Scholastic World's Biggest Children's Book Publisher 'Wipes Out' Israel from Map

The world's biggest publisher of children's books has apologised after it released a school book which did not feature Israel in a picture of a map of the world.

Scholastic Inc has stopped shipping the school book Thea Stilton and the Blue Scarab Hunt following complaints a map inside the book appeared to have "wiped out" the Jewish state from a map.

The book is part of the popular Geronimo Stilton and sees a tells the story of a group of investigative journalists hunting for treasure in Egypt.

Inside features a map of Egypt and its surrounding countries. But instead of where Isreal would usually be situated, it is instead marked as neighbouring Jordan.

The mistake was spotted by Adina Golombek, a Jerusalem resident who emigrated to Israel from Canada last year, while she was reading the book with her seven-year-old son.

"I wanted to show my son where we lived in the Middle East, but it didn't say Israel on the map; instead it said Jordan," Golombek told The Times of Israel. "I showed him the problem and drew in the border of where Israel is today."

The Jewish Press adds: "For those who wonder whether the story takes place prior to the rebirth of the Jewish state, such recent countries as Jordan (came into existence in 1946), Saudi Arabia (1932), and Libya (1951) are clearly labelled."

Scolastic, who are based in the US and publishes the hugely popular Harry Potter and Hunger Games series, have now apologised for their mistake.

The company said on their website: "Scholastic is immediately stopping shipment on this title, revising the map, and going back to reprint. We regret the omission which was in the original version of the book published in Italy and was translated by our company for English language distribution."

A recent study carried out by Israeli and Palestinian researchers found that 96% of Palestinian school textbooks did not mention Israel by name in any of their maps. Furthermore, 87% of Israeli school textbooks did not recognise the Palestine terrorise by name.