The Missing Link

February 08, 2006

A Boycott on Your Products... Um, Except Your Flags

I posted before about the odd availability of Danish flags in the Middle East. Now I read about this Palestinian man:

GAZA, Feb 6 (Reuters) - When entrepreneur Ahmed Abu Dayya first heard that Danish caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad were being reprinted across Europe, he knew exactly what his customers in Gaza would want: flags to burn.

Abu Dayya ordered 100 hard-to-find Danish and Norwegian flags for his Gaza City shop and has been doing a swift trade.

"I do not take political stands. It is all business," he said in an interview. "But this time I was offended by the assault on the Prophet Mohammad."

A wave of anger has swept the Muslim world over the publication of the cartoons, one of which shows the Prophet wearing a turban shaped like a bomb.

First printed in Denmark, the cartoons have appeared in newspapers across Europe, as well as in the United States.

While normally hard to come by in isolated Gaza, Danish and Norwegian flags are now popping up at daily protests, increasingly replacing Israel's Star of David.

It's not clear how many merchants apart from Abu Dayya are offering the flags, but they appear to be readily available. Angry Muslims set the flags ablaze or tear them to pieces.

A Western flag bearing the image of Mohammed would present quite a conundrum.

Posted by Conor at February 8, 2006 12:20 AM