Last Thursday, August 17, Facebook user Avi Yemini, an ultra-Orthodox Israeli turned Krav Maga instructor, posted a map of the Middle East he said had been broadcast by Australia’s ABC TV, in which the name “Israel” was erased, to be replaced by the simple, quaint, “Palestine.”
“Last night ABC News wiped Israel off their map,” Yemini wrote, adding, “They’re literally doing the Islamists’ dirty work for them. We must DEFUND these traitors immediately.”
On Sunday, instead of issuing an apology for what had been, at best, a blunder, and at worst a call to annihilate a country friendly to Australia, ABC actually hit back, according to North Star, saying Yemini’s accusations were incorrect and offensive.
According to the ABC statement, the dystopic graphic was part of a segment about Lebanon, where they just abolished their “marry your rapist” law (to the chagrin of many a rapist, apparently).
“This story was about the repealing of a law in Lebanon that allowed rapists to escape punishment if they married their victims,” went the statement. “The accompanying graphic showed countries where this law had already been repealed (in blue) and countries where campaigners were actively trying to have it repealed (in yellow). This law does not exist in Israel, and never has, so it was not shown in the graphic.”
Of course, how could we (and Yemini) be so silly. They were making a scientific point, that’s all. Of course, when you magnify the image, you see that the PA area (Judea and Samaria, Liberated Territories, Occupied Territories, Biblical Israel – take your pick) is actually white, while the distinctly non-Palestinian UN member to the left appears in yellow.
North Star reminded its readers of a similar fiasco, back in February 2016, when Retail giant Cotton On was caught selling a globe of the Earth with the name Israel gone, replaced once again by the quaint and simple “Palestine.”
When Dr. Dvir Abramovich, Chairman of the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission in Australia complained, the manufacturer explained that the name “Israel” was too large to fit on the small space on their globe. Especially after they had barely managed to fit “Palestine” in there. What they did, then, was assign Israel the key number “2,” which anyone could follow down, presumably to Antarctica, where all the keyed names (Lebanon, too, by the way) are stored, next to the penguins.
So now Israelis know they live in the Democratic Republic of 2. Kinda’ rolls off your tongue, actually.