JERUSALEM -- An ad campaign against Jewish assimilation that was co-sponsored by the Israeli government has been yanked after outraging Jews abroad.
The newspaper ads and a video clip were intended to strengthen Diaspora Jews' ties to Israel.
Instead, the campaign imploded in a storm of criticism from religious leaders, bloggers and editorial writers who saw it as an affront to children of mixed marriages between Jews and non-Jews.
Assimilation, or loss of Jewish identity in a Western culture, is one of the most explosive issues in the Jewish world, and the campaign hammered the message that assimilated Jews are lost.
Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky issued a statement Wednesday confirming that he ordered the offending ads pulled.
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