A Weather Channel in New York City showing a woman wearing a scarf associated with the pro-Palestinian movement has sparked outrage on both sides of the debate.
The ad, promoting the app The Weather Channel, was spotted in a subway station and shows a smiling woman wearing a keffiyeh, a traditional headdress in parts of the Middle East.
The image sparked anger online after watchdog organization Stop Antisemitism asked X on Wednesday why the network presented the scarf, calling it “a symbol now associated with violence against Jews” following the October 7 attacks.
Social media users were quick to criticize The Weather Channel for its choice of images.
A Weather Channel ad found in a New York City subway station sparked outrage from those on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian debate
The a keffiyeh is a traditional headdress in parts of the Middle East.
‘Absolutely unacceptable. Do better, Weather Channel,” someone wrote on X.
‘Horrible. “Imagine the person in the ad wearing a swastika,” another added.
“I’m now deleting my @weatherchannel app,” wrote yet another.
The Weather Channel apologized a day after Stop Antisemitism’s post.
“We deeply apologize to anyone we offended by the inadvertent selection of an image in our recent ad campaign,” the network said in a statement answer to the post.
The Weather Channel apologized for the ad, saying it “does not support or condone any form of anti-Semitism.” The advertisement has now been removed
‘We certainly do not support or tolerate any form of anti-Semitism. Once we realized our mistake, we immediately removed the ad.”
The network’s response galvanized those on the other side of the debate, with some noting that the keffiyeh has been worn in the Middle East for years.
“Wait…so keffiyehs are now considered anti-Semitic?” wrote an X user.
“If you call wearing a scarf a ‘hate campaign’ you’re dumber than I thought,” another added.
Pro-Israel supporters were outraged by the ad, calling it “disgusting,” while pro-Palestinian supporters were angry that the network had to “apologize” for a scarf that has been worn for “decades.”
‘Why be [you] apologize for a scarf [people] been wearing for decades?’ a third wrote.
Before the war broke out, keffiyehs were largely traditional Arab headdresses worn in the region, including by Jews, according to the National Library of Israel.
Since October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked festival-goers at the Nova music festival, the scarf has been associated with the Palestinian movement.