Complaints by Arabs that Jerusalem is not part of Israel prompted Monopoly manufacturer Hasbro to remove the designation of the country. An online poll from Hasbro, offering people the opportunity to choose which cities in the world will be on the new version of the game, has put Jerusalem in fourth place.
All of the cities were listed with their countries' names until Arabs complained about Israel. A Hasbro official explained that the company had no intention of including the names of the countries in the final version and used them for the time being only as "points of reference." However, Israel was the only designated country to be removed from the "points of reference" list until the issue came to the attention of Hasbro executives. Company spokesman Wayne Charness said the decision to remove Israel, and not other countries, was made by a mid-level employee following a wave of complaints from Arabs.
Pro-Israel groups have encouraged people to vote for Jerusalem in order to help Jews around the world relate to Israel, but others have objected that the capital should not be treated as a property that can be bought or sold. Other people have begun to vote for Sderot as one of the cities to be put on the board.