French Magazine Pulled for Saying Israel is 'Unreal Country'

French newspapers the day after the 2005 referendum when French
voters rejected the European constitution. AFP / Getty Images
French newspapers the day after the 2005 referendum when French voters rejected the European constitution. AFP / Getty Images
TT
20

French Magazine Pulled for Saying Israel is 'Unreal Country'

French newspapers the day after the 2005 referendum when French
voters rejected the European constitution. AFP / Getty Images
French newspapers the day after the 2005 referendum when French voters rejected the European constitution. AFP / Getty Images

Publishers Bayard has pulled one of its magazines from shops and libraries on Tuesday, because it published a map saying Israel is not a real country. This step came following angry protests from the Council of Jewish Institutions (Crif).

Youpi magazine’s January issue carries a map of the world with the following legend: "We call these 197 countries states, like France, Germany or Algeria. There are other ones but not everyone agrees they are real countries (for example the State of Israel and North Korea)."

Besides pulling the magazine from the market, Bayard’s Managing Director Pascal Ruffenach said in a statement: “We recognize our mistake, it was not well put, and obviously we do not want to contest the existence of the state of Israel," adding that withdrawing the issue voluntarily and in good faith because it is important to contribute to the spirit of calm.

For his part, Francis Kalifat, head of the French Council of Jewish Institutions (Crif), said he had been tipped off by readers about this historical untruth being feed to young children aged between five and eight.

“I immediately wrote to the editor and the head of Bayard to protest about this flagrant error and to demand they rectify it,” he noted.

As the concerned party has responded to the request, Kalifat considers the matter was terminated and there is no need to further controversy.

However, Crif has demanded that the magazine run a correction in its next issue as well as an article explaining what Israel is and how it came into existence.

Ruffenach, however, refused to be drawn, saying that the December issue explained the major religions to children.



Irish University to Cut Links with Israel Over Gaza War

 A picture taken from Israel's border with the Gaza Strip shows an Israeli tank rolling along the border fence on June 4, 2025. (AFP)
A picture taken from Israel's border with the Gaza Strip shows an Israeli tank rolling along the border fence on June 4, 2025. (AFP)
TT
20

Irish University to Cut Links with Israel Over Gaza War

 A picture taken from Israel's border with the Gaza Strip shows an Israeli tank rolling along the border fence on June 4, 2025. (AFP)
A picture taken from Israel's border with the Gaza Strip shows an Israeli tank rolling along the border fence on June 4, 2025. (AFP)

Ireland's prestigious Trinity College Dublin said on Wednesday that it would cut all links with Israel in protest at "ongoing violations of international and humanitarian law".

The university's board informed students by email on Wednesday that it had accepted the recommendations of a taskforce to sever "institutional links with the State of Israel, Israeli universities and companies headquartered in Israel".

The recommendations would be "enacted for the duration of the ongoing violations of international and humanitarian law", said the email sent by the board's chairman Paul Farrell, and seen by AFP.

The taskforce was set up after part of the university's campus in central Dublin was blockaded by students for five days last year in protest at Israel's actions in Gaza.

Among the taskforce's recommendations approved by the board were pledges to divest "from all companies headquartered in Israel" and to "enter into no future supply contracts with Israeli firms" and "no new commercial relationships with Israeli entities".

The university also said that it would "enter into no further mobility agreements with Israeli universities".

Trinity has two current Erasmus+ exchange agreements with Israeli universities: Bar Ilan University, an agreement that ends in July 2026, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which ends in July 2025, the university told AFP in an email.

The board also said that the university "should not submit for approval or agree to participate in any new institutional research agreements involving Israeli participation".

It "should seek to align itself with like-minded universities and bodies in an effort to influence EU policy concerning Israel's participation in such collaborations," it added.

Ireland has been among the most outspoken critics of Israel's response to the October 7, 2023 attacks on southern Israel by Hamas that sparked the war in Gaza.

Polls since the start of the war have shown overwhelming pro-Palestinian sympathy in Ireland.

In May 2024, Dublin joined several other European countries in recognizing Palestine as a "sovereign and independent state".

It then joined South Africa in bringing a case before the International Court of Justice in the Hague accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza -- charges angrily denied by Israeli leaders.

In December, Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar ordered the closure of the country's embassy in Dublin, blaming Ireland's "extreme anti-Israel policies".