Friday, February 8, 2008

Build a House--or a Hotel--in Jerusalem

Hasbro Toys, makers of Monopoly, is coming out with a global edition, featuring cities from around the world instead of streets (or dogs, or football teams, etc.). They are selecting the cities based on a worldwide vote this month.
One of the cities nominated is Jerusalem. The cities are all identified by the city name and the country, and in an all-to-rare moment of clarity Hasbro has correctly listed the name of the city as "Jerusalem, Israel". That's certainly more than the US State Department is willing to do on a passport. To be sure, Hasbro's information is a bit sloppy (they failed to identify it as the capital of Israel and they state that the "most holy Jewish and Moslem sites are located at Temple Mount" which might come as news to the House of Saud, guardians of the Ka'abah) and they inexplicably chose a picture looking UP at the Mount of Olives and Hebrew University, but at least they know which country's map it belongs on!
As of today, Jerusalem ranks #10, which would place it where Indiana Avenue is on the classic Monopoly board. And YOU, dear reader, get to help by casting your vote-early and often! You can vote daily through February 29. Go to http://www.hasbro.com/games/kid-games/monopoly/ and click on VOTE; the first time, you will need to set up a sign-in and password.
It's just one small step in fighting the disinformation about, and delegitimization of, the state of Israel. But let's make sure that the millions upon millions of children who will play this game get to learn the proper name of the city: Jerusalem, Israel.

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