The integrity vacuum of some corporations defies the imagination. At least my imagination: this story triggered my first cranial explosion of 2015. ( For an explanation of the KABOOM! category, go here.)

US-based HarperCollins Publishers is is a subsidiary of News Corp, whose executive chairman, media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, is a vocal supporter of Israel. But its British subsidiary, Collins Bartholomew, omitted Israel from the “Collins Primary Geography Atlas For The Middle East,” citing “local preferences.”

Local preferences!

The book, which has been out for seven months, was designed for English-speaking schools in the region. This could have been a burgeoning profit center for the publisher. Imagine: an Atlas for Southern schools in the US showing a thriving confederacy. A Mexican Atlas showing California, New Mexico, Nevada and Texas as still being Mexican territory! German Atlases showing the Third Reich ruling the world! The possibilities are endless. Give the customer what they want, and in the Middle East, they want Israel gone.

Apparently, unaware of the advent of the internet, Collins Bartholomew thought it could pull off this “It’s a Wonderful Life” version of the Middle East for Iranians without anyone noticing.  Wrong. HarperCollins UK has issued a statement  apologizing for the book, and says they will all be pulped.

This  a major, trusted, publisher. If they will do something like this, airbrushing not just history but a whole nation and culture out of existence to please bigoted clients, what won’t they do?

An apology isn’t nearly sufficient to address this outrage. The dismissal of everyone who allowed this to happen, from the sales force, to the executives to the proofreaders, would be a start.

I’d also like a new head, please.