Two unapologetically pro-Israel billboards will try to catch your eye along Highway 101 over the next month.
“Call me a Zionist. It only makes me prouder,” declares one billboard along the highway near Cal Poly Humboldt in Arcata.
The billboard features an American flag and an Israeli flag in the background. A dark-haired young woman with a prominent Star of David necklace is depicted alongside the message.
“It’s about pride. Having Jewish pride,” said Tamar Krigel, 52, an Israeli-born resident of Arcata who helped design the billboards.
Humboldt County, which has one listed synagogue and a Chabad center, has faced anti-Israel activism, particularly over the past year. At Cal Poly Humboldt (formerly Humboldt State) last spring, anti-Israel protesters supporting “intifada” clashed with riot police, occupied buildings and sent the campus into lockdown.
The pro-Israel billboard is one of two coming to Northern California this month. The second one is set to go up on Feb. 10 — also along Highway 101 but 300 miles farther south near the Marsh Road exit in Redwood City in San Mateo County. It will display the message, “America and Israel: Fighting Terrorism Together.” The billboard will show images of an Israeli female soldier and an American male soldier, both in uniform.
The two billboards are the continuation of a grassroots ad campaign started by David Porush of San Mateo.
Porush initially worked with JewBelong to crowdfund enough money last year to replace a provocative anti-Israel billboard along Highway 101 in San Carlos. That billboard read, “Stopping genocide is not anti-semitic.”
The crowdfunding campaign brought in $41,500, enough to pay for one month of billboard advertising at that location in late 2024, Porush told J.
To Porush’s delight, the JewBelong billboard stayed up an extra month for free, displaying the message: “Let’s be clear: Hezbollah and Hamas are your problem too.”
Porush considered the JewBelong billboard a win.
“I think the success was the symbolism of it. It wasn’t just the message. It was the fact that — wow — there’s a pro-Israeli voice being shown in such a prominent place,” Porush said.
When the billboard was removed in late December, it was replaced by an anti-Israel billboard paid for by the Unity Lab, which describes itself on its website as a “mass-media campaign for Gaza.”
“Israel is committing genocide in Gaza,” the billboard stated in quotes, citing Amnesty International as the source. Underneath the words, the billboard featured the image of a child holding a doll.
“Seeing the word ‘genocide’ on a billboard quoting Amnesty International has kind of gut-wrenching and nauseating effects on us, on the Jewish community,” Porush told J. on Monday.
Last year’s JewBelong campaign had roughly $19,500 left over, enough for Porush to pay for additional billboards.
To exercise more creative control over the next round of billboards, Porush launched his own organization called Code Blue and White, and JewBelong agreed to transfer the funds. (Code Blue and White’s nonprofit status is still pending with the Internal Revenue Service.)
Krigel of Arcata contacted Porush about the possibility of bringing a pro-Israel billboard to Humboldt County, following the intensely disruptive spring 2024 anti-Israel protests at the university that sent classes online and required the university to change its graduation plans. In September 2024 during another anti-Israel demonstration on campus, campus protesters chanted into megaphones, “Judaism, yes. Zionism, no.” Currently, pro-Palestinian activists are also seeking to establish a sister city relationship between Arcata and Gaza City.
Krigel said she became emotional when Porush agreed to work with her to fund a billboard for Arcata.
“There were tears on my cheeks — tears of joy and pain at the same time,” she said, noting that she’s had a hard time finding pro-Israel advocates in her city.
Together with Porush, they crafted the message: “Call me a Zionist. It only makes me prouder.”
“I cannot think of something better that represents what I feel,” Krigel said. “I think it will boost so much pride of the Jewish people here.” She also hopes it will spark curiosity among people who aren’t fully set in their understanding or opinion of Zionism.
Code Blue and White worked with the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Antisemitism Research in crafting the language for the Redwood City billboard.
“We survey Americans on messaging about antisemitism to determine the best messages to use to deter antisemitism and gain more allies for the Jewish community,” Marc Levine, director of ADL’s Central Pacific Region, told J.
However the billboard’s imagery, featuring American and Israeli soldiers, came from Porush, who described it as “patriotic.”
Porush said he is awaiting nonprofit status for Code Blue and White to begin tax-deductible fundraising and hopes to install more billboards in the future.