If 'Palestine' Jerseys Incite Hatred, What About JNF? | The Forward - 10 Jan. 2014 |

By Sigal Samuel

By using a one-state map of Palestine to replace the numeral one, the new jerseys effectively erase Israel, making it seem like the state doesn't exist. Of course Israelis and Jews worldwide would take umbrage at this. And, predictably, statements condemning the jerseys poured in this week from all the usual suspects.

According to the Simon Wiesenthal Center's January 6 statement, the jerseys are not only "inciting hatred among the large Arab community in Chile." They are also "fomenting a terrorist intent." The Anti-Defamation League added on January 8 that the one-state map constitutes "inappropriate political imagery" and a "clear delegitimization of Israel." Both organizations called for the imposition of penalties on El Palestino soccer club.

For these groups to take issue with imagery that depicts Israeli and Palestinian land as a single state makes perfect sense. But El Palestino isn't the only group to do so: the Jewish National Fund also favors one-state imagery. Their iconic blue donation boxes, ubiquitous in Jewish schools across the globe, feature a map depicting Israel without the Green Line. That means the JNF doesn't distinguish Israel from the Palestinian-populated West Bank -- even though the Israeli government itself officially endorsed the idea of two states in 2009.

Since this observation was the subject of a Forward cover story last week, ADL spokesman Todd Gutnick, whom I spoke to Thursday, was well aware of it. Yet, while he was clear that the ADL believes it's wrong for El Palestino to use one-state imagery, he couldn't say whether we could safely assume, then, that the ADL also considers it wrong for JNF to do the same thing. "On that question, I'm going to have to see if I can get someone to give you a call back," Gutnick said. More than 24 hours later, no one had called.