Israel-Haters Rage Over Marks and Spencer Christmas Ad Outtake

The British retailer had shared an image from its Christmas clothing and home advert on Instagram depicting red, silver and green paper hats tossed into a burning fireplace.

It was accompanied with the caption: "This Christmas, do what you love... like saying no to paper hats" with the hashtag #LoveThismasNotThatmas - the supermarket's slogan for this festive season.

It appeared to be encouraging people to focus on enjoying themselves rather than to conform to festive traditions they actually don't like - the theme of its Christmas advert.

However, some social media users suggested the hats' colours reflected those of the Palestinian flag amid the escalating Israel-Hamas war in the Middle East.

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M&S deleted the Instagram post, posting a statement on X (formerly Twitter) saying: "Today we shared an outtake image from our Christmas clothing and home advert, which was recorded in August.

"It showed traditional, festive coloured red, green and silver Christmas paper party hats in a fire grate.

"While the intent was to playfully show that some people just don't enjoy wearing paper Christmas hats over the festive season, we have removed the post following feedback and we apologise for any unintentional hurt caused."

You can see more of some of the reactions here, many of which think Marks and Spencer knew exactly what they were doing. This is reinforced in the eyes (literally) of some by this current post of theirs:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by M&S (@marksandspencer)

I don't think this was intentional - those colors are pretty common (to other Middle Eastern flags like Jordan's, in a nod to their common origins) and the haters even see Palestine in melons (get your minds out of the gutter).

But what is really telling for me is how the same haters are so outraged over an imagined palestinian flag being depicted in a fire, yet not when Jewish civilians are actually burned in one (including babies).