Ads urging a boycott of Israel are being displayed on four San Francisco Muni buses through the month of August.
The ads that read “Boycott Israel Until Palestinians Have Equal Rights” are sponsored by the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign. — which has run the same ad on buses in Portland, Washington, D.C., Denver and Chicago, and also bought ad space on San Francisco buses last year.
Groups that both support and condemn Israel have used city buses in recent years to send political messages. A pro-Israel ad by the American Freedom Defense Initiative ran on buses in 2012 and 2013 in cities including New York and Chicago, urging viewers to “support the civilized man” and “defeat jihad.” A 2013 ad supported by American Muslims for Palestine proclaimed, “End Apartheid Now!”
The Muni ad was scheduled to run on four San Francisco buses for four weeks, according to SeaMAC board member Edward Mast. He said his group is concerned about pending legislation in California that seeks to divert government contracts from companies that boycott Israel.
That legislation passed the state Assembly and last week was approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee. If passed by the full Senate, it would go to Gov. Jerry Brown for his signature. New York and Illinois have passed anti-BDS laws.
Muni has accepted both pro- and anti-Israel ads on its buses. SeaMAC is in a legal battle with King County, Washington, for refusing to run an ad in 2010 on its buses. — j. staff