The Zionist Organization of America demands that Scholastic, the world’s largest children’s bookseller, rectify the omission of Israel on a map that it published.
Two years after what it terms an “inadvertent error,” the Scholastic Corporation, the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books, is still being pressed to fully rectify the omission of Israel from a popular children’s book. Published in 2012, Thea Stilton and the Blue Scarab Hunt is an adventure that takes place in modern-day Egypt, but the map illustration showing its borders deletes Israel. All of the territory of Israel appears as part of Jordan.
Pressed for an explanation, the publishing house apologized in November 2013, blaming an oversight in translation from the original Italian. Scholastic said it would discontinue selling the book until the map was corrected in the next edition.
ZOA Urges Action
The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) urges the public to take action, suggesting that seven specific demands be made to the publishing company:
“(1) investigate how this omission occurred and why; (2) suspend relations with the book’s author, illustrator and Italian publisher until the investigation is completed and those responsible are identified; (3) once the investigation is completed, terminate relations with those responsible for omitting Israel from the map; (4) ensure that Scholastic’s editors and proofreaders have the requisite experience, competence and attention to detail to prevent such errors and omissions from recurring; (5) issue accurate replacement to those who have already purchased the book omitting Israel; (6) conduct a thorough review of Scholastic’s other books to verify their accuracy, and (7) issue a public apology and a public statement reflecting all the steps that Scholastic will be taking to remedy the incident and prevent it from recurring.”
PA Textbooks Omit Israel
According to a recent study by the Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land, funded by the US State Department, 96 percent of Palestinian textbooks completely omit Israel. Most have “Palestine” written over the entire area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
By: United with Israel Staff
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