The Washington Post took down on Wednesday a political cartoon that depicted a Hamas member with a long nose and children bound to him by rope with the headline “Human shields,” an illustration by cartoonist Michael Ramirez that was widely condemned online as racist. Opinions editor David Shipley apologized for approving the cartoon in a note to readers on Wednesday. “The reaction to the image convinced me that I had missed something profound, and divisive, and I regret that,” Shipley wrote. “Our section is aimed at finding commonalities, understanding the bonds that hold us together, even in the darkest times.” Shipley’s note included various letters from readers blasting the cartoon as “grossly mischaracterizing” the conflict and “blatantly mocking” humans.