Israel’s satellite television provider drew censure for a commercial spoofing fervently Orthodox Jews.
The YES satellite service recently began airing an ad for its HDTV shows in which hundreds of male dancers dressed as yeshiva students storm into the streets and strut angrily to shouts of “Oy vey!” and “It’s Sodom and Gomorrah, it’s against the Torah!” The scene is set to the music of the Village People’s hit song “YMCA.”
After receiving complaints from religious viewers, Israel’s Second Broadcasting Authority, which deals with private television channels, asked YES to yank the ad.
“I have a problem when they cast the haredi sector as a violent and incited group,” Yossi Elituv, a member of the Second Broadcasting Authority’s board, told Ma’ariv. “If an ad like that were to be screened in Europe, we would immediately lodge a complaint.”
YES said it would review the matter.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
