Rupert Murdoch’s HarperCollins Publishing Company (a division of News Corp) was reported to have deleted Israel from their Collins Middle East Atlas. The Jerusalem Post and other Jewish media noted that Israel was not on the maps. A Christian newspaper in the UK, The Tablet, reported Wednesday, the 31st, that the atlases “depict Jordan and Syria extending all the way to the Mediterranean Sea.”
On December 31, the Jewish Link of New Jersey contacted HarperCollins and within less than an hour received the following notification from HarperCollins UK via the New York office: “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 apologises for this omission and for any offence caused.”
Collins Bartholomew, the subsidiary of HarperCollins that specializes in maps, had a spokesperson tell the media earlier in the day that including Israel would have been “unacceptable” to their customers in the Gulf and the amendment incorporated “local preferences.” The Tablet also reported that a customs officer in one Gulf nation would only permit the atlases to reach their intended recipient “only once Israel had been struck out by hand.”
