Blair removes website maps that did not label Israel
The map appeared on the Office of Tony Blair website, as well as on the website of the Office of the Quartet Representative.
By HERB KEINONMap without Israel 311(photo credit: courtesy)
Quartet envoy Tony Blair’s offices quickly removed from their websites Monday a Mideast map that did not label Israel, shortly after The Jerusalem Post brought the matter to their attention.The map on the websites was an illustration for an article written by Blair on the so called “Arab spring” – headlined “We can’t just be spectators in this revolution” – that appeared in The Times and the Wall Street Journal earlier this month. The map and the article appeared on the Office of Tony Blair website, as well as on the website of the Office of the Quartet Representative.In the colorful, three-dimensional map, the lines of Israel are drawn, but the name doesn’t appear. The names for Lebanon and Cyprus are also not on the map, but labels for other small states, such as Kuwait and Qatar, do appear.Blair has been an eloquent critic of those seeking to delegitimize Israel, and at a speech in Herzliya last year said that the delegitimization of Israel is an affront not only to Israelis, but to those “everywhere, in every part of humanity, who share the values of a free and independent human spirit.”Blair’s spokesperson in Jerusalem, Ruti Winterstein, said “The focus of both the illustration and the article it accompanied was recent events in North Africa and the Gulf. It also clearly showed the State of Israel.”The map was replaced on the websites by a picture of Blair delivering a speech.
