Reebok backtracks on Israel Independence Day-inspired sneaker (Updated)
![Israeli Independence Day commemorative sneaker. (Photo: Reebok/Facebook)](http://web.archive.org./web/20160510184015im_/http://mondoweiss.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/reebok-e1462818489265-300x164.png)
This week Palestinians will memorialize the starting point of their plight as a stateless people, observing the Nakba, literally “the catastrophe” in Arabic. The day is a commemoration of the demolition of more than 500 villages during the 1948-war, and the fleeing and expulsion of at least 700,000 people. This year the athletic retailer Reebok has designed a special commemorative sneaker for Israel and its 68th independence celebrated on May 12, 2016, coinciding with the Palestinian Nakba. Typically Israeli streets are lined with flags of the Jewish-state in the weeks before the celebration. The Reebok shoe follows the motif. It is blue and white and says “Israel 68” on the sole.