Not a moment too soon, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pulled the plug on one of most pathetically inept marketing campaigns since New Coke or the Edsel.  The ads, according to JTA’s Uriel Heilman, were produced by Israel’s Ministry of Immigrant Absorption, and attempt “to convey the message that the children and families of Israeli expats will not have Israeli identities if they stay in the Diaspora.”  The ads went so far as to actively discourage Israelis from marrying Diaspora Jews.

Yes, it is good that Netanyahu put the kibosh on this ad campaign, which has been properly denounced by the Jewish Federations of North America as “insulting” and the Anti-Defamation League as “demeaning.”  But it is sad that the ad campaign, which consists of billboards and three videos running on YouTube and satellite TV channels, circulated for more than two months before it occurred to Israeli leaders that it was deeply offensive and should never have been approved in the first place.

Jeffrey Goldberg, who has reported extensively on Israel and the Middle East for The Atlantic, posted a blog titled “Netanyahu Government Suggests Israelis Avoid Marrying American Jews.”  Goldberg rightly labeled the ads a “demonstration of Israeli contempt for American Jews.”  

In one ad, described by JTA’s Heilman, the young daughter of Israeli expats sits with her parents while video chatting with her grandparents in Israel, who have a lighted menorah in the background.   When the grandparents ask her what holiday it is, she says, “Christmas!”  The tagline says, “They (the grandparents) will always be Israeli. Their kids won’t.”

The ads would be comical and worthy of being aired on an Israeli version of “Saturday Night Live” if they were not so insulting and inaccurate. The campaign reflects a woeful and destructive ignorance of the reality of Diaspora Jewry, both in creating and nurturing Judaism on our own and in our potent support of Israel. The idea that a “mixed” Israeli-Diaspora couple would raise a child who could not tell Christmas from Hanukkah is utter nonsense.

For decades, Jews in North America have created and perpetuated communities and organizations dedicated to ensuring Jewish identity and life. We’ve established Jewish day schools serving all streams of Judaism, have thriving classes in the study of Torah, Tanakh and the Talmud, and university-level courses in Jewish history, culture, Yiddish language and Near Eastern Studies. We’ve taken care of those in need through federations, family and children programs and synagogues.

The ads also disregard the vastness of North American Jewish leadership in building appreciation and loyalty (Birthright Israel), political organizations to sway world support (AIPAC) and benevolence for major institutions (Technion, Hadassah Hospital), to name a few.  

What this episode illustrates is the need for a far better understanding and appreciation of Diaspora Jewry by Israeli leadership.  Often, when Israelis visit the Jewish community of St. Louis, they express astonishment at the variety of Jewish organizations, schools and state-of-the art facilities, along with our synagogues and temples which serve our community. Israel needs to do a much better and more coordinated job of building understanding through missions and other means of effective communications.

Without the support of the American Jewish community, the State of Israel would not have its strongest and most effective ally. The United States has stood by Israel and generously supported the Jewish State with its dollars and frequent visits and by serving as Israel’s passionate advocate before the Congress and the White House on a consistent basis since the very establishment of the state.

Michael Oren, Israel’s very capable ambassador to the United States, said, “The Ministry of Immigrant Absorption’s campaign clearly did not take into account American Jewish sensibilities, and we regret any offense it caused.” He added that the campaign was conducted “without the knowledge or approval of the Prime Minister’s Office or the Israeli Embassy in Washington,” and that “the prime minister deeply values the American Jewish community and is committed to deepening ties between it and the State of Israel.”

Oren and Netanyahu, who have spent much of their own lives in the U.S., certainly know better than to approve such a pathetic and destructive ad campaign, and it is good that it has been canceled. But this should not be the end of the story.  The Jewish Agency for Israel and the JFNA, along with other major organizations in both countries, should use this unfortunate incident as a wake-up call to step up efforts toward mutually respectful and accurate interactions between the Israeli and Diaspora communities. And the sooner the better.