The Washington Post has taken down an editorial cartoon after it triggered controversy and sparked anger over its “racist” and “orientalist” depiction of Arabs and Palestinians, Al Jazeera reports.

Titled ‘Human Shields’, the cartoon by Michael Ramirez depicts a man with his eyebrows arched and nose comically large. A woman — described by Al Jazeera as “veiled and docile and meant to represent Palestinian women” — cowers behind him.

David Shipley, editorial page editor of The Post, was quoted as saying by the publication that 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”.

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