Israel: Let's Call It "Mexican Flu" Because "Swine" Is Religiously Offensive

Israel wants to rename swine flu to "Mexican flu" because pork is offensive to Jews and Muslims.

Deputy Health Minister Yakov Litzman said the reference to pigs is offensive to both religions and "we should call this Mexican flu and not swine flu," he told a news conference Monday at a hospital in central Israel. Both Judaism and Islam consider pigs unclean and forbid the eating of pork products. Scientists are unsure where the new swine flu virus originally emerged, though it was identified first in the United States. They say there is nothing about the virus that makes it "Mexican" and worry such a label would be stigmatizing.

So if anything, it should be the "American flu." But I guess Israel would rather dis Mexicans.