By Micah Halpern
I've Been Thinking:
A massive crisis has engulfed Algeria. It is called "mapgate."
An educational textbook identified Israel by name on a map. It did not use the word Palestine. There are calls for the minister of education to resign. The Islamic parties are livid.
The books have been recalled.
The explanation given for the choice of Israel over Palestine was that the labeling was a mistake - that there was no intention of labeling the area Israel and not Palestine. The minister blamed the publishing house. The head of the publishing house apologized for offending Algeria sensibilities. It was called "a lapse and unintentional mistake."
The publisher said that the author was on deadline and downloaded a map from the internet without checking it.
The hatred towards Israel is so great in Algeria that they are jumping through hoops to try to justify using the name Israel. Israel, in Islamic Algeria, is quite simply an unacceptable word.
Micah@MicahHalpern.com
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