Advertisements about “Israeli war crimes” slated to be carried by buses in downtown Seattle have been rejected.
On Dec. 24, King County Executive Dow Constantine ordered the Metro Transit system to reject the ad as well as any other new noncommercial advertising.
The Seattle Midwest Awareness Campaign had paid $1,794 to place the advertisements on 12 buses beginning Dec. 27, the two-year anniversary of the day Israel launched Operation Cast Lead against Hamas in Gaza. The ads feature a group of children looking at a demolished building under the heading “Israeli war crimes: Your tax dollars at work.”
A group known as the American Freedom Defense Initiative had also submitted two advertisements to the Seattle transit company to counter the original ad.
Under the current policy, advertisements are accepted for Seattle buses so long as they do not publicize pornography, alcohol or tobacco, and so long as the images and material used don’t interfere with public safety or incite a riot. Constantine said Dec. 24 that the proposed ads presented “significant security concerns.”
The transit authority received more than 1,200 e-mails about the anti-Israel ad, most of them opposing it. Most of the comments came from outside the Seattle area, according to reports. — jta