A new advertisement highly critical of Israel is now running on Muni buses in San Francisco and surrounding areas. The ad depicts what is presumably an elderly Palestinian woman sitting on a pile of urban rubble, with a caption reading “Israel’s War Crimes: Your Tax Dollars at Work.”
The ad, which previously ran on public buses in Seattle and Portland, is sponsored by StopFundingApartheid.org and NoTaxDollarsToIsrael.org.
The latter organization is registered to Paul Larudee, a Bay Area–based anti-Israel activist who in 2008 met with and was honored by Hamas leaders in Gaza, according to NGO Monitor, a pro-Israel watchdog organization based in Israel.
The S.F.-based Jewish Community Relations Council has condemned the ad, calling it “deeply offensive” in a statement.
“The inflammatory message of these ads presents a flagrant misrepresentation of Israel, which is a democracy,” the statement said. “These ads do nothing to address the serious issues in the Middle East. Instead of allowing ads to fan flames, we should support efforts for a negotiated two-state solution that will end the conflict and see Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in peace, security and prosperity.”
A spokesman for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency couldn’t say how long the new ad will run, but typical ad buy times are one month.
This is the latest in a flurry of back-and-forth bus ad campaigns, some attacking Israel, others attacking radical Islam, both coming under heavy criticism. Spokespeople for the SFMTA have repeatedly said the agency cannot impede the First Amendment rights of those who run ads. — dan pine