Jewish Currents magazine issued an apology on Thursday for running an advertisement for the Dorot Fellowship, a ten-month leadership training program in Israel for American Jews.
The magazine published an apology saying that the ad was accepted “without proper vetting” and that it would return the money it had been paid to run it.
“This ad is not in line with our values as an organization dedicated to reporting on and opposing Israeli human rights abuses,” the note said.”We apologize for this error, and for undermining our readers’ trust.”
Jewish Currents Editor-in-Chief Arielle Angel issued her own apology on Twitter, promising to formalize the publication’s ad guidelines.
Had that ad been vetted properly it would not have gone out. We sincerely apologize and we are committed to publishing our advertising guidelines in the near future. https://t.co/YjYdLG6rNn
— Arielle Angel (@ArielleLAngel) December 23, 2021
It is not surprising that Jewish Currents would choose not to promote such a program that advocates for Israel as its content reflects the politics of the Jewish left-wing. Its editorial positions include opposing the rights of Jews to live in Judea and Samaria or to pray at Jewish holy sites. It supports the racist Boycott Divestment Sanctions movement and the “right of return” for Arabs to ethnically cleanse Israel.
When it was launched in 1972 by Joy Ungerleider-Myerson, the Dorot Foundation focused primarily on supporting archaeological research, libraries, museums, and scholarship related to Judaism but since her death in 1994, the organization, and most particularly its fellowship program, has become decidedly political in nature.
The Dorot Fellowship published in its Statement of Inclusion its support for the LGBT community as well as the “Palestinian right to self-determination.” Participants are only permitted to attend other programs that are “situated geographically within the Sovereign State of Israel” (i.e. not in Judea, Samaria, or the Golan). Its website notes that the fellowship it is operated in conjunction with the left-wing anti-Israel J Street and The New Israel Fund, both of which receive funding from Soros.
The Dorot Foundation also supports Bend the Arc, a progressive Jewish political organization. Though BTA does not deal with Israel-related issues, it is interesting to note that Alex Soros, the son of George Soros, was a board director on Bend the Arc’s first political action committee, which he personally funded. Several of the heads of the organization have close working relationships with Soros and his left-wing superfund, the Open Society Foundation.
Though it is strange that the left-wing magazine would distance itself from the left-wing Dorot Fellowship, the move seems positively bizarre when it becomes clear that they are both funded by Soros organizations. Jewish Currents lists in its financials the Open Society Foundation as one of its donors.
It should also be noted that The Dorot Foundation has recently expanded its fellowship programs to include a Dorot Law Fellowship at the legal policy organization Alliance for Justice, a legal policy coalition composed of over 100 organizations. The group is best known for the Judicial Selection Project, which seeks to promote left-wing and Democratic-appointed judges while defeating conservative and Republican-appointed judges. Open Society Foundation also funds Alliance for Justice but in addition, Soros organizations have invested heavily in campaigns of prosecutors around the country.
