Paris, 21 December 2018
An immediate apology was received from Galeries Lafayette Watch Division Director-General, Arthur Lemoine, for the outrageous sales slip denoting Tel Aviv Ben Gurion airport as “Occupied Palestine Territories.”
Lemoine assured that their software editor and provider, CEGID, will be taking steps to prevent its repetition.
The Centre was troubled, however, by the position that the “saleswoman, Hinda, according to her own statements, selected this field by mistake and without malicious intent.”
Samuels suggested it was “unbelievable that out of over 200 sovereign states, and non-sovereign entities, she would have ‘selected’ the one entry set to delegitimize the Jewish State. That is ‘antisemitism’ as defined by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, signed by France.”
The Centre registered surprise that Lemoine claimed, “even if it appears that it was an unintentional mistake, we decided to sanction our employee for her ‘terrible clumsiness’.”
Samuels requested “to know the nature of the ‘sanction’ of Galeries Lafayette for ‘antisemitism’ in the guise of ‘clumsiness’.”
“We are, indeed, amazed that Hinda remains its employee,” concluded Samuels.