HarperCollins Sorry for Erasing Israel From Map
The HarperCollins publishing house apologized for omitted Israel from maps in atlases that it sells to English-speaking schools in the Middle East.
“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 apologizes for this omission and for any offense caused,” it said in a statement released late Wednesday.
It remained available on vendors’ websites such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble on Thursday, however.
The apology came less than a day after Collins Bartholomew, a map-publishing company that is a subsidiary of HarperCollins, said that including Israel in its “Collins Primary Geography Atlas For The Middle East” would have been “unacceptable” to their customers in the Gulf and that leaving Israel off the maps incorporated “local preferences.”
While Israel is not demarcated on the maps, the West Bank is clearly labeled.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
