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

[C. G. Estabrook]

It wouldn't cost so much in C-U, and it would be no problem to get the money 
together....

On 12/22/10 8:51 AM, Robert Naiman wrote:
> 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.
>