Israeli company capitalises on Dubai killing with parody advert

Kazakhstan News.Net
Saturday 13th March, 2010

Under an advertising campaign with the slogan “Eliminate the prices”, a chain of supermarkets in Israel has parodied the recent assassination of a Hamas leader in Dubai.

In one of the adverts for the Almost Free Warehouse chain, a man and woman are shown walking through the store in similar outfits to those worn by individuals in the CCTV footage released by Dubai Police.

As they move through the store they are filmed through the shops security cameras, surreptitiously place items in their trolley.

Sefi Shaked, the group's advertising executive, dismissed accusations of bad taste, saying that they hoped to exploit the huge amount of media attention generated by the Dubai killing.

"It's a parody, a take-off of what happened in Dubai. All the Israeli television comedy shows have done it, so why shouldn't we?" he said.

Mahmud al-Mabhuh, a founder of the military wing of the Islamist Hamas movement which controls Gaza, was found dead in his hotel room in Dubai on January 20.

It is widely believed that the intelligence agency of Israel, Mossad, was behind the operation, which involved the forgery and use of passports from several countries around the world.

It was this part of the Dubai killing, as well as the amateurish way in which it was carried out, that generated a storm of media attention both in Israel and internationally.

The casual way in which the hit was carried out, with the assasins allowing themselves to be caught on security cameras, as well as the low-quality disguises they wore, suggest that, if Mossad was involved, they severely underestimated the capacity of the Dubai Police and the advanced infastructure of the city.

Israeli authorities have refused to confirm or deny the involvement of Mossad. (Photo from the AFP)

Have your say on this story