A political cartoonist whose anti-Hamas cartoon was pulled by the Washington Post mocked the paper in his latest cartoon for caving to "cancel culture."
Last week, the Post took down cartoonist Michael Ramirez's drawing entitled, "Human Shields," after internal and external backlash from the left. It depicts a Hamas spokesperson saying, "How dare Israel attack civilians," while a frightened-looking woman and four small children are bound with rope to his body.
Washington Post editorial page editor David Shipley said he decided to take down the cartoon after it "was seen by many readers as racist." Fox News Digital also reported there was internal dissent as well.
Ramirez addressed these critics in his latest cartoon published in the Las Vegas-Review Journal; the Nevada paper and the Washington Post simultaneously publish two of his cartoons each week. Entitled "The Last Refuge," the cartoon depicts cowboys playing poker with a man wearing a "cancel culture" shirt. Underneath it says, "When you have a losing hand."
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As the man raises the "race card," one cowboy tells him, "That only works with the feeble-minded in the game of identity politics." Ramirez explained the cartoon with a note at the bottom: "When the intellectually indolent cannot defend the indefensible, they pull out the race card."
The cartoonist told Fox News Digital that this cartoon was a "direct response" to the "illusory and baseless charge of racism against the [Hamas] cartoon."
Critics attacked the Post for publishing the cartoon, pointing to the exaggerated features of Hamas spokesman Ghazi Hamad. However, Ramirez denied these accusations, sending Fox News Digital examples of other political figures he has drawn, including former President Trump, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn., with similar facial features.
"As I said before, when the intellectually indolent cannot defend the indefensible, they pull the race card," he reiterated.
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Several readers also objected to the cartoon blaming Hamas for the deaths of Palestinian civilians, instead of Israel.
One reader from Washington said the cartoon depicted a "gross mischaracterization of the situation" and "amounted to an attempt at excusing Israeli war crimes."
Another reader from San Jose, Calif., slammed the paper as irresponsible for publishing the cartoon, saying its message enabled "genocide."
However, the conservative-leaning cartoonist defended the cartoon as depicting a tragic reality.
"I think it's empirically true that Hamas uses civilians, both Palestinians and Israelis, as human shields," Ramirez told Fox News Digital. "I don't think it's hidden knowledge that they operate their bases in densely populated areas and under civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, they fire rockets from densely residential areas, and by design, to sacrifice the lives of the innocent people."
Biden administration national security adviser Jake Sullivan has acknowledged that the terror group uses civilians as human shields, and said these tactics make it "extremely difficult" for Israel, but stressed the nation should take responsibility in protecting innocent civilians as it continues its fight against Hamas.
The Washington Post was criticized by conservatives after it took down the editorial cartoon, who argued there should be more outrage over Hamas using civilians as human shields than a cartoon attacking them for the horrific practice.
The Washington Post did not respond to a request for comment.
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Fox News' David Rutz and Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
