New York – The editor of Ami Magazine acknowledged today that the front page of this week’s issue depicting the White House draped in Nazi flags with Nazi storm troopers marching in front “may have been a poor choice.”
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“The swastika is the present day symbol of Nazism and we did it to make a journalistic statement about the spread of neo-Nazism,” explained Rabbi Yitzchak Frankfurter, the magazine’s publisher and editor-in-chief. “The White House was used as a symbol of the U.S. and not to suggest anything about the present administration or its occupants.”
The magazine, which is not affiliated with any organization, is published each Wednesday in New York and Israel. It is aimed at the cross spectrum of Orthodox Jews ranging from the modern Orthodox to the heredi or fervently Orthodox.
Although this week’s cover generated some complaints “I would not call it a storm,” Rabbi Frankfurter said.
a apology must always be accepted However in a recent issue of ami magazine Rabbi Shafrin posted a nazi propganda picture in a editorial about advocates who are working on behalf of abused children. i hope rabbi shafrin apoligizes as well for that picture
I think that an even worse choice of headline in this weeks Ami magazine was comparing this GESTETNER to Rush Limbaugh. it was childish, out of class and tasteless. clearly a paid article.
Vus tit men nisht far attention
I think Ami should send Ezra Friedlandeer as a messenger to President Obama to apoligise to President Obama–this cover story was in very poor choice!
This US is the land of kindness and accepted Jews and all denominatios after the worst of tragedies. The freedom of religion and speech (that allows you to print such drivel) is a basis of this country. To slap it in the face with such disrespect is inappropiate in the least and after having mad the mistake in the past of buying AMI I shall never do so again.
Ami strikes me as an English mouthpiece for Satmar and it’s ideology. They regularly feature Satmar in their headlines and have a weekly Satmar “Hashkafah” column by the principle of Satmar’s girl school.
I think it should be blatantly obvious that no self respecting Jew should be using Nazi imagery at all. Period. There has to be ways to make a point, and dramatic one if necessary without using Nazi imagery. (Unless it’s a book about the Holocaust etc).
a magazune that claims to be honest but has a hidden agenda in every article. covers for every rebbe (under claim of respect to rabonim) to gain some readers
Even now they don’t get it!
Its not only about an apology to the current administration, the nazi swastika is not something that should be used altogether, Or at a minimum!
Not to mention most readers have it lying around on couches, shabbos tables,all shabbos, its tasteless and despicable…
It just doesn’t feel right to say the least to have a magazine who articles are a mix of news, hashkufeh etc. to have such a disgusting portrait display on its cover…
On to my next point…the magazine will print childish or cheap write ups such as this weeks rush limbuagh’s comparison very often, please give us a break! This yungerman is probably a teierer yungerman and following a carrier he chose, but ami being a stand up magazine to many stand up families should choose carefully whether it wants to be taken serious or take on the roll of a tabloid…
john luftos conspiracy articles. give me a break! a childish magazine.
I was so ashamed with the Ami this week and also scared that my Non Jewish employees should see this cover, that I put it face down on the magazine rack.
I find this photo published by Rabbi Frankfurter as disgusting and vile as the scene in Israel where the zealots also used uniforms for their own agenda.
poor choice of cover, apology or not.
As a store owner I personally can tell you this story. An elderly lady walked into my store, and she starting screaming in Hungarian half Yiddish, till I realized what she’s talking about,she was all teary eyed and told me if I don’t take the Ami off the shelf she’ll never walk in my store again! Etc. She was so right such a symbol on a cover is worse than the a Tzelem on cover. BY THE WAY I’m really considering taking it off the shelf for good, even though I sell some 70 copies a week. SHAME!!
If Rabbi Frankurter is sorry why is the picture still on there website?
My husband bought the magazine as a Shabbos treat for me to read but I never got a chance to open it before Shabbos & read it. Now I see the cover I’m shocked. It’s absolutely inappropriate, notwithstanding I am a Tea Party member & a staunch conservative. However, I WILL read it because I compile statistics on bias crimes for preparation of Homeland Security applications and there may be information I can use for my clients.
Ami should print a very clear & prominent retraction & apology next week. If not, they will lose many readers, with good cause. No matter my feelings toward President Obama & his policies, this is way beyond the pale. Don’t they have an Editorial Board? Don’t they THINK?? I’m sure there are many people like the lady described in comment #18 who are cowering in fear & are very distressed after seeing that cover.
PS Thanks, VIN, for alerting us to bias attacks. The number & ferocity in 2011 were pretty bad, but I fear 2012 will be worse.
This is far beyond the pale! I never subscribed to Ami and now I’m confident I made the right choice. How could anyone publish something so utterly tasteless, offensive, misleading, and downright untrue? On the front cover, no less! And with all due respect to the publisher, the obviously half-hearted apologies are hardly sufficient.
Displaying the nazi paraphernalia on the cover is as abhorring (if not worse) as that charade in Mea Shearim two weeks ago. All it accomplished is drag down the reputation of AMI magazine to that of Star or the Enquirer. (If they still exist.).
for some reason it doesnt look as a yiddish magazine to begin with. This weeks article how many people beleive praying helps.and even the ami for kids is kinda not suitable for kids. If u check out the article of shear success by eli katz also really not appropriate for kids. A article who could kill more jews.
Wouldn’t we, as well as the AMI staff, be horrified if the NAACP magazine showed a picture of the White House draped in the Israeli flag? Yet this is MUCH worse!
I also buy Ami. On several occasions, I wrote a letter to the editor for some of their reporting/opinion articles which were very unfair and biased. Not even an acknowledgement of its receipt, nothing.
I do believe that Ami, if not the mouthpiece of Satmar and Brisk, is a close to being that. For those groups, there is nothing but reverence. If you read and believe Ami, the only reason there is Judaism in the US today is because of Satmar. Also, they pay lip service to other groups by superficially covering them; yet the coverage is so superficial it is utterly meaningless.
I would not be posting this had Ami allowed for a free and open exchange of ideas, even those critical to its magazines. I feel that this magazines likes to “dance at all the chasunahs” but really is only dancing to Satmar’s tune.
Also, their kids magazine is questionable at best, and their ladies issues are filled with medical scares and depressing stories.
Maybe this incident will cause them to shape up. Their wanton use of Nazi symbols is similar to the flippant use by their good friends in Satmar and the NK. Very disappointing, indeed.
I hope they come out with a full page apology
This is appalling and disgusting. I will no longer allow this magazine into my home, and I will be sure to discuss this issue with neighbors. An apology should not have the words “may have been a poor choice.” This isn’t owning up to the problem.
ESPECIALLY considering the sensitivity with this imagery at the moment in EY, this was beyond a poor editorial decision and shows a total lack of responsibility and maturity. Free speech is a responsibility.
And after hearing this publisher on the Zev Brenner show, I’m concerned about the broader impact this editorial is having on the frum community.
Satmar magazine or not! Editor is a Satmar graduate whether you like it or not!
i stopped buying the ami magazine after there 5th edition its of a very poor journelistic quality,,, its a agenda motivated publication ,,
It is essential that we open a book on the holocaust every here and there and see the world for what was done to the world.
Reply to everyone. Where do you all get the heter to post out right lashon hora!?? If someone appologizes for something they did , you either can except, or not. No where does it say that if your upset at someone you gave a right to say whatever comes to your head about the person. For all you out there worrying about how OTHER people should act, worry about how you yourself are going to ask mechilla from everyone out there that read your lashon hora.
Next time before you comment on an article, THINK is this something important to post or you just sound like some bored fellow out there!!
I used to buy the AMI occasionaly, and it was always apparent how the editors try to push their own agenda down their readership’s collective throat. After seeing the distasteful cover this week (including the ridiculous comparison of that Gestetner guy to Limbaugh), I’m happy to say that I won’t (bl”n) be buying it again.
“The editor of Ami Magazine acknowledged today that the front page of this week’s issue depicting the White House draped in Nazi flags with Nazi storm troopers marching in front ‘may have been a poor choice’.”
Yeah, um… you think?!?! [:-P
And who here believes this wasn’t ALSO a thinly veiled reference to our President & his Administration as well, despite their insistence that’s not true?!
Gee, I somehow seriously doubt AMI would have EVER put a cover on their magazine like that back in the Bush Years! Please!
I’m actually in agreement w\AMI magazine that anti-semitism is most definitely on the rise in all major countries! Of course it is! There’s no denying that!
But to use our White House as the backdrop to make that point is disgusting! How dare they?!
They want to compare our gov’t to Nazi Germany?!?!
Yes, because Barack Obama is responsible for the death of more than 6 million Jews too, didn’t you all know?! So of course the thinly veiled references make sense & are justified!
Ugh… I feel sick to my stomach. When will this craziness end?! Something like this just completely delegitimizes all of the REAL anti-semitism going on in the world!
THIS is a wake up call for Ami & its editors. Get rid of your arrogance and bias.
Sherry, the truth is, anti-semitism IS on the rise & in a great part it is in direct correlation to government “policies” & the mood of the country. True, Bernie Madoff & his ilk definitely played a part, like it or not, but essentially Obama’s obvious anti-Israel & SEEMINGLY anti-Jewish attitudes plays a very large part. Like I said, I compile the data & I definitely see a pattern. FBI expert I’m not (LOL) but the pattern is there.
When Jews (or any minority group) feel “safe” under the government’s “protection”, there are fewer attacks. So use your common sense, be open-minded, & compare President Bush’s POLICIES towards Israel, which most equate to JEWS, with those of the current administration.. There was never a need for this kind of article, inflammatory or not, under his watch.
#21
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No matter what Ami was trying do depict with this article, to display Nazi symbols on the White House is totally irresponsible and blatantly inappropriate. By displaying this ugly symbol on the White House which bacically represents the US, it is very easily assumable that Ami is saying that the US is antisemitic, and one may also assume that Ami is referring to the residence of the White House as well.
The US has been a safe haven for the Jewish people for ages and is the best friend that Israel can ever have. To disparage this country and its President as anti-semitic even in a remote fashion is totally unwise untrue and inappropriate. Again, if it may be misconstrude with whatever Ami is trying to depict in its article, such as the theme of anti-semitism in the US. And yes, they didnt mean to do this as Ami has said
Secondly there are too many holocaust survivors to whom displaying this symbol will always be very painful to look at. Therefore no Jewish periodicle should ever display this symbol in any article, it belongs in history books only.
No appology can rectify the consequences this cover page may have caused! It’s to proof that most articles in most of the previous issues always had inappropriate things mentioned. But this was the makka bepatish. Why? Because this affected every human with a right mind! But, why when previous issues conveyed such wrong messages, mamesh hair rising and exagerated belonies, why wasn’t there any cry out then? Again, when there are wrong intentions to begin with, it just gets worse and worse, till even a blind person can see it!
It was senseless to print such a cover!! Too much of my family perished in the Shoah and the reminders are very painful. To print like this is a disgrace to the Jewish community at large!!