Creepy Anti-semitism Creeping into Mainstream Publications

The Washington Jewish Week has a story about a problematic ad that appeared, for another time, in the Washington Times.

Washington Times again prints anti-Israel ad

The vice president and general manager of The Washington Times says he will review how an advertisement describing Israel as "an official anti-Christianity nation" was printed in the newspaper last week.

After being read portions of the ad text over the phone on Friday, Richard Amberg Jr. said that language from the March 28 advertisement "gets real close to the line" of violating the paper's advertising policy, which does not allow ads that are false or that denigrate religions.

...The controversial full-page advertisement, which was also printed in the Times on March 8 (a similar one appeared at least one other time in December), comes more than two years after Amberg wrote a letter to the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington apologizing for the printing of an advertisement that stated that "Israel and her Zionists are not a friend to Christianity, Christians or Christ!"

...The 2005 ad was signed by Stan Rittenhouse. A Vienna-based group called The Exhorters, Inc., placed December's and last month's ads. An Anti-Defamation League publication on far-right extremism says The Exhorters was founded by Rittenhouse. The Northern Virginia resident, according to the ADL, is a longtime anti-Semitic propagandist who has promoted Holocaust denial. His book, For Fear of the Jews, "spells out the anti-Christian forces that are rising up in power ... in our land. Out of Zionism will come the greatest force of anti-Christianity this Age will ever experience."

...The advertisements also call Israel a country "which lacks religious freedom" and claims that "Israel's goal since 1948 has been to wipe Palestine off the map."

...In recent months, the paper's top editorial leaders - particularly managing editor Frances Coombs - have been accused of fostering a racist and sexist atmosphere, both in an October article in The Nation magazine quoting current and former Times staffers and in a lengthy posting on the Huffington Post blog by former Times reporter George Archibald.

(Kippah tip: Wonkette)