Yes, Virginia, we really do live in the future, where up is down, right is wrong, and we’re all bozos on this bus. As in the case of the following message, issued by the corporate office of Pizza Hut International (on the Pizza Hut Lebanon Facebook page):
“Pizza Hut International apologizes for any offense caused by a recent post on Pizza Hut Israel’s Facebook page. It was completely inappropriate and does not reflect the values of our brand. The local franchisee in the country removed it immediately and the relationship with the agency that posted it was terminated, and we truly regret any hurt this may have caused.”
By now the entire planet has snickered at the brave PLO leader Marwan Barghouti, destined to inherit PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to become the new Nelson Mandela (if not Mahatma Gandhi) of the “Palestinian people” — who couldn’t observe the hunger strike he himself had ordered and was caught by a security camera on the toilet in his Israeli prison cell, scarfing down cookies and candy.
The enterprising Israeli franchise of Pizza Hut decided to have a little more fun with this comic concept and issued a photoshopped version of the security camera image, showing Barghouti on the toilet scarfing down Pizza Hut slices, with an open delivery box on his desk showing only one slice has remained.
“Come on, Barghouti, if you’re already breaking the strike, won’t you rather have a pizza?” said the taunting slogan across the top of the image.
Taunting a prisoner on a hunger strike may not be your most refined form of humor, but considering the man in question is serving five life sentences for five murders, plus 40 years for attempted murder – he was indicted on 26 charges of murder and attempted murder on Israeli civilians and soldiers – what did you expect, Molière?
Needless to say, PA Arabs and Arabs everywhere did not find this amusing in the least, and immediately launched a boycott against the chain which, by the way, has a franchise inside the Palestinian Authority. Pizza Hut has thousands of stores in Muslim countries, being one of the popular American food products Muslims (and Jews) can scarf down without any religious objections (except during the day on Ramadan, and throughout Passover).
With that in mind, it’s easy to understand why Pizza Hut had to move so quickly to quash the humorous ad. Granted, we all lose our sense of humor when someone makes fun of our values, but come on, a hefty Arab terrorist sitting on the toilet munching on a Tortit bar – that’s gotta’ look hysterical even in Ramallah.
