Jewish Currents, which advertises itself as a “magazine committed to the rich tradition of thought, activism, and culture of the Jewish left,” and which proudly declares on its website that it was “launched… within the orbit of the American Communist Party” raised eyebrows on Twitter Thursday when they apologized to their readers.
The reason for their apology? Their website inadvertently ran an ad for a free trip to Israel.
According to The Atlantic’s Yair Rosenberg, the ad in question was for a fellowship at the Dorot Foundation, a ten month training program in Israel for American Jews. The foundation is known for supporting progressive causes, and describes itself on its website as an organization that “supports progressive social change.”
The organization’s statement did not appear to give any further reason that the ad was not in line with the company’s guidelines, implying that the ad was offensive for the sole reason that it was contrary to the Boycott, Sanctions, and Divestment movement.
The New York Post’s Jonathan Levine posted a screenshot of the ad on Twitter.
Jewish Currents completed the self-flagellation by retweeting several of their editors who condemned the magazine for having run the ad.
Editor-in-Chief Arielle Angel said, “Had that ad been better properly it would not have gone out.”
In response to a follow-up question from a reader, Angel said that the only reason the ad went out is because the site had previously operated under “informal guidelines” that were monitored by a single person, who was sick with COVID.
The account also retweeted Senior Staff Reporter Alex Kane, who tweeted, “That ad was a mistake.”