Nazi swastika adorns Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue

I can't believe the controversy on this one! Is everyone too stupid to recognise a WWII U.S. fighter plane (P-47?) with kill flags on the fuselage? Unbelieveable! Go back to school, re-take U.S. History, and move out of your Parent's basement and get a real life!

Come on, we use to celebrate beautiful women by adorning our planes with them. The Nazi flags that were painted on the cockpit noting kills in combat were and still are also something to be proud of too. Let?s not get so PC and revisionist with our history, otherwise, we are doomed to forget and repeat it!

Gosh!!! As soon as I saw those...gulp...swastikas...I fainted!! When I got back up on my feet I took another peek and I started sweating all over. I think I'll sue the magazine in question; say, for abour 5 million dollars? I can face photos of starving children, homeless and desparate Haitians but a...swastika??? No way! My day is ruined now...

My dad flew 50 missions in WWII. Got shot down, evaded with his crew until he got to Russian controlled territory, waited for another B-24 to come in all shot up, got it patched up then flew back to base. Obviously the writer has no idea what the Swatstikas mean on the airplane. Or even what the replica of the aircraft even represents. Maybe some reading of history is in order. OR maybe meeting a survivor of the death camps. Or go to Luxemburg and that area, there are portraits of Patton up with the Queen on the walls. What the allies did used to be appreciated. And there were a lot of countries under the umbrella of Allies, from partisans to armies, navies and air forces. And people at home making all the bombs dropped on the Reich.

You are aware that the symbols on this plane are kill symbols fro German Aircraft. Why would you find such a thing offensive or is it simply that some folk have both far too much time on their hands and far too little historical awareness?

evil on this planet. It should not be placed in an ad especially at a time like this. I think it is an insult to the memory of all those who died because that symbol took over sanity. This symbol is still used around the world representing evil and genocide. I think it is insensitive to use it and it is sad that more people don't understand it but how can they who didn't live thru it

The fact that the Nazis adopted it is unfortunate. Really we Jews must give up this paranoia about symbols. The add sign + when written in Israel has the bottom bit left off, because it is a cross, ridiculous. The Christian cross has a long bottom stroke. Not the short equal one in the add sign. Also it was common practice for Allied pilots to put the swastika on their planes to show how many they had shot down. Also this is fashion, it's part of art, and is above the silly paranoia that prompted this article. We MUST move on.

The swastika shown was the legitimate sign of the triumph of an American pilot over a German pilot. If you have a problem with it, that's YOUR problem.

This article is such a troll. The article belies the headline, and the cheesecake is the coup de gras. What better way to get Jews to look at naked busty babes legitimately than to dress it "up" with a swastika. It is sort of amusing in the same way "Springtime for Hitler" was amusing.

i thinks its funny that they that it was ok and im arab

Stop the infantile whining - a Swastika is simply offensive by its very presence - no matter what the context. In the mean time stop acting like an ostrich with its head in the hand and open your eyes to the atrocities being carried out by your arab friends.

Context folks, context! The swastika's are symbols of Nazi aircraft downed by the American fighter.

Who are the people fixated on Israel and Jews, and have to constantly proclaim that they are not antisemites but Mark of Lewiston, Natalie Duson, and a dozen others who seem to read and have a nasty interpretation of everything written in Israeli newspapers? Do you ever focus on Saudi Arabia, for example, where a teenage girl was flogged for talking on her cell phone, where a 12 year old woman is fighting her arranged marriage to an 80 year old man, or where a girl school was allowed by fire-fighters to burn because the girls inside didn't have the accepted female dress to be released in the street? Such things are far more abhorent, but because you don't get an opportunity to flog Israel/Jews you ignore them. What a slimy hyporite you are!

Come On I am as Jewish right of center and supportive on Israeli issues as one can be, but this is obviously not a conspiracy situation. This is how American planes were done in WWII I have better things to fight about protecting Israel than this. http://israelprotect.blogspot.com

Read the current Front Page Haaretz speculative article in De-Legitimization. Then read the other Front Page article about the Auschwitz Cat. Add this article. Then wonder why some don't take you seriously and add in that every time anybody anywhere in the world disagrees with any of your government policies, they are either branded an antisemite or a self-hating Jew OR BOTH. Israel is a legitimate country. But many times you are your own worst enemies. It is time for a 60 year old country to stop acting like a 13 year old girl with a pimple or a 16 year old boy with a need to impress a 15 year old girl.

;-)

nothing more than a scare tactic for the uninformed.

My father got to paint those on fighters in North Africa, Sicily and Italy during WWII. It's the one time Jews were proud to paint swastikas - it's a point of pride to see them on American aircraft as kill symbols.

I'll add to the consensus so far. I'm delighted to see the swasticka in this context. Dead Nazis, great!

What I have found in marketing is that if you make something cool people will follow it anywhere. I believe it is the marketing of modern times and colorization of certain packages. I think we need to make marketing on good side. WE can when this modern war. Why are good things being closed down. For instance we have a theme park where I live that is bankruptcy and being closed down. Kentucky Kingdom Six Flags. Kids come from miles around to see it and Jerry Abrahmson is trying to preserve it. The Louisville Ky mayor. We need to preserve good things. We need to create good things to counter act bad. We need to show more God acts of goodness than bad. Rankoo-Karoon

"The image of model Genevieve Morton leaning against an American warplane sporting WWII 'kill flags" - Haaretz Big Freaking Deal. Kill markings are now seen somehow as pro-Nazi? Take two tranquilizers and come back when your rational.

This is a total non-story.

It is obviously an inside joke for women. Could Refaeli explain it to me?

It must be a slow news day at Ha'Aretz for this to be "news".

all I saw was a sexy model in a bathing suit. Okay I did see the swastikas ....but so what they were being shown in the context of a USAF pilot's plane indicating the amount of German aircraft he shot down.

Nothing in this news story indicates that anyone is taking offense. They put similar kill flags on the planes that were flown in the South Pacific.

The kill flags represent the number of Nazi targets destroyed. And there were lots of 'em! Excellent work, vets!

but I'm not sure anybody is protesting it.

Those swatiskas represent downed Nazi aircraft -- they should gladden the heart of every Jew.

I don't get it. This is an American plane. The Americans fought the Nazis. The flags are "kill flags" which celebrate the killing of Nazis. It's not obvious to me what is offensive here. Is it that an image of a swastika would appear anywhere in public even in the context of celebrating Nazi destruction?