Ads urging a boycott of Israel are being displayed on four San Francisco Muni buses through the month of August.
The ads, which read, “Boycott Israel Until Palestinians Have Equal Rights,” are sponsored by the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign. The organization has run the same ad on buses in Portland, Washington, D.C., Denver and Chicago and previously 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 headed by controversial right-wing activist Pamela Geller ran on buses in 2012 and 2013 in cities including New York and Chicago, urging viewers to “support the civilized man” and “defeat jihad.” And 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. His group is concerned about pending legislation in California that seeks to divert government contracts from groups that boycott Israel.
Muni has so far 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. In February, a Chicago billboard company removed an ad by the group after one day in response to complaints.