A Holocaust-era yellow Star of David has been removed from an Australian online auction.
eBay.com.au, the Australian arm of the global auction Web site, removed the cloth patch emblazoned with the word “Jude” this week following inquiries by the Australian Jewish News.
An eBay spokesman told the newspaper that the company’s policy prohibited people from profiting from such items and that the site had a mechanism to report inappropriate items.
“From time to time things may not get picked up, so that’s why we have a ‘Report this item’ link on every page – so the eBay community can help,” the spokesman told the newspaper. “It’s like a neighborhood watch system.”
More than 100 million items are listed on eBay and the company has about 2,000 staff monitoring it.
In May 2001, eBay altered its policy to ban Nazi memorabilia as well as memorabilia of other hate groups, including the Ku Klux Klan.
