Feminist Magazine Rejects Ad Featuring Israeli Women
Jewish leaders are reeling after what they say was a decision by Ms. magazine to refuse to accept a full-page advertisement featuring three prominent Israeli women. The advertisement, submitted to the feminist publication by the American Jewish Congress, featured photographs of three women who hold leadership positions in Israel, including the president of the Israeli Supreme Court, Dorit Beinisch; Israel's foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, and speaker of the Knesset, Dalia Itzik. Underneath the photographs, the advertisement included the text, "This is Israel."
Officials from the American Jewish Congress said they were shocked by the magazine's decision, which they said amounted to anti-Israel sentiment.
"For a magazine that I believe has stood for empowerment and supporting women in high positions of society, it was just stunning," the group's president, Richard Gordon, said. "Clearly, there is an anti-Israel sentiment here that is being exhibited, because there is no other possible rationale for making a decision like this."
The magazine's executive editor, Kathy Spillar, offered a different reason in an interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. She said that because two of the women photographed belong to the same political party, the advertisement showed favoritism. She added that an upcoming issue would feature a two-page profile of Ms. Livni. Officials at the American Jewish Congress said they conceived of the advertisement this past fall, when a member of its board suggested the group publicize the accomplishments of the three women. They first contacted the magazine in October about placing the advertisement, and they were working on its final details in mid-November when the magazine decided against running it. The advertisement was supposed to run inside the magazine and would have cost $3,800.
The director of the American Jewish Congress' Commission for Women's Empowerment, Harriet Kurlander, said a representative from the magazine told her the advertisement was too controversial and was likely to "cause a lot of opposition."
"If we print the ad, it will create a firestorm," Ms. Kurlander recalled being told. A lifelong advocate of women's rights, she called the magazine's decision hurtful. "I'm shocked," she said. "I'm not throwing accusations; I'm not calling names. All I'm saying is, I can't come to any other conclusion given the facts," she added. "If there's another conclusion to be drawn, I'd like to hear it."
As news of the incident was publicized, Jewish leaders condemned the magazine's actions.
"On its face, it's a very troubling story," the associate national director of the Anti-Defamation League, Kenneth Jacobson, said. "Here's a magazine devoted both to free expression and to women's rights, and an ad is submitted to it which represents free expressions and women's rights… and the response to it, apparently, is that it's too controversial."
The longtime editor in chief of the Jewish feminist magazine Lilith, Susan Weidman Schneider, said, "I suspect it will stir up a fair bit of negative responses from its natural constituency of feminist women."
She declined to speculate on why the magazine turned down the advertisement, but observed, "It seems useful for a women's magazine to spotlight not only an analysis of what is yet to be done, but some of the important roles that women play in Israel."
She added that she would "be happy" to run the advertisement in Lilith.
