A bomb squad was summoned to check out a box with Arabic lettering. It was full of cookies.

(Image credit: iStock)

published 23 September 2016

A 911 call this week summoned a bomb squad to a gas station in Marshalls Creek, Pennsylvania, after a customer discovered an unattended box marked with Arabic lettering. Three police cars and the Hazardous Devices and Explosives Unit were dispatched to the scene, and a nearby daycare closed early as a precaution.

Upon investigation, it turned out the box contained exactly what its English description said: cookies. Specifically, ma'amoul, a type of stuffed shortbread cookie delicately flavored with rosewater or orange blossoms and filled with dates or walnuts. The cookies are popular across Mideast cultures and religions, a favorite holiday treat among Christians, Jews, and Muslims alike.

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.