Germany: Model aircraft manufacturer Herpa apologizes for negative reference to ‘Zionism’ in magazine article

The trouble is that many Europeans will see Herpa's apology as evidence of the controlling powers of the "lobby" in silencing all criticism of Israel and consider that Herpa's remarks are totally justified...  It is a no win situation, or rather a lose/lose situation.

"WingsWorld," Herpa's monthly magazine,
carries a feature about El Al that refers to
"US patronage of Zionism" and "a violent,
illegal occupation and eviction."
 Photo: The Algemeiner.

The Algemeiner reports:

The German company Herpa, the world’s leading manufacturer of quality model airplanes, has apologized for an article in its monthly magazine, WingsWorld, which included hostile references to Zionism.

As The Algemeiner reported on Tuesday, the article, which focused on Israel’s national airline El Al, contained a section which discussed the hijacking of El Al planes by Palestinian terrorists during the 1960s, and which was introduced with the following sentence: “The conflicts between Israel and the Palestinians, who have been experiencing the Jewish settlement of Palestine backed by US patronage of Zionism to this day as a violent, illegal occupation and eviction, increased significantly.”

The piece then went on to examine the hijackings carried out by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, including the following observation: “The terror of the PFLP and many other organizations didn’t remain restricted to El Al, and has its bitter climax with the events of ’9-11′.”

WingsWorld is marketed to model airplane collectors and includes large numbers of children among its readers. Following a complaint to Herpa by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Dr. Shimon Samuels, Director of International Relations for the Jewish advocacy organization, spoke directly with Walter Wehr, Herpa’s General Manager for Sales and Production. Samuels told The Algemeiner that Wehr had assured him that a full apology would be published on the company’s website, that the offending sentences would be removed from the online version of the article, and that the company would now start visibly listing the El Al replica models it sells from its online shop. Samuels had expressed concern that the absence of El Al from a menu listing the different airline models available from Herpa gave the impression of a boycott of Israel.

More: Algemeiner