A UK branch of Ikea, which garnered attention for covering up Hebrew lettering on a welcome sign, has clarified that the motive behind this action was a misprinting issue, rather than any form

of antisemitism.

A Jewish customer of Ikea noticed last week that the word 'shalom' had been obscured from the store's welcome sign, which featured greetings in various languages. This led to concerns about potential bias among staff or customers.

The welcome sign at the flat-pack furniture giant's outlet in Greenwich, southeast London, displayed greetings in languages like English, Hindi, and Chinese, but Hebrew was conspicuously absent. A piece of black tape had been placed over the Hebrew greeting, sparking worry about prejudiced intentions.

A statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, questioned the removal of 'shalom' for Jewish visitors at Ikea Greenwich in London. This prompted various users to respond with claims of "disgraceful antisemitism" and disappointment in the company.

However, an Ikea spokesperson has now explained that the true reason for the concealment was a printing error. The Hebrew script had been mistakenly printed in reverse order. Instead of reading ’שלום’ (shalom), the letters formed the nonsensical word ‘םולש'.

The spokesperson stated, "When we had put up the sign, there was a mistake, we hadn’t realised unfortunately because of our [lack of proficiency in] Hebrew. We were made aware and took the decision this needed to be corrected. The decision was taken to cover [‘shalom’] up because it shouldn’t be incorrect. We then printed a correct version."

The 'shalom' greeting has since been restored to the sign with the accurate script. Photo by Nigel Cox, Wikimedia commons.