Home

Israel cracks down on Arabic Harry Potter

August 15, 2008 - 9:54am — Blake

Harry Potter and Pinocchio are apparently not welcome in Israel, at least in their Arabic translations imported from Syria and Lebanon.

Arab-Israeli publisher Salah Abassi told Israeli public radio on Monday that authorities ordered him to stop importing Arabic-language children's books from the two longtime foes of Israel.

The ban includes translations of such books as Pinocchio and Harry Potter as well as Arabic classics.

  • Email this Story
  • identi.ca
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • Twitter

Comments

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.
August 15, 2008 - 2:06pm — Anonymous (not verified)

How awful. I recently read a

How awful. I recently read a report which showed that Israel's Arabic minority (15-20% of the country) have schools at shockingly lower standards then their Jewish counterparts, and that as a whole Arabic students really suffer for lack of books, facilities, etc. I guess the US isn't the only country with disparities between communities when it comes to school resources.

  • Email this comment
August 15, 2008 - 5:03pm — Anonymous (not verified)

Misleading Headline

They're banning all Arabic language books, not just Arabic Harry Potter books.

  • Email this comment
August 15, 2008 - 5:05pm — Anonymous (not verified)

Correction

They're banning all Arabic language books from Syria and Lebanon, not just Arabic Harry Potter books.

  • Email this comment
August 16, 2008 - 4:42pm — mdoneil

Nothing to do with the content

It has nothing to do with the content, it has to do with the origin of the goods.

These same books could be produced in countries and be admitted. If there were a market for them they would be produced somewhere else, the US perhaps, and sold in Israel.

I can't buy a cuban made rice cooker in the US for the same reason, an embargo on goods from certain countries.

If anyone in Israel needs copies of any book unavailable in Arabic I can source it from a country from which imports to Israel are allowed. Amazon has it from an Egyptian publisher so I don't see that getting it in Israel would be a problem.

AFP is so anti-Semitic it is laughable.

  • Email this comment
August 18, 2008 - 3:28pm — Lee Hadden

Ha! Ha! Ha!

So tell me, how hard is it to find a Hebrew translation of Harry Potter in Syria or Lenanon?

R. Lee Hadden (These are my own opinions!)

  • Email this comment
Syndicate content