Saudi Shuts Down Photo of Plane Attacking Canada Icon Amid Spat

(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic spat with Canada prompted a tweet that touched a raw nerve in the kingdom: a photomontage of an Air Canada plane heading toward the iconic CN Tower in Toronto.

The Saudi Ministry of Media ordered the Twitter account of the Infographic KSA youth group that posted the photo shut down, apparently unamused by its invocation of the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center in New York. The photo’s English-language caption read: “Sticking one’s nose where it doesn’t belong! As the Arabic saying goes: He who intervenes with what doesn’t concern him finds what doesn’t please him.”

The photo was posted after tensions between Saudi Arabia and Canada erupted this week over the the Trudeau government’s call to release jailed Saudi women’s rights activists. Saudi Arabia, enraged by what it said was meddling in its internal affairs, asked the Canadian ambassador to Riyadh to leave the country within 24 hours and recalled its envoy to Ottawa. It also suspended new trade dealings with Canada.

The Media Ministry said it ordered the Twitter account shut down pending an investigation after receiving a complaint about the post. Infographic tweeted an apology before its account went dark.

“Earlier we posted an image that was inappropriate, so we deleted the post immediately,” it said. “The aircraft was intended to symbolize the return of the ambassador. We realize this was not clear and any other meaning was unintentional.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah Algethami in Riyadh at salgethami@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alaa Shahine at asalha@bloomberg.net, Amy Teibel, Mark Williams

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