Israeli company puts Mahatma Gandhi's image on beer bottles, slammed

Twitter/Twitter/Ayur Vineet

An Israeli company found itself in controversy by putting Mahatma Gandhi's image on its liquor bottles to commemorate Israel's 71st Independence Day on Wednesday. The beer set featured the five historical figures on various types of beer, which also included a cartoon image of Mahatma Gandhi in funky shades and a tie-dye shirt.

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However, the brewery was forced to apologise after the Indian embassy officials were made aware of the bottle's production. Rajya Sabha members expressed concern over the picture of the Mahatma Gandhi on liquor bottles of the Israeli company on Tuesday. Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu directed S Jaishankar, External Affairs minister to look into the matter and take immediate appropriate action. "Malka Beer offers its heartfelt apologies to the people and the Government of India for hurting their sentiments," the Brand Manager of the company, Gilad Dror said in a statement. "We highly respect and value Mahatma Gandhi and regret our action of putting his image on our bottles," he added.

The manufacturers "intention had in fact been to honour Mahatma Gandhi", who was the only non-Israeli face on the limited edition beer bottles that included three former prime ministers - Golda Meir, David Ben-Gurion and Menachem Begin. Theodor Herzl, the father of Zionism was the fifth prominent figure featuring on the limited edition bottles.

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