While the families of the abductees struggle with great pain to return their loved ones from captivity, there are those who try to take advantage of their struggle to get rich at the expense of their real plight.
After the uproar over the sale of CDs "Our heart is captured in Gaza" in Rami Levy branches, and the harsh criticism directed at him, now the Chinese shopping giant SHEIN is trying to catch a ride on the victims of the war by offering for sale, without hesitation or shame, a copy of the CDs with the same inscription in 19 shekels.
As I recall, the disks with the inscription "Our heart is captive in Gaza", were used and marketed by the families of the abductees to increase awareness of the issue of the abductees and to generate income for the benefit of the struggle for their return.
On the other hand, the discs sold on the Shine website have no connection to the headquarters of the kidnapped families, and any income obtained by selling them will go into the pockets of the Chinese network.
It should be emphasized that the official CDs can be purchased on the website of the Kidnapped Headquarters for NIS 30 and recently also at Fox stores and Terminal X.
The CD sold on the Chinese website, regardless of the headquarters of the families of the abductees, photo: from SHEIN
A cynical and ugly exploitation of adversity in an attempt to make a financial turn
Dr. Yoav Estreicher, from Mitar, who advises the Kidnapped Headquarters on intellectual property matters, told Israel Hayom: "The distribution of the disc is done through the official channels of the Kidnapped Headquarters.
It is about the collection of funds that go to the goals that the headquarters is meant to serve, which of course is the release of the kidnapped.
In cases where a similar chain is sold, it is a cynical and ugly exploitation of distress in an attempt to make a financial turn on it.
People take an item that is protected by intellectual property rights and use it to make a spin.
It's no different than buying a fake Adidas shirt or Nike shoes.
In my opinion, it is more serious for Israelis, even though in both cases it is a violation of the law."
Dr. Estreicher adds further: "The reason is that this is money that should serve and promote important goals, and most of the people, if not all, stand behind these goals.
In cases where similar discs are sold on any websites, consumers don't know where this money goes."
A rally for the abductees in Safra Square in Jerusalem, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
According to him, "It can equally go where we don't want. No one has guaranteed us that Hamas or Hezbollah are not the ones using it to raise money from Israelis. I'm not saying it's happening, but it's an issue that needs to be thought about. People pay with the understanding and thought that the money goes to the sacred goal of freeing hostages, and in practice it goes to bad places and does not serve the purpose. There were also all kinds of local initiatives that sold imitations of these discs. We at the headquarters of the hostages formulate a policy and work to eradicate the phenomenon."
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