The Weather Channel set off pro-Israel and pro-Palestine allies alike with its handling of an ad featuring a woman in a keffiyeh.
The ad, which showed a woman wearing a keffiyeh as a scarf, drew backlash from some pro-Israel supporters. The Weather Channel responded to the backlash by taking down the ad, which resulted in outrage amongst many pro-Palestine allies.
Before becoming a political symbol of Palestinians’ aspirations, keffiyehs—traditional Arab headdresses—were worn by many Jews in the region as well. The change in perception was largely spurred by former Palestinian National Authority President Yasser Arafat’s frequent wearing of one, according to the National Library of Israel.
Now, the keffiyeh is closely associated with pro-Palestinian movements and has been frequently spotted at pro-Palestine protests across the world in the wake of Israel’s war in Gaza, which was sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.
“Why is the @weatherchannel sharing ads featuring a keffiyeh, a symbol now associated with violence against Jews post 10/7?” asked the account Stop Antisemitism.
“Absolutely unacceptable. Do better, Weather Channel,” echoed someone else.
The controversy caught the attention of hedge fund mogul Bill Ackman, who said the owner of the Weather Channel told him “that this is an ad for the Weather Channel App which is owned by the Weather Company (a different company) which is owned by Francisco Partners.”
In the wake of Stop Antisemitism’s post, the Weather Channel issued an apology and stated they were removing the ad.
“The Weather Company and its consumer brand, The Weather Channel, are widely recognized for our integrity and the trust we have with the public,” the company wrote. “We deeply apologize to anyone we offended through the inadvertent selection of an image in our recent ad campaign. We certainly don’t support or condone any form of antisemitism. We immediately removed the ad upon recognizing our mistake.”
The company added in a second post: “It is also worth noting that The Weather Channel TV network is owned by Byron Allen, Founder/Chairman/CEO of Allen Media Group, and has no association with this advertising campaign.”
But the Weather Channel’s actions to address the controversy only fueled further outrage—this time from the pro-Palestine crowd.
“Oh my god. This is the Weather Channel’s response to realizing they’ve run an ad with a woman in a keffiyeh. Sickening,” wrote one critic, adding in a later post that it’s calling “a keffiyeh a symbol of hatred towards Jews, which is fully and entirely a false smear.”
“This is disgusting, it’s so RACIST it makes me want to cry. A sliver of a hatta/keffiyeh and the weather channel issues an apology for OFFENDING people,” another person, whose bio states she is Palestinian, wrote. She also added: “BOYCOTT @weatherchannel.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong except for this apology lmao,” said another person.
“Wearing a keffiyeh is not antisemitic,” countered one commenter.
“i’ve never deleted an app faster!” boasted someone else.
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