[ale] OT: maybe, it is for Linux use

[Jeff Lightner]

Ummmm - there are many Arab Christians (though clearly they aren't the
majority even in Lebanon).   That is to say Fujitsu when dealing with
"Arabs" might not have wanted to dis Christians because they might be
dealing with some without knowing it. 

Obviously with Islamic fundamentalists killing EVERYONE who doesn't
agree with their perverted ideology (including other Muslims) Arab
Christians are having an issue so "Palestinian Christians" are leaving
places like Bethlehem.

Again I would suggest this had nothing to do with anti-Semitism and more
to do with recognition of target audiences.  Were I to do business with
Arab customers I doubt I'd go out of my way to push the existence of
Israel - I'd likely dodge the question altogether if possible.  I'm
wondering in what context Fujitsu would have been providing maps to
customers in the first place.

Interesting there is a "Subaru Israel" site that was hacked in 2006:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3268449,00.html

The fact your friend "bought Subarus" and there is a Subaru Israel seems
to suggest there is a "recognition" of Israel by that corporation.  I
imagine if they have maps of the middle east there they don't show
"Israel" as "Palestine".

The only Japanese company I boycott is NEC but has to do with the way
they boned me back when I had one of their 386 portables.  They only had
a 40 MB and 100 MB drive option both of which were proprietary so I
couldn't upgrade to a larger drive.  Even trying to go from 40 MB to 100
MB would have cost me $5000 when new laptops were selling in that price
range.

-----Original Message-----
From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of
To: ale at ale.org
Scott Castaline
Sent: Friday, July 13, 2007 4:55 PM
To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts
Subject: Re: [ale] OT: maybe, it is for Linux use

Brian Pitts wrote:
> Scott Castaline wrote:
>> Brian Pitts wrote:
>>> Scott Castaline wrote:
>>>> Fujitsu's marketing tends to be anti-semetic. They show a map that
shows 
>>>>    the middle east without Israel. The area of Isreal is shown as
part 
>>>> of surrounding Arab nations. When doing business with Arab nations
they 
>>>> will deny any recognition of Jews.
>>> http://www.fujitsu-siemens.com/countries/israel/index.html
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Ale mailing list
>>> Ale at ale.org
>>> http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
>>>
>> I had received info from someone I knew that is actually Arab and the

>> individual had shown me info that basically showed no recognition of 
>> Israel's existence. The area that is actually Israel was shown as 
>> Palestine and its borders much different than Israel's. This
individual 
>> was what they called an Israeli sympathizer in the Arab world, which 
>> eventually forced the individual to leave the area and move to
another 
>> country. The individual also indicated that when asked the people
from 
>> Fujitsu denied doing direct business with any "Jewish States". What
this 
>> link shows is probably from before Fujitsu's acquisition of Siemens.
> 
> I suppose someone could forward these messages to 
> Avi.BenYosef at fujitsu-siemens.com to get the inside scoop.
> 
> -Brian
> _______________________________________________
> Ale mailing list
> Ale at ale.org
> http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
> 
I can only say that the individual that showed me the info did come from

the area that we are talking about and was definitely Arab descent. They

also worked in the IT field, and that was how we had met, about 7 years 
ago. They indicated that this was about a year before we had met. I had 
also received an email from a rabbi shortley after that indicating a 
similar accusation, which also called for boycotting all companies owned

by Fujitsu which included Subaru, of which he owned 2 cars by Subaru 
prior to finding out about this.

I guess a lot can change in several years and it really surprised me 
when I saw this as I couldn't think of a reason that Japanese people 
would react this way. Both sources did however, indicate that Fujitsu 
did not have the same reaction to Christianity in the area and Arabs 
aren't too fond of Christians either. As far as they know that is the 
only global company from Japan that conducted business this way.
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