After Confederate Flag Ban, Jewish Group Demands Amazon ‘Revisit’ Policy for Nazi, Hamas Banners

[Mosby]

Just days after online retailer Amazon announced a ban on Confederate flags, a major Jewish group called on the retail giant to reconsider its policy on selling Hamas and Nazi SS banners on the site.

“If this is a decision that they made out of their concerns about what the symbol itself stands for and what it has inspired, then I think they’re gonna have to revisit they’re overall policy on other issues,” Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) associate dean, Rabbi Abraham Cooper told The Algemeiner on Friday. “like the swastika, the Celtic cross, which is used by many white supremacists and Nazis… the Hamas flag, Hezbollah, and all the other terrorist groups on the State Department’s terrorist list.”

Amazon announced earlier this week that it would stop selling Confederate flags and merchandise following last week’s deadly shooting at a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina. An ongoing debate over the use of the Confederate flag, which is seen by many as a symbol of the slave-holding South, intensified in the aftermath of the shooting.

While all merchandise depicting the Confederate flag has been removed from Amazon, a quick search on the website shows that it still sells Nazi SS and Hamas flags as well as other items featuring the banners, such as T-shirts, magnets and even a baby’s bib. Amazon also offers various merchandise bearing Nazi swastikas, such as jewelry and iPhone cases.

http://www.algemeiner.com/2015/06/26/after-confederate-flag-removed-major-jewish-group-calls-for-amazon-to-revisit-its-policy-for-selling-nazi-hamas-emblems/#

[Nuclear Unicorn]

1. If Amazon declines the request it would make their standards look rather suspicious.

[Cali_Democrat]

3. Says you. nt

[Mosby]

9. Is the Nazi flag just a cultural symbol in your opinion?

[hobbit709]

2. And if a Palestinian organization demands the removal of Israeli flags and the Star of David?

[Behind the Aegis]

4. False comparisions.

The Star of David is a religious icon. As for the Israeli flag, Hamas' flag is not the Palestinian flag. If you support the removal of the Confederate flag and associated material, do you not support the removal of Nazi flags and related material?

[hobbit709]

5. There's a lot of Palestinians that view the Israeli flag with extreme prejudice.

[Behind the Aegis]

6. So?

It still doesn't make it comparable, nor does your inclusion of the Star of David.

[hobbit709]

7. Offensive is in the eye of the beholder. And the star is ON the flag.

[B2G]

11. I believe this is people mean by "slippery slope" nt

[Behind the Aegis]

14. And the star is an independent feature as well.

Do five point stars also need to be banned now? How about any combination of red, white and blue? So you support the ban of the Confederate flag, but not the Nazi one? Or do you support banning both/neither?

[Jefferson23]

8. U.S. Omits Iran and Hezbollah From Terror Threat List

http://europe.newsweek.com/iran-and-hezbollah-omitted-us-terror-threat-list-amid-nuclear-talks-314073


Egypt took Hamas off their terrorist list..that word has been so bastardized/politicized it isn't worth
much any longer.

Hamas flag is the equivalent to the Nazi symbols..really?

Keep the focus on all that Nazi shit is my suggestion and see what Amazon will agree to,
that stuff is creepy and represents the intended death/ extinction of Jews.

[Mosby]

10. Do you think Amazon should sell Nazi memorabilia?

[Jefferson23]

13. I thought I was clear, stick to the Nazi symbols, whatever that encompasses and present it

to Amazon..see what they'll agree to.

There is a distinction with Nazi symbols, they represented one thing, extermination.
How much more clear could that period of time meant?

The Confederate flag and all that crap will still be sold too, doesn't mean you can't
appeal to a business and ask them not to participate. I personally feel more groups
could ask and see what the response is..perhaps now some might want to not use
the excuses we have seen for selling that heinous crap any longer. It would go
further into the black market, but so what? Why do businesses need to make this
easier to buy?

See what they say, but if you attach the Hamas, Hezbollah flag as equivalent then
you'll get no where or should get no where..that is playing politics b/c they are
in no way equivalent.

[Mosby]

18. the charter for hamas uses eliminationist rhetoric

And hezbo only exists to kill Jews.

But your probably right, it's probably best to focus on nazi memorabilia since nazi racism and bigotry was more effective than these modern hate groups.

[Comrade Grumpy]

19. And Israel uses mass murder.

[Mosby]

21. Israel defends itself from unprovoked attacks - that's what you characterize as mass murder

disgusting.

[Jefferson23]

20. Both of those statements are false as would be the rhetoric some use against Israeli

policy to genocide of the Palestinians. I am not going to argue the points to that as this is not I/P

But yea, I think Obama got it right..all that heinous garbage, put it in a museum.

Banning through the state level would be precarious and not likely to achieve what
you really want, which is to educate people. Yet there is nothing wrong with appealing
to a business and I don't mean with threats, but an appeal to their heart and sensibilities.

[nilesobek]

12. Racists should have to make backroom

deals in the shady part of town over the tracks to even find that kind of thing. I hope Amazon does away with obvious hate items like that, no matter how much money they get from it.

[0rganism]

15. i understand, but part of me doesn't like where this is going

the swastika has serious supremacist & genocidal connotations, hell it's been illegal in Germany for decades. is it that much more of a burden to stop selling it in America?

however, what i don't like, and i freely admit this is much further down the slippery slope, is the possibility that any symbol could be corrupted by terrorist and/or racist organizations through the simple act of adopting it. what if the KKK started flying, say, a McDonalds flag? how long would it take for the golden arches to be considered a racist symbol? what if they opted to sport the Israeli flag for a few years to get to that level of connotation?

i think this concern can rightly be countered by pointing out that the original intent of the groups running with the symbols in question was racist, and the adaptation of such symbolism by various hate groups is consistent with original meaning, not at all arbitrary.

still, it seems like there's room for a grey area in which hate groups could contaminate symbols simply by adopting them as their own.

[Behind the Aegis]

17. I understand what you are saying.

Given recent events, look how some conservatives have reacted to gays, so I wouldn't be surprised if attacks on the rainbow flag to be removed.

However, hate groups and the things representing them...I find myself on a fence. Where does it stop? What does it say when one hate group is "banned" but another is not? It is, as you say, a slippery slope.

[0rganism]

22. seems like giving up control over symbolic language to the creepiest creeps

if we, as a culture, evaluate the usage of a word or a graphic design based on the behavior of those who use it (especially the worst of the users), we risk ceding a fair bit of cultural control to the cruelest and nastiest elements of society.

definitely a slippery slope here, but let's just say i dislike the looks of what's at the bottom enough to not want to dance on the edge. i'm conflicted on this one.

[tritsofme]

16. Three hateful and disgusting symbols. Get rid of this crap.