: In the wake of the campaign by pro-Arab lobbies to have anti-Israel posters placed at 18 New York City subway stations this month, Americans for a Safe Israel (AFSI) is calling on Americans to stand united with Israel and take action.
In an e-mail that was recently circulated, the group wrote, “It doesn’t matter whether or not you believe that Israel no longer needs U.S. aid. The hate engendered by such an ad campaign focuses on Israel as the aggressor and occupier, without mention of U.S. aid to terrorist countries and the United Nations. Targeting Israel is anti-Semitic, anti-Israel, immoral, and indecent.”
AFSI is calling on people to write a letter to NYC officials which may read as follows:
“I have just learned of the anti-Israel ad campaign that has been launched in 18 NYC subway stations by twopeoplesonefuture.org. I am contacting you to express my strong disapproval with this ad campaign. The campaign is supported by the anti-Israel lobby, whose agenda is not peace but the destruction of the State of Israel. Second, it unfairly penalizes Israel for defending itself. New York City should not allow these types of ads to be run in our Transit System.”
The ads on the subways are part of a nationwide campaign supporting the Palestinian Authority and urging a halt to American military aid to Israel. The ads include pictures of cleanly scrubbed Arab and Jewish children as well as depictions of armed Israeli soldiers detaining Arab terror suspects.
The campaign includes a picture depicting an IDF soldier in a negative light, apparently threatening three Arab women with his rifle, and is accompanied by the headline, “Israel Putting Your Tax Dollars to Work.”
The national campaign has sparked controversy over the definition of political advertising and whether public companies should accept such advertising. The Supreme Court, in a previous ruling, decided that the political advertising is protected under the First Amendment guaranteeing freedom of speech.
Seattle nixed an anti-Israel billboard campaign earlier this year because it was deemed offensive. In December of last year, a controversial ad campaign on buses which claimed that Israel committed war crimes in Gaza, was canceled by Seattle’s King County Metro Transit following a huge backlash.
AFSI is urging Jewish Americans to contact CBS Outdoor, which is handling the ad placement, via e-mail at emmanuela.chanoine@cbsoutdoor.com, as well as Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who may be contacted through the city’s website:
http://www.nyc.gov/portal/site/nycgov/menuitem.bd08ee7c7c1ffec87c4b36d501c789a0/index.jsp?doc_name=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nyc.gov%2Fhtml%2Fmail%2Fhtml%2Fmayor.html
Concerned individuals are also urged to call the MTA at 1-212-878-7000 and, in response to the prompts, press 1, 3, * and then either 2 for the press office and/or 4 for corporate affairs. MTA can also be contacted via e-mail by clicking here: http://mta-nyc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/mta_nyc.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php
Source: IsraelNationalNews.com
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