Seven members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors sent a letter this week urging the city’s Municipal Transportation Agency to donate proceeds from a controversial bus advertisement to the city’s Human Rights Commission.
The ad, paid for by American Muslims for Palestine, labels Israel an “apartheid state” and uses imagery of a silhouetted soldier (presumed to be Israeli) sticking a rifle into the chest of a cowering child. According to reports, the ad is on 13 buses through June 6.
“The ads’ false rhetoric poses a very real danger to constructive discussion and debate, alienating and deeply offending members of our community, including the Jewish community,” the supervisors wrote in their May 20 letter. “These advertisements are counterproductive to peace in the region, and foster deep division and disharmony in our local community as well.”
The letter was coordinated in part by the S.F.-based Jewish Community Relations Council. Supervisors Scott Wiener, London Breed, Malia Cohen, Norman Yee, David Chiu, Mark Farrell and Katy Tang signed the letter.
According to SFGate.com, the ad is bringing in $5,030 to the MTA. Last year, the MTA donated proceeds from another controversial bus ad, deemed by some to be Islamophobic, to the HRC. SFGate.com quoted a Muni spokesman on May 21 as saying there were no plans “right now” to donate the money.
In a separate alert to the community, the JCRC urged people to write to the four supervisors who didn’t sign the letter (John Avalos, David Campos, Jane Kim and Eric Mar) and ask them to publicly condemn the ads.