Can We Get Canada Deleted?

[Lord Jim]

HarperCollins omits Israel from maps for Mideast schools, citing ‘local preferences’

Well, that didn’t go over well.

For months, publishing giant HarperCollins has been selling an atlas it says was “developed specifically for schools in the Middle East.” It trumpets the work as providing students an “in-depth coverage of the region and its issues.” Its stated goals include helping kids understand the “relationship between the social and physical environment, the region’s challenges [and] its socio-economic development.”

Nice goals. But there’s one problem: Israel is missing.

There’s Syria. There’s Jordan. There’s Gaza. But no mention of Israel. The story was first reported by a Catholic publication, the Tablet.

On Wednesday, HarperCollins was backtracking fast. “HarperCollins regrets the omission of the name Israel from their Collins Middle East Atlas,” HarperCollins UK said on its Facebook page. “This product has now been removed from sale in all territories and all remaining stock will be pulped. HarperCollins sincerely apologizes for this omission and for any offense it caused.”

It apparently caused quite a bit. On Amazon, the atlas has 39 reviews. Every reviewer gave it one star.

“It’s incredibly sad and sickening how one of the world’s largest publishers has failed to recognize Israel,” one reviewer wrote, calling it a “travesty and international shame.” “Failing to recognize its existence is horrifying and it’s a shame that in 2014, such nonsense still goes on.”

How did this happen? Collins Bartholomew, a subsidiary of HarperCollins that specializes in maps, told the Tablet that it would have been “unacceptable” to include Israel in atlases intended for the Middle East. They had deleted Israel to satisfy “local preferences.”[So I guess the version published in Russia will delete Ukraine, Georgia, and the Balkan States...]

Strangely, however, the West Bank is clearly marked on the map, but not Israel. Nobody seems to grasp quite what HarperCollins was thinking. “The publication of this atlas will confirm Israel’s belief that there exists hostility toward their country from parts of the Arab world. It will not help to build up a spirit of trust leading to peaceful co-existence,” a British bishop named Declan Lang, who chairs a conference that first highlighted the omission, told the Tablet.

Others were less diplomatic. “What a piece of inaccurate garbage!” one reviewer said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morn ... eferences/

[wesw]

...in a related story, the Islamic Oil Producing Federation of Greater Arabia released a statement saying that falling oil prices had forced them to tighten their belts. therefore they did not have the budgetary ability to purchase new maps, once Israel was wiped from the face of the earth. simple economics and a duty to their shareholders demanded that they plan ahead and save expenses where possible.

[Guinevere]

I know that maps are incredibly political, but Israel has been recognized as a nation since 1948. Harper Collins needs to get their heads out of their asses.


(and again, speaking of Canada, where is Scooter????)

[TPFKA@W]

My friend in Jerusalem assures me they are still there.

Seriously dumb-arsed mistake.

[wesw]

I m sure they were well paid for their "mistake"

[Big RR]

When I WAS IN Saudi Arabia in the 80s, most of the maps did not include Israel; the locally printed ones had Palestine printed in the general area (without boundaries) and the others had the country of Israel pasted over with a paper that blocked seeing it. The local news in English would occasionally have reporters giving reports from "Occupied Palestine", and any time the anchors referred to the Israeli government they would say something like "Today the israeli enemy cabinet" and then stop and spit before continuing (as if the word Israeli had to be spit out before it fouled their mouths". I thought it was pretty silly, but it looks like little changed in the arab world in 30 years.

[BoSoxGal]

I can't imagine what it's like to live in Israel, knowing you are surrounded by so much hatred, so close.

[dgs49]

Clearly this was an oversight, or sabotage by a peon. If the maps had "PAlestine" in place of Israel the story would be significant. Otherwise, much smoke, no fire.

[wesw]

seems clear to me that it was a business decision. hopefully it backfires.

I saw nothing that said it was an oversight, they just apologized for doing it.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Clearly this was an oversight, or sabotage by a peon. If the maps had "PAlestine" in place of Israel the story would be significant. Otherwise, much smoke, no fire.

Echoing wesw, what part of this did you fail to read and comprehend, Dave?

Collins Bartholomew, a subsidiary of HarperCollins that specializes in maps, told the Tablet that it would have been “unacceptable” to include Israel in atlases intended for the Middle East. They had deleted Israel to satisfy “local preferences.”

[rubato]

I can't imagine what it's like to live in Israel, knowing you are surrounded by so much hatred, so close.

Or the west bank.

yrs,
rubato

[Gob]

Or rubato's house.

[TPFKA@W]

My friend moved to Jerusalem a few years ago. A while back there was lobbing of crap back and forth and some of it actually made its way close to Jerusalem. My friend posted pics on Facebook of her and some friends sitting out watching bombs as we would fireworks, glasses of wine in hand.

Certifiable.

I wish she would come back to the states and move to Boca. Plenty of Jews there and no missles.

[BoSoxGal]

Or rubato's house.

Entirely unprovoked.


eta: rubato's point was valid and I don't see how it's provocative? Explain, please.

[Gob]

Oh fuck off!

[BoSoxGal]