Admin: A chain of stores in Spain has unfortunately decided to remove the Israeli-invented games Rummikub from their shelves. This comes in the wake of the Gaza Terror Flotilla incident where IDF commandos stormed a Gaza-bound ship filled with Turkish terrorists. Rummikub has become a popular game worldwide although I must admit I’d not heard of it until a Dutch friend introduced me to the rules the other day.
Hibbert: It’s not a game for everyone. The game is also known as Rummy-O or Rummycube and was invented by Ephraim Hertzano, a Romanian-born Israeli. Kodkod is the company that sells it and the most intriguing part in all this is that Spain was in fact the host nation of last year’s Rummikub World Championship.
Admin: A manager of the Abacus chain told a Spanish newspaper:
“We carried the game until now because it is very interesting from a pedagogical perspective … but as a cooperative, we see what is going on, and we must be sensitive to the social situations.”
Doyle: The stores say they removed the Rummikub games in order to replace them with a cheaper Chinese version of the game known as ‘Rummy’. Naturally, they deny that pro-Palestinian groups were part of the equation when deciding to change from an Israeli supplier to a Chinese one.
Hibbert: One should note that the Israeli version will still be sold by Abacus in the company’s catalogue and also be sold directly to schools which regularly use the product as part of lessons. What one should read into this, I don’t know.
Admin: In economical terms I can just about understand it but if this is indeed a move, as suggested by the Abacus manager’s words, then the moral and ethical abyss which Spain faces is gargantuan. China is one of the worst human rights violators on the planet.
Hibbert: You can say that again. Political freedoms in China are severely restricted and the treatment of religious minorities, including Christians, Muslims and Buddhists, is nothing short of diabolical. More people are executed in China each year than the rest of the world combined. Death is the punishment even for some white-collar crimes such as embezzlement and tax fraud. Then there’s the treatment of rural workers, ethnic minorities and forced abortions and sterilizations.
Dijkstra: Like swapping products made in Britain for products made in Iran?
Admin: Yes.
News story: Spanish stores boycott Israeli game.
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