There is a possibility that the American Walmart retail chain may be considering a move to Jerusalem – Jerusalem, Israel, that is – but not if you ask the company itself, which works hard to deny any hint it might be in the process of “aliyah.”
According to a report published by the Calcalist on Sunday, multiple LinkedIn ads recruiting for cashiers, pharmacists, food handlers and merchandise stock people have been spotted over the past three weeks, all of them marked with Jerusalem as the geographical location, and targeting users in Israel.
But if you ask the company, ma’am, Walmart will tell you the listings are for the city of Jerusalem, Illinois, as the company did in an email response to Calcalist.
Get it? “Jerusalem, IL”
Except there ain’t no such place in North America, folks. There’s Jerusalem Arkansas, and one in New York, another in Ohio and even a Jerusalem, Virginia (now it’s called Courtland, Virginia, according to Wikipedia).
But no Jerusalem, Illinois and if you try to search it anyway, you get redirected back to Jerusalem, ISRAEL.
There are two Walmart stores already in cities named Jerusalem, located in Arkansas and Ohio.
Walmart CEO Doug McMillon did, in fact visit the State of Israel this past March together with senior company officials in a pilot trip to scout the Land, during which the delegation met with government leaders and local startups.
Walmart CEO in Israel to Meet with Israeli Startups
The retail chain had recently acquired Israeli startup Aspectiva Ltd., a Tel Aviv-based product-review insight firm and in the months prior, Walmart had announced investments in other Israeli startups as well.
The chain has been a massive international success, with more than 11,300 branches in 27 countries around the world, including Canada, China, Costa Rica and the UK.