Kmart has pulled a Christmas-themed bag from shelves in Australia after people pointed out that it had similarities to the terrorist organization Hamas.
The holiday bag, intended to store ham in the fridge, has large text that reads “Merry Ham-Mas!” along with festive decorations.
The Australian Jewish Association initially criticized the merchandise, calling for the product to be removed.
“K-MART STUFF-UP! Check out the special Christmas bag currently available via Kmart online. Yes, it’s real!!” the group wrote on X.
“Although this is potentially funny (the AJA committee has tossed around some non-PC jokes) it’s really not a good look. We suspect some product manager may cause the company some embarrassment. So, we’ve politely written to Westfarmers corporate suggesting the product be pulled,” they added.
A spokesperson for Kmart later apologized for the bag in a statement to Politico.
“We got it wrong on this occasion and we apologize unreservedly,” the company representative said. “When designing this product we clearly didn’t think through all the implications and the product has been removed from sale.”
From Fox News:
In a later interview with The West Australian, AJA President David Adler applauded the retailer for removing the bag. "It's not normal times. There are people that will distort things and will harass the Jewish community," he said. "Of course, there are bigger issues to be addressed; dealing with the actual terrorism is important, but one of the other things we are dealing with is propaganda."
