Radical Muslims have conjured up one more reason to rage against America - the Fifth Avenue Apple Store.
A message posted Tuesday on the extremist Al-Hesbah Web site ripped Apple for erecting a glass cube - "clearly meant to provoke Muslims" - outside its new outlet on the corner of West 58th Street.
The posting - translated into English by the Middle East Media Research Institute - called the cube "a blatant insult to Muslims" for its supposed likeness to the Kaaba, a cubic masonry structure situated in the center of the world's most sacred mosque in Mecca.
Yigal Carmon, head of Memri.org, said that Al-Hesbah is one of the "five major Islamist Web sites in the world." It often carries videos of al Qaeda heavies such as Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri.
"These are extremist groups," said Carmon, "but they are serious. It is not a marginal site."
The Memri translation elicited instant outrage in the blogosphere.
"You Muslim a- - - - - -s did not invent the cube nor do you maintain an exclusive monopoly on its use," said one blog posting.
Representatives at Apple tried to downplay the controversy.
"We regret that the comments of these independent bloggers have offended anyone," said Apple spokesman Steve Dowling. "The entrance is not an attempt to resemble the Kaaba."
