Israel Dubs Swine Flu “Mexican Flu”
7:40 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Religion| israel| language| mexico
28 Apr 2009
There has been one reported case of the swine flu in Israel so far, but Israeli officials aren’t calling it that. Ultra-orthodox Deputy Health Minister Yakov Litzman says that calling the disease by its name is “religiously sensitive”:
“We will call it Mexican flu. We won’t call it swine flu,” said Mr Litzman, who belongs to the ultra-religious United Torah Judaism party.Pigs are considered unclean under Jewish dietary laws. Muslims also do not eat pork for similar reasons.
That’s all well and good, but calling it Mexican is no good either. The BBC reports that scientists in Israel are concerned that the term will “stigmatize Mexico”.
Via / BBC News
Hola!
VivirLatino is a daily publication published by 2 Mujeres Media, dedicated to featuring all the latest politics, culture, entertainment of interest to the diverse and influential Latino and Latina community in the U.S.
About | Advertise with us | Contact | Twitter
- AmeRICAN: http://www.abc.es/20091111/internacional-iberoamerica/regimen-castro-anuncia-despido-20091111.html [...]
- AmeRICAN: Calle 13 is a bad luck charm brought on Puerto Rico ex-Boxing Champion Miguel Cotto a BEATING by Pac [...]
- AmeRICAN: Venezuela, and its Bolivarian Revolution and Puerto Rico connection: MIAMI HERALD Sun, Nov. 15, 2 [...]
- Maegan La Mala: I don't think so [...]
- Maegan La Mala: I was thinking about this...how the two are connected [...]
- Pedro Julio Serrano on the Murder of Lopez Mercado
- Bay Area Community Members to Hold Vigil and Release Statement about Murders in Maryland and Puerto Rico
- Transgender Day of Remembrance and Latin@s
- Dear Troll(s):
- Puerto Rican, Latino Clergy, Theology Professors, Community Members To Condemn Brutal Hate Killing of Gay Puerto Rican Man
- Vigils for Justice y en Memoria de Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado
- Russell Athletic rehires fired union organizers
- When Things Go Wrong…Terribly Wrong.
- Official VivirLatino Statement on Lou Dobbs Leaving CNN
- Sexual Violence Against Women in Immigrant Detention
VivirLatino RSS Feed
- Pedro Julio Serrano on the Murder of Lopez Mercado
- Bay Area Community Members to Hold Vigil and Release Statement about Murders in Maryland and Puerto Rico
- Transgender Day of Remembrance and Latin@s
- Dear Troll(s):
- Puerto Rican, Latino Clergy, Theology Professors, Community Members To Condemn Brutal Hate Killing of Gay Puerto Rican Man
- Vigils for Justice y en Memoria de Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado
- Russell Athletic rehires fired union organizers
- When Things Go Wrong…Terribly Wrong.
- Official VivirLatino Statement on Lou Dobbs Leaving CNN
- Sexual Violence Against Women in Immigrant Detention
4 Responses to Israel Dubs Swine Flu “Mexican Flu”
pablo escobar
April 29th, 2009 at 11:02 am
when they do/say things like this, i realize more and more why i dont feel sorry for them about the holocaust. You know they feel that they are better than everyone else, and yet they wonder why israel and jews get terrorized…
SA
April 30th, 2009 at 7:19 am
“i realize more and more why i dont feel sorry for them about the holocaust. You know they feel that they are better than everyone else, and yet they wonder why israel and jews get terrorized…”
Pablo, that is very, very, wrong.
1. You’re suggesting that all Jews think they’re superior, just because some do.
2. You’re saying that this is a good enough reason to “not feel sorry for them about the holocaust”. Even IF all Jews thought themselves superior to non-Jews (and they don’t) I hardly think that makes killing millions of people ok.
3. You’re equating all Jews with Israel. Not all Jews live in Israel. Jews both within and outside Israel oppose manyn of the evil things that are done by the Israeli army and government.
4. You think it’s ok to terrorize Israelis and Jews outside Israel because of the immoral actions of the Israeli government.
5. You erase the fact that a lot of violence against Jews is NOT motivated by opposition to Isreal, but by bigotry which predates the foundation of that State by centuries if not millenia.
Maegan La Mala
April 30th, 2009 at 7:28 am
I was gonna delete Pablo’s comment because it’s anti-Semitic as I see it. No one should be “terrorized” because of their religion pero since you SA commented and raised some very good points I will leave it as a point of reference.
That said, Pablo, you have been warned that such comments are not acceptable and do it again and all comments by you will be deleted.
Katie
April 30th, 2009 at 8:59 am
Dude…that’s the POINT. Factory-farmed swine ARE unclean, and this flu proves it! How could calling it “swine flu” be BAD, if you have that mindset?