PRAGUE, Czech Republic, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- A Czech TV commercial has come under fire from Israelis and Jews for what they claim is a blatant anti-Semitic message, Ha'aretz reported Sunday.
Mountfield, a company marketing home and garden products, created the commercial, which features images of a customer wishing to buy a saw for less than its listed price. When the vendor refuses, the customer dresses up as an Orthodox Jew and bargains with the vendor until he gets an 80 percent discount. At the end of the scene, the customer leaves mumbling to himself "80 percent off ... that's not such a big deal."
The Israeli ambassador in the Czech Republic, Arthur Avnon, and the curator of the Jewish Museum in Prague, Leo Pavlat, demanded that Mountfield pull the ad.
A company spokesman responded, saying: "at the request of Israel's ambassador, the ad will not be broadcast as of Monday this week."
However, the spokesman refused to apologize, saying the ad was intended to describe the "positive aspects" of a skillful Jewish merchant "to show customers how to best take advantage of company reductions."
