U.S. publishing giant erases Israel off map
After strange
excuse, company takes sudden action
A Middle East with no Israel?
That’s what students in that region of the world will see when
they open their new world atlases as provided by the American-based
mega-corporation HarperCollins.
And apparently this batch of maps did not come from the
company’s fiction department.
The Telegraph of London has
reported the global publishing house sells English-language altlases
to schools in the Middle East that
show Syria and Jordan extending to the Mediterranean Sea. The West Bank and
Gaza Strip are also shown, but Israel is nowhere to be found on the map.
UPDATE: Shortly after WND’s posting of this
article, HarperCollins vice president for corporate communications called and
sent the following statement via email:
“HarperCollins regrets the omission of the name Israel
from their Collins Middle East Atlas. 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 caused.”
Erin Crum, vice president of corporate communications for
HarperCollins, would not say how many of the maps had actually been delivered
to customers in Arab countries.
Besides some unflattering media coverage, the HarperCollins
atlases also drew sharp criticism from the Bishops’ Conference of England and
Wales, which accused the company of “harming peace efforts in the Middle East,”
the Telegraph reported.
“The publication of this atlas will confirm Israel’s belief that there exists a hostility towards their country from parts of the Arab world. It will not help to build up a spirit of trust leading to peaceful co-existence,” Bishop Declan Lang, the chairman of the Bishops’ Conference Department of International Affairs, told the Tablet, an international Catholic newspaper.
“Maps can be a very powerful tool in terms of delegitimizing
‘the other’ and can lead to confusion rather than clarity. We would be keen to
see relevant bodies ensure that all atlases anywhere reflect the official
United Nations position on nations, boundaries and all political features,”
added Jane Clements, director of the Council of Christians and Jews.
Collins Bartholomew, the subsidiary of HarperCollins that specializes in maps,
told the Tablet that including Israel would have been “unacceptable” to its
customers in the Gulf region and the change incorporated “local preferences.”
The Tablet said it had discovered the customs officers in
one unnamed Muslim
country only permitting the import of school atlases once Israel had been
deleted by hand.
HarperCollins is one of the world’s largest publishing
houses and its stable of imprints includes the Thomas Nelson lineup of Christian
books, which it acquired in 2011.
Just last year, another major publishing house, Scholastic
Inc., was caught selling children’s
books that omitted Israel from an illustrated map. Scholastic, the
world’s largest publisher of children’s books, was forced to apologize after
parents began complaining and negative reviews started showing up on Amazon and
Twitter. The company said in a statement it apologized and “regretted” printing
a book that “inadvertently omits Israel” on a map.
HarperCollins Publishers is a wholly-owned
division of News
Corp., the global media company overseen by Rupert Murdoch and various family members. It includes news
services such as Fox News and the Wall Street Journal,
digital real estate services, book publishing, digital education and pay-TV
distribution. Headquartered in New York, the activities of News Corp. are
conducted primarily in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom.
HarperCollins
HarperCollins
is a subsidiary of News Corp.
Note: Alwaleed bin Talal is a stockholder in News Corp, the Saudi Arabia prince, and a benefactor for the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding.
K.
Rupert Murdoch is the chairman & CEO for News Corp, and a papal
knighthood knight.
papal knighthood
is an honor conferred by pope from the Roman
Catholic Church.
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the Hitler Youth?
By Austin Cline
Agnosticism/Atheism Expert
Benedict
XVI (Joseph Ratzinger) is the
pope emeritus for the Roman Catholic
Church, and an associate of George
Weigel.
George
Weigel is an associate of Benedict
XVI (Joseph Ratzinger), and a contributor for the Wall Street Journal.
John J.
Studzinski is a papal knighthood
knight, a director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States (think tank), and a director at the Human Rights Watch.
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), and the Human Rights Watch.
George
Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, was a benefactor for the Human Rights Watch, and the chairman
for the Foundation to Promote Open
Society.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Human Rights Watch, Media
Matters, and the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Media Matters monitors
Fox News.
Chuck
Hagel was the chairman for the Atlantic
Council of the United States (think tank), a professor at Georgetown University, and is the secretary
at the U.S. Department of Defense
for the Barack Obama administration.
Prince
Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding was a center
at Georgetown University.
Alwaleed bin
Talal is a benefactor for the Prince
Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, a stockholder
in News Corp, and the Saudi Arabia prince.
Hugh
B. Price was a director at Georgetown
University, and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (think
tank).
Nemir A. Kirdar
was a director at Georgetown University,
and is a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Donald
F. McHenry is a professor at Georgetown
University, and an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think
tank).
Saban
Center for Middle East Policy is a policy center at the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
Haim
Saban is a benefactor at the Saban
Center for Middle East Policy, a trustee at the Brookings Institution
(think tank), a friend of Shimon
Peres, and the founder of the Saban
Family Foundation.
Shimon
Peres is a friend of Haim Saban,
and the president of Israel.
Saban
Family Foundation was a funder for the Brookings Institution (think
tank).
John
D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation was a funder for the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and the Harper's
Magazine.
Harper
& Row was the owner of the Harper's
Magazine, and the predecessor for HarperCollins.
HarperCollins
is a subsidiary of News Corp.
Martha L. Minow
is a director at the John D. &
Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Newton
N. Minow’s daughter, and Barack
Obama was her student.
Newton
N. Minow is Martha L. Minow’s
father, a member of the Commercial Club
of Chicago, and a senior counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP.
R.
Eden Martin is the president of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP.
Barack
Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin
LLP.
Sidley Austin
LLP is the lobby firm for Israel.
Shimon
Peres is the president of Israel,
and a friend of Haim Saban.
Haim
Saban is a friend of Shimon Peres,
a benefactor at the Saban Center for
Middle East Policy, a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank),
and the founder of the Saban Family
Foundation.
Saban
Center for Middle East Policy is a policy center at the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
Saban
Family Foundation was a funder for the Brookings Institution (think
tank).
Cyrus F.
Freidheim Jr. is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
Francis E. George
is a member of the Commercial Club of
Chicago, and a cardinal for the Roman
Catholic Church.
papal knighthood
is an honor conferred by pope from the Roman
Catholic Church.
K.
Rupert Murdoch is a papal knighthood
knight, and the chairman & CEO for News
Corp.
Alwaleed bin
Talal is a stockholder in News Corp,
the Saudi Arabia prince, and a benefactor
for the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center
for Muslim-Christian Understanding.
HarperCollins
is a subsidiary of News Corp.
