On Monday, Reebok Israel announced it would release a special edition, blue and white shoe celebrating the Jewish State in honor of Israeli Independence Day. The shoe would be imprinted with “Israel 68” on its side heel, marking the 68th anniversary of the country’s existence.
The next day, less than 24 hours later, Reebok effectively issued a mea culpa, pulling back from the project and blaming miscommunication between its local distributor in Israel and an independent designer for the confusion.
“The shoe was prepared by an independent designer and should not be presented as a product by the company’s international brand,” argued Reebok Israel in a statement.
Reebok premised its aversion to the project under the guise of being non-partisan. The company maintained that it doesn’t produce shoes with national emblems.
Distancing itself from the project entirely, “The company added that a local designer had customized a personal layout using the company’s website, which allows users to make their own design,” according to The Jerusalem Post. “The local designer then drafted a statement, along with ‘the model of the shoe’ and sent it to the local Reebok distributor.”
“Reebok believes in the unifying power of sport.”
But not the existence of Israel, apparently.
Bowing to popular anti-Israel fervor, in the form of the vicious BDS movement, Reebok International issued this statement (emphasis added):
Reebok would like to distance itself from the shoe. The shoe was a one-off initiative from one of our partners. We do not support this initiative.
Our partner has withdrawn its plans to auction off this shoe.
Reebok believes in the unifying power of sport. Our main focus and priority is to inspire people everywhere to be their absolute best – physically, mentally and socially.
To Reebok, the mere idea of recognizing the Jewish State’s unlikely existence is polarizing. Apparently, “the unifying power of sport” cannot be properly evoked unless Israel is marginalized and caricatured as a country of disunity. How brave of Reebok to “inspire people to be their absolute best” by cowardly submitting to international pressure and buying into the sordid myth of Israel as a pariah state.
