Kmart removes Christmas ham bag after uproar from Jewish community

A Kmart Christmas ham bag that has unintentionally plastered a pun that reads similar to the terrorist group Hamas has been pulled from shelves following uproar from the Jewish community.

Outline outrage has emerged after a bag used for leftover Christmas ham became the center of debate by the Australian Jewish Association.

It comes as the group criticises Hamas for its horrific string of attacks in Israel on October 7 — the catalyst for a gruesome war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

After an online campaign by the Australian Jewish Association gained online traction, a bag that read “MERRY HAM-MAS” was removed from shelves.

“K-MART STUFF-UP” the initial post by the association said as they claimed the slogan echoed similarities to the terrorist group, Hamas.

“Check out the special Christmas bag currently available via K-Mart online. Yes, it’s real!!”

Although the post acknowledged a Christmas-themed attempt at a pun by the bag’s designer, the post continued to vouch for the product to be pulled.

“Although this is potentially funny (the AJA committee has tossed around some non-PC jokes) it’s really not a good look.”

“We suspect some product manager may cause the company some embarassment. So we’ve politely written to Wesfarmers corporate suggesting the product be pulled.”

Just over an hour later the association made a follow-up post confirming the bag had been removed after they were contacted by Kmart “senior management”.

Speaking with The West Australian president of the Australian Jewish Association Dr David Adler doubled down on the decision despite the association knowing the bag’s graphic was not intentionally acknowledging Hamas.

“It’s not normal times, there are people that will distort things and will harass the Jewish community,” Dr Adler said.

“Of course, there are bigger issues to be addressed, dealing with the actual terrorism is important, but one of the other things we are dealing with is propaganda.”