It looks as if Iran has found allies in its quest to wipe Israel off the map — the dopes at your friendly neighborhood Target store.
On sale exclusively at Target is this innocent-looking toy globe. Thousands of these trinkets have already moved out of malls, from Queens to Honolulu, and landed in living rooms and kids’ rooms across America.
But folks who forked over a buck for the miniature worlds got less than they bargained for.
These planetary models contain just about all the countries on Earth — from France to China, Singapore to Spain. But there’s one glaring exception:
Israel.
In the spot where Israel should be, this word is printed: “Palestine.” Some of those who unwittingly purchased the Israel-free orbs feel as if they’ve played a role in a modern-day Final Solution.
“They’re teaching kids there is no Israel, only Palestine,” said Rabbi Gary Moskowitz, who bought a globe at the Queens Center Mall for his 5-year-old daughter. “This encourages terrorism. This foments hatred.”
Bob Kunst learned of the globe’s omission when a friend’s 12-year-old daughter in Florida asked innocently, “Where’s Israel?”
“The very people who deny Israel’s existence also deny the Holocaust,” he said.
After receiving complaints, Target, which sold the globes for several weeks, finally responded. On Sunday, it began yanking the globes from its 1,744 stores in 49 states (Vermont is Target-free), and destroying them. We hope.
“We didn’t want to offend any of our guests,” said Amy Reilly of Target customer relations, who initially said the omission of Israel was due to lack of space on the item. (Isn’t “Palestine” a longer word?)
Devrian Global Industries of New Jersey, which imported “tens of thousands” of globes from China, apologized. “Obviously, it was a mistake. We obviously offended some people. Now we’re pulling them off the shelves,” said chief merchandising officer Larry Fine. No estimate on how many were sold.
So is this much ado about little? I think not. The movement to marginalize and even destroy the Jewish state has lately picked up steam. Israeli products are boycotted in Europe. Arabic textbooks deny Israel’s right to exist. Even the Obama administration has voiced policies of appeasement: In Cairo last June, President Obama went so far as to equate the murder of 6 million Jews in the Holocaust with Arab dislocation in the Middle East.
And, of course, there’s Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s infamous quote: “Israel must be wiped off the map.”
The globes were made in China by the Ningbo Beilun Beixin Plastic and Hardware Co., and were inspected and approved by the American firm Bureau Veritas. Its officers wouldn’t comment, citing “client confidentiality.”
None of this explains why so many people missed the flaw. Or did someone willfully look the other way?
Devrian, meanwhile, wants to talk to the Chinese manufacturer, to make certain such a thing doesn’t happen again. The company is having trouble doing so. With Chinese New Year approaching, officers said, no one is available to translate.
Israel will have to wait.
Ford goes on charm offensive
Harold Ford Jr. was on the phone, hepped up on adrenaline and caffeine, though it was past 6 p.m. and I was craving cocktails. He was psyched after meeting with a bunch of abortion-friendly ladies to discuss what he calls his pro-choice voting record.
“Ex-pecially the votes I made in Tennessee,” he said, slipping into a boyish drawl that the new New Yorker is trying hard to lose. Oh, but why?
“I am against late-term abortion,” he motor-mouthed. “And I’m for parental notification. Except in cases where a child is afraid of his or her parent.” Whoops! “Her parent,” he corrected. “Excuse me . . .”
It’s come to Ford’s attention that his outclassed maybe-political rival, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, suffers from a wee case of fatal attraction. Where he goes, she goes.
On Monday, Ford met with black leaders on Long Island. Gillibrand “put together a trip on Saturday, knowing Harold was going to be there,” laughed an insider.
“I hear she has someone following me with a video camera,” Ford snarked.
He bragged about his wife of nearly two years, Emily — who, I’ve heard him boast, is a babe of 28. She “is my ‘director of research,’ ” he said, getting Harold camera-ready to talk without drooling. So, you like smart women, do you?
“I don’t know any other way.”
Good answer. The guy might have a future.
She said the t-word! Sanity hits Planet Janet
Baby steps, Janet.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano yesterday made a drive-by visit to the city, where she refused to talk about the terror trials looming over Manhattan, failed to mention 9/11 or al Qaeda, and did not speak about CIA Director Leon Panetta’s scary claim that enemies are poised to strike again in three to six months.
But the woman who has refused even to utter the word “terrorism” — preferring the loony phrase “man-caused disasters” — has, finally, learned to use the t-word. Twice.
Speaking to members of her advisory council, she said, “Terrorists will go to great lengths to attack us.” Then she digressed into a spiel about the need for “faith- and community-based” groups to fight homegrown bad guys, and prevent “an actual terrorist attack.”
Mayor Bloomberg was blunter. He said if Washington cuts funding to the city’s radiation detectors, as threatened, you might as well kiss your assets goodbye.
“The explosion of a nuclear device could cost thousands of lives, devastate our national economy and plunge us into further conflict overseas,” he said.
With that, Napolitano was off like a jackrabbit. When I tried to approach her, I was tackled by an aide who protested, “There’s no time!”
At least she’s made progress.
The state of this union is rotten
In the real world, a man doesn’t sit on his backside for nine years while drawing a six-figure salary. But we’re not talking about the real world. This is the city’s Department of Education, where your taxes and mine lavishly support typing teacher Alan Rosenfeld as he spends his days in a “rubber room.”
Rosenfeld hasn’t taught a day since 2001, when he was accused of leering at the rear ends of junior-high girls. This being the school system, Rosenfeld was cleared to teach again. But Schools Chancellor Joel Klein thinks that’s too dangerous. So there Rosenfeld sits, drawing a $100,000 salary and working on his legal business, as The Post reported, while accruing a pension that’s the envy of working stiffs everywhere.
How does he do it? Simple. This city is a slave to the teachers union, which protects Rosenfeld’s rights while trampling on yours. And now, there’s nothing you, the mayor, or the chancellor can do about it. An outrage.