Israel gets in on The War on Christmas

  Businesses just can’t win this holiday season. In the US, if part of your sales pitch doesn’t include mention of the birth of Jesus, onto Bill O’Reilly’s blacklist you will go. This never made a lot of sense to me, as I struggle to see the logical link between a purported virgin birth and ...

575660_091210_PassportWarOnChristmas2.jpg
575660_091210_PassportWarOnChristmas2.jpg

 

 

Businesses just can’t win this holiday season. In the US, if part of your sales pitch doesn’t include mention of the birth of Jesus, onto Bill O’Reilly’s blacklist you will go. This never made a lot of sense to me, as I struggle to see the logical link between a purported virgin birth and throwing down 35 big ones for a Screature. However with or without logic, the “War on Christmas” is going international.

One group in Israel is getting in on the action, where simply making mention of the Christian holiday could get you boycotted. The group behind the Israeli movement “Lobby for Jewish Values” sent out several fliers that say:

The people of Israel have given their soul over the years in order to maintain the values of the Torah of Israel and the Jewish identity.

You should also continue to follow this path of the Jewish people’s tradition and not give in to the clownish atmosphere of the end of the civil year. And certainly not help those businesses that sell or put up the foolish symbols of Christianity.

Looks like someone’s getting coal, or worse a visit from Krampus.

Either way, this could potentially be confusing to multinational corporations trying to rake in whatever money is still left in the global economy, so for those retailers taking notes: when in the country of Jesus’ birth, make no mention of said birth. When on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, gush about frankincense and myrrh.

(Hat tip: Matthew Yglesias)

Johannes Simon/Getty Images

Bobby Pierce is an editorial researcher at Foreign Policy.

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