[Peace-discuss] 'Israeli War Crimes' signs to go on Metro buses

[Robert Naiman]

This seems to me like $1,794 well spent...

Israeli War Crimes' signs to go on Metro buses
http://www.king5.com/news/local/Israeli-War-Crimes-signs-to-go-on-Metro-buses-112108154.html
[Picture of the sign on a bus at link]

Related:
King County councilman calls for review of proposed bus signs
http://www.king5.com/news/local/King-Co-calls-for-review-of-Israeli-War-Crimes-bus-signs-112200884.html

Metro considers changing policy over anti-Israeli bus ads
http://www.king5.com/home/Metro-bus-ad-policy-possibe-change--112288674.html

by ALLEN SCHAUFFLER / KING 5 News
Posted on December 17, 2010 at 6:19 PM
Updated yesterday at 7:25 PM

Related:
King County councilman calls for review of proposed bus signs
Metro considers changing policy over anti-Israeli bus ads
SEATTLE – "Israeli War Crimes," the enormous advertisement reads.
"Your tax dollars at work."

To the right of the image is a group of children -- one little boy
stares out at the viewer, the others gawk at a demolished building,
all rebar and crumbled concrete.

It's an ad you'll be seeing soon on a handful of Metro buses in
downtown Seattle.

A group calling itself the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign has paid
King County $1,794 so that 12 buses will carry that message around
town, starting two days after Christmas. That's December 27: the
two-year anniversary of Israeli attacks on Gaza, aimed at stopping
rocket attacks and weapons smuggling.

Ed Mast, a Seattle man who is a spokesperson for the group, says it’s
not meant to be an anti-Israel message, but a message designed to
generate discussion and awareness.

"I wouldn't say it's an anti-Israel message any more than any
complaint about a country is anti-that country. We would like Israel
to stop violating human rights. We would like Israel to give equal
rights to its Palestinian citizens and its Palestinian subjects who
live under occupation," said Mast.

At the Pacific Northwest office of the Anti-Defamation League, the ad
campaign is seen quite a bit differently.

"We're dismayed," says Community Director Hilary Bernstein, who calls
the bus-born advertisement grotesquely one-sided. "Citizens young and
old will be seeing this sort of propaganda, this very one-sided
distortion. It's unfortunate."

So, is the side of a public bus the right place for this kind of
attack? Are the issues that regularly inflame one of the most
flammable hot-spots in the world appropriate fare for people strolling
the sidewalks of Seattle?

As far as King County is concerned, it's not really up to them what
appears on the side of their buses, as long as it fits specific
guidelines regarding:
Pornography
Alcohol
Tobacco, and
As long as the images and material used don't interfere with public
safety or insult specific groups to the point that a riot could be
incited, vandalism could occur or public safety could be threatened.
King County Metro Transit spokesperson Linda Thielke acknowledges some
people will be offended by the campaign, but that is not enough to
prevent the rolling billboards from hitting the streets.

"As a government, we are mindful of the provisions in state and
federal constitutions to protect freedom of speech. So, we can't
object these campaigns simply because they offend some people," said
Thielke.

The Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign has targeted their advertising
so that the buses carrying their message will run mostly on Seattle
routes.

-- 
Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org