Remember back in February all the hollering around the campaign to put Jerusalem on the Monopoly World Edition board and the controversy of why Israel was the first country name removed from the contest?
APRPEH Monopoly posts
Well all the effort has paid off. Well almost. Last I recall, Jerusalem was in the top three in the vote count before the tally board was hidden in the final voting period. Hasbro finally announced the winning cities and here they are:
While yellow is not too shabby, I was hoping for Boardwalk's position. Who is ready to believe that our own Yerushalayim would have been given the top position even had she received the most votes?
A few observations with others remaining unspoken:
- Only one US city on the board - politically correct I guess
- Three Canadian cities with Montreal in the top spot - which leads you to question if Hasbro has Francophilia since Montreal probably ranks as one of the top 5 most obnoxious cities in North America, if not #1 (no offense implied)
- No Arabian cities - no suicide bombers
- Only 1 Muslim city - speaks for itself
- No Russian Cities (Ukrainian Kiev made it - Bogdan Khmel'nitsky would be proud)
- A Polish city - Gdynia - in your face with a NATO missile shield for Vlad Putin
- Riga formerly enslaved by the USSR is #2 - Putin now with steam coming out of his ears
- London ahead of New York keeps the Brits happy but is a little 19th century
- Rome - a tip of the hat to Edom
- Athens - if Rome is on the list, Athens must be too
- Three Chinese cities - could have been an all Chinese board I guess so I shouldn't complain
- No India cities? Istanbul - not Constantinople
Hasbro pulls countries from Monopoly site after Israel flap
PROVIDENCE (AP) — Monopoly, the iconic game of capitalism, has been drawn into the dispute over Jerusalem.
Hasbro issued an apology Thursday after an employee, responding to complaints from pro-Palestinian groups, eliminated the word "Israel" after the city in an online contest to select names for a new Monopoly board game: Monopoly Here and Now: The World Edition.
The company also pulled all country names from other cities on the site when even more people complained because Jerusalem was listed as the only city without a country.
The Pawtucket-based company is asking people to vote at the Monopoly website on which cities will be included in the new edition. Until Tuesday, every city on the site listed a country, including Paris, France; Cairo and Jerusalem, Israel.
But an employee based in London decided on her own without consulting senior management to pull "Israel" from Jerusalem after hearing complaints from pro-Palestinian groups and bloggers who argue that the city is not a part of Israel, Hasbro spokesman Wayne Charness said Thursday.
The issue has been a sensitive one for decades: Israel captured the eastern part of Jerusalem — home to Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites — in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem to be the capital of a future independent state.
Hasbro management was alerted to the change Wednesday when its London office saw a spike in traffic on the site and figured out what happened, Charness said. The company then pulled every country name, so Paris and Cairo also are now listed alone, he said.
"It was a bad decision, one that we rectified relatively quickly," he said. "This is a game. We never wanted to enter into any political debate. We apologize to our Monopoly fans."
He added that the game, due out in the fall, was never meant to include countries. The countries were added to the website to make it easier to vote.
Voting in the contest ends Feb. 29 for the Top 20 cities and March 9 for two wild card cities nominated by voters. The top vote-getting city will get the prime Boardwalk spot: as of Thursday, it was Istanbul, Turkey.
Well well, an employee in London working for an international corporate giant made an individual decision to bow to arabian pressing threats and thus plung the company into a PR nightmare. Possible, I suppose. Not likely. It is hard to process both “the employee did it" answer and "we were going to remove them anyway" answer.
But maybe with the political correctness that is found in the article, and presumably on the mind of the London employee, one can't be too hard on Hasbro. Note how, according to the story Israel captured the eastern part of Jerusalem — home to Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites — in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem to be the capital of a future independent state.
While factually accurate there is a question unanswered. Captured from whom? Palestine? the PA? None of the above. Jordan was in control of Jerusalem. Why? The results of the 1949 armistice. Jerusalem in UN General Assembly Resolution 181 was to be a Special International Regime for the City of Jerusalem. Jordan did nothing to show any support for the open city plan or for sharing the wealth. For background purposes, this resolution originated in the General Assembly of the UN and therefore carried little weight. All this means is that legally, Jerusalem's status was left TBD at that time, which the UN sought to "correct" numerous times but only after the Old City's liberation in June 1967. I couldn't find references to any UN resolution condemning Jordan for holding the Old City or for denying equal religious rights there (not to mention destruction of holy sites). Silence, as they say equals consent.
Well anyhow, as it turns out, no country references will be on the Monopoly board so Hasbro says, unless a rogue employee in London has a different idea. So, as of now, keep voting in the contest. Register as many email addresses as you wish and vote from each one. Drive Jerusalem (Israel) to the top. That will really give the palis something to whine about. Jewish Virtual Library Jerusalem History Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs Jerusalem History
Having previously urged readers to vote in Hasbro's Monopoly Here and Now World Edition competition to select cities around the world for the World Edition game board, I must now follow up with that post to report that Hasbro has gone the way of political correctness or kowtowing to the arab lobby/boycott by removing "Israel" as the country in which Jerusalem is found.
As you can see from the current leaderboard, the OneJerusalem campaign has been very effective moving Jerusalem, Israel from around 15th when I first discovered the competition to 4th and climbing. How embarrassing it would be for Hasbro if Jerusalem should actually climb up to first and with cowardice at least and malice at worst, "Israel" is left off the game board. Please consider contacting Hasbro using the contact information below to demand that "Israel" be returned to its rightful place with Jerusalem. Below is my email to the Monopoly team. A world of encouragement can also be left at OneJerusalem.
The Monopoly team at Brazen PR on +44 (161) 9234994, +44 7974 323047
peter@brazenpr.com
Dear Monopoly team
Thank you for your interesting contest to place cities on the global edition monopoly board. I am, however, disappointed in your decision to not list Jerusalem as a city in Israel. With all politics aside, one need merely look at a map to determine the geographic boundary. It is a shame that you have let politics slide into a worldwide game board selection competition. Please show Jerusalem correctly as a city in the nation of Israel.
best regards
ED note - 21 Feb: as of sometime yesterday afternoon, all country labels had been removed from the leaderboard at the Monopoly site.
Vote Jerusalem on the Monopoly Board!
[02. 6.2008]
UPDATE (Feb 7): Keep Voting! Thanks to you, Jerusalem is now #18!
The makers of Monopoly are inviting fans worldwide to vote in an on-line contest to determine which 22 cities will be etched in the collective memory for a new global edition of the 75-year-old game.
The contest, which got under way this week and will continue through February 28, will allow Monopoly fans the world over to cast their ballots for the 10 best cities out of a pre-selected list of 68, including Jerusalem, Israel.
The 20 cities with the highest number of votes will make it onto the new board.
Please ONLY vote for Jerusalem. Voting for other cities will reduce Jerusalem’s relative scoring.
You can vote EVERY DAY up to Feb. 28.
Here are step-by-step instructions. Please VOTE NOW!
VOTING INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Go to Hasbro's site.
2. In the right-pane, click ‘Sort By: Cities’ (see our diagram)
3. Scroll down to ‘Jerusalem, Israel’ > Click it.
4. A pop-up appears, click ‘Add to My Cities’
5. A small picture of Jerusalem should appear in lower section of the screen. (Please do not select any other cities. This would reduce Jerusalem’s scoring.)
6. Click Vote.
7. Click ‘Create your login now.’
8. Enter a desired Username and Password > Click Save.
9. You will receive a confirmation email at the entered address.
10. Click the link in the email.
11. Once a day until Feb. 28, repeat Steps 1 through 6.
12. Forward this message to others.
click to enlarge
What Words Offend Arabs? The Truth.
Children's Poetry Booklet Recalled After Arabs Complain
(Israeli censorship kowtows to Arabs.
When Will We Tell The Truth Without Fear)
(IsraelNN.com 7 Sivan 5768/June 10, '08) Ynet's web site and Arab complaints against a ten-year-old boy's poem about terrorists has resulted in the recall of all of the Nes Ziona municipality's children's poetry booklets.
Ynet boasts that its coverage of the poem resulted in its being recalled.
The text of the poem (Ynet's translation):
Ahmed's bunker has surprises galore: Grenades, rifles are hung on the wall. Ahmed is planning another bombing!What a bunker Ahmed has, who causes daily harm.Ahmed knows how to make a bomb. Ahmed is Ahmed, that's who he is, so don't forget to be careful of him.We get blasted while they have a blast!Ahmed and his friends could be wealthy and sunny, if only they wouldn't buy rockets with all their money.
Poetry competition director Marika Berkowitz, who published the booklet, was surprised at the protests and told Ynet: "This is the boy's creation and this is what he wanted to express. Of course there should be a limit, but I think the there is no racism here. 'Ahmed' is a general term for the enemy. These are the murmurings of an innocent child."
The Education Ministry told Ynet: "The local authority that published the booklet should have guided the students in a more correct manner through the schools. The district will investigate the issue with the local authorities."
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