Jerusalem Report

It took two great Zionist thinkers, pioneering farmers, brave soldiers and wads of cash to put the modern State of Israel on the map. But a few pranksters were able to take it off. I’m referring to a recent e-mail from a friend, warning me and about 100 other close friends not to buy Fuji film, cameras, batteries — even Subaru cars. The story was that Fuji Co. “has removed Israel from its complimentary world map that they give to their customers with a purchase, most likely to entice Arab customers.” Another popular story traveling the Internet claims that the Wal-Mart chain has a problem with Israel and is selling globes that “do not have Israel on it. In place, they put in Palestine.”

If you forwarded these e-mails to your friends, then you too fell for two of the thousands of rumors, hoaxes and urban legends found on the http://www.jewishinternetassociation.org and on any number of similar Internet sites. Fuji responded to a Report query by saying its site had been checked out by the Anti-Defamation League. What’s more, it invited surfers to check the map itself, at http://www.fujifilm.com

On the Urban Legends Reference Page http://www.snopes.com you can simply type in “Israel” at the Search prompt to learn all the current Israel-related hoax stories. Some will entertain, others will scare you and a few may even sound plausible. Could an article in the Hollywood Reporter claiming that director Steven Spielberg is planning a Dreamworks feature film sympathetic to the Palestinian cause be true? “This is a vicious hoax,” claims Spielberg’s spokesman, Marvin Levy. Has Coca-Cola announced that it will be donating four days’ worth of income to Israel? No. This is as untrue as the claim that Pepsi is an acronym for “Pay Every Penny to Save Israel” or “Pay Every Penny to the State of Israel.”

Is a reported hoax always a hoax? Not if it is about German car manufacturers BMW and Mercedes — two companies that have their own stories as to why Israel didn’t appear on maps of the Middle East which appeared on their websites. A few months ago, a reader contacted Snopes.com, reporting that a map of BMW service stations in the Middle East included an area labeled “Palestine” but failed to identify the country of Israel. BMW quickly removed the link and issued a letter of apology, which can be found at http://www.adl.org

Mercedes was not as willing to acknowledge its errors. Its list of Middle Eastern countries hosting Mercedes-Benz dealerships featured names of all countries in the region — except for one nameless country the size of New Jersey. After a series of corrections, the website contains no map, only a list of Middle East dealerships http://www.mideast.mercedes-benz.com — without Israel.

Howard Blas / New York