USA: A pro-Palestinian group launches a New York City transit ad campaign critical of Israel and of the U.S. for its support of the Jewish state

Record ID: 397720

  • Title: USA: A pro-Palestinian group launches a New York City transit ad campaign critical of Israel and of the U.S. for its support of the Jewish state
  • Date: 26th March 2013
  • Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (MARCH 26, 2013) (REUTERS) METRO-NORTH RAILROAD COMMUTER TRAINS AT THE HARLEM-125TH STATION VARIOUS OF ANTI-ISRAEL ADVERTISEMENT (SOUNDBITE) (English) HATEM BAZIAN, CO-FOUNDER, THE AMERICAN MUSLIMS FOR PALESTINE, SAYING: "When the president goes and visits Israel just this past week, and to speak as if he's a neutral party to the con
  • Embargoed: 10th April 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA28G5IRFO2A0Q9MUG7AOHUA1OA
  • Story Text: American Muslims for Palestine unveiled an anti-Israel advertisement in New York on Tuesday (March 26) that will appear in various stations along the Metropolitan Transit Authority's Metro-North Railroad lines.
    The ad's claim "Americans Give Israel $3 billion per year," and urge readers to, "end apartheid now," by stopping U.S. aid to Israel.
    The group's co-founder said the unveiling was timely, saying U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Israel counteracts the peace process between the two regions.
    "When the president goes and visits Israel just this past week, and to speak as if he's a neutral party to the conflict, while he's essentially funding it from our own tax money, we wanted to highlight this and to actually say that our current policy has been a failure," Hatem Bazian told Reuters.
    "Essentially, we have become a sort of cheerleading squad for Israeli policies, continued expansion, continued building of settlement, confiscation of Palestinian land, and also telecast strategies that the Israelis have been pursuing in the region, so that's where the timing of this campaign and the rationale for it at this particular time."
    The organization held a press conference under the Harlem-125th Street stop to officially launch the campaign.
    "This campaign is a critical step toward piercing the muzzle and lifting the blinders of the racist Israeli narrative," said attorney and activist Lamis Deek.
    "It is a critical step toward reclaiming our constitutional rights from the fangs of Israeli apartheid and we are all the more hopeful that it will empower our friends, our neighbors, fellow New Yorkers to call for an end to our government support for Israeli apartheid, military occupation and the ethnic cleansing of Palestine."
    Commuters on the northbound platform responded to the ads.
    "I don't know what impact it might have as far as policy goes," said commuter Milette Gaifman, an associate professor at Yale University.
    "I am certainly for peace. I am from Israel originally."
    Connecticut resident Adam Ellyson found the ad to be thought-provoking.
    "There's both sides of every story, so I mean, they have a right to say whatever they want, so their view, their side is valid, just like the other side," said Ellyson.
    "I don't really know why we give Israel $3 billion dollars a year in aid. That's a good question," he added.
    American Muslims for Palestine is a grassroots organization, who hope to expand their message to other cities in the country, including San Francisco, Chicago and Washington, D.C.
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