVEk08ScdP
— fatima bhutto (@fbhutto) November 8, 2023
This is a cartoon in the Washington Post.
It's not even subtle in its racism.
This racist dehumanisation is always a precondition for mass murder of the sort currently taking place in Gaza. https://t.co/W7iKv15VU7 pic.twitter.com/bxisnKSm68
— Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) November 8, 2023
In a post on Instagram, Palestinian-American poet Remi Kanazi said: “This is the Washington Post. This is the kind of anti-Palestinian racism that’s acceptable for publication.”
This comes weeks after a cartoon depicting Netanyahu operating on his stomach using a scalpel, with the outline of the incision in the shape of the Gaza Strip, was withdrawn by British newspaper The Guardian. Steve Bell, who had been contributing to the newspaper for more than 30 years, was subsequently fired after his cartoon was labelled “anti-Semitic”.
Just to explain. I filed this cartoon around 11am, possibly my earliest ever. Four hours later, on a train to Liverpool I received an ominous phone call from the desk with the strangely cryptic message "pound of flesh"… pic.twitter.com/kSfmfzlmhy
— Steve Bell (@BellBelltoons) October 9, 2023
According to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, Israeli strikes have claimed at least 10,000 lives in the Palestinian enclave, roughly half of whom were children. Israel’s counter-offensive was a response to Hamas’s aerial and ground attack on the Israeli mainland on 7 October during which at least 1,400 Israelis were killed and more than 200 taken hostage.
Also Read: Hamas ‘militants’ or ‘terrorists’? BBC & Canadian public broadcaster face ire over Israel coverage
‘I missed something profound, divisive’
In the note he published Thursday, Shipley wrote: “A cartoon we published by Michael Ramirez on the war in Gaza, a cartoon whose publication I approved, was seen by many readers as racist… the reaction to the image convinced me that I had missed something profound, and divisive, and I regret that.”
He added that the cartoon had been taken down, and a selection of responses to it published along with his statement.
While most criticised the cartoon, one reader from South Carolina in the US said it captured the “essence of the Hamas terrorism”.
In his note, Shipley argued that he approved the cartoon, thinking it was a specific reference to a Hamas spokesperson who had celebrated the attacks on unarmed civilians in Israel. Last week, Hamas spokesperson Ghazi Hamad, in a media interview, praised the 7 October attack on Israel and promised to carry out similar attacks until Israel is “annihilated”.
The two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and illustrator of the cartoon, Ramirez, started working for The Washington Post this May.
This was not the first time Ramirez ruffled feathers with his work.
In a cartoon for the Las Vegas Review-Journal earlier this month, he took aim at the Black Lives Matter movement in the US that followed the killing of George Floyd, an American of African descent, at the hands of police officers. In his cartoon, Ramirez depicted a woman wearing a Black Lives Matter T-shirt, holding up a sign that says “Terrorist Lives Matter” and “Blame Israel. Support Hamas.”
Black Lives Matter supports Hamas "resistance." You are judged by the company you keep — Michael Ramirez: The Wrong Side 11-03-23, by @Ramireztoons https://t.co/TxzVqAreOG pic.twitter.com/cye8ki59HD
— Michael Ramirez (@Ramireztoons) November 3, 2023
Ramirez is yet to issue a statement on The Washington Post’s decision to withdraw his latest cartoon.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
Also Read: ‘We are sure India will do the right thing’ — Israeli PMO on designating Hamas a terror group