In keeping with its commitment to educate the public and to counter anti-Israel messages, StandWithUs is launching an ad campaign in Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) stations January 17 and running for a month. The ad’s theme is “Say Yes to Peace,” and the ad will direct viewers to a new Web site, www.SayYestoPeace.org. The StandWithUs ad will counter an anti-Israel ad, which calls for ending U.S. aid to Israel, now on display in three BART stations. It will be displayed at the same locations as the anti-Israel ad -- Berkeley, Oakland-12th street and SF-Civic Center -- as well as three additional locations: Embarcadero, Balboa and McArthur.
“The anti-Israel ad confuses and deceives the public. It declares it represents the side of ‘peace and justice’ and shows happy pictures of an Israeli father and a Palestinian father with their little sons. These images and words appeal to all people of good will. But the real message is that Israel is the obstacle to peace and that the U.S. should stop all financial assistance to Israel. The ad tries to hide the real obstacles—Hamas, Palestinian terrorism, and decades of anti-Israel, anti-Jewish hate education. We cannot let this message, with its deceptive, velvet-gloved rhetoric, influence unsuspecting commuters who may not know the facts. Our ads will provide the needed facts,” explained Roz Rothstein, StandWithUs CEO.
At the top of the StandWithUs ad, the rage-filled eyes of a terrorist stare through the slits of a Palestinian/Hamas mask. Along with the accompanying plea to “Stop Palestinian Terrorism,” this image conveys the message that Palestinian leaders must stop the hate training that breeds terrorists whose destructive world view and violence harm both Israeli and Palestinian children as well as hopes for peace. In stark contrast, the words at the center of the ad, “Teach Peace,” appear with a photo that represents what the future could be and what Hamas terrorists are trying to destroy. In this portion of the ad, Palestinian and Israeli children are shown on a green field, laughing and playing soccer together at an annual Palestinian-Israeli children’s soccer game. The ad’s message is that all people of good will should urge the Palestinians to begin teaching peace to their children.
Israeli and Palestinian children playing soccer.
The ad also directs viewers to the new Web site www.sayyestopeace.org, which explains the real impediments to peace. “Many people don’t know—and the sponsors of the anti-Israel ad don’t want them to know—that Hamas is the Palestinian leadership in Gaza, and is funded by Iran. They don’t know that Hamas’ founding document calls for the murder of Jews, the ‘obliteration’ of Israel, and its replacement with an Islamist theocracy. They also don’t know that Hamas has launched over 8,000 rockets at Israeli towns and farms in the last five years and that Israel’s military must protect its citizens from terrorism and deter dictatorial regimes like Iran from fulfilling their goal of ‘wiping Israel off the map.’ Nor do they know that the Palestinians have refused to continue direct negotiations and Israel has repeatedly attempted to find a road to peaceful coexistence. This Web site will give them this critical background,” added Rothstein.
The sponsors of the anti-Israel ads also deceive the public about who they are, according to StandWithUs. “Sabeel, the Palestinian Liberation Theology Center, and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) are not interested in helping Palestinians build a state that would live in peace alongside Israel, nor do they urge Palestinians to return to negotiations. If they were pro-Palestinian and pro-peace, that is what they would be doing. Instead, they themselves are impediments to peace, and their false ads try to get Americans to support their destructive views,” said StandWithUs San Francisco spokesman Mike Harris, M.D.
StandWithUs swiftly responded to previous anti-Israel ad campaigns. In 2007 and 2009, when anti-Israel groups rented billboards in Albuquerque and Houston, StandWithUs set up counter ads with the same message, “Teach peace, not hate.” And in December, StandWithUs allied with other pro-Israel groups and successfully persuaded Seattle’s Metro Transit to reject proposed ads with inflammatory anti-Israel accusations.
“We are irrevocably committed to our motto, ‘Never Again.’ We will not stand by silently while lies and half-truths are used to provoke hatred for the Jewish state and its supporters and to undermine peace efforts. We want to see Palestinians and Israelis living peacefully side by side, and we will continue our educational work so that others support the kinds of policies that can make this hope a reality,” said Harris.
Filed under Education, Israel, Arab - Israeli Relations, Palestinian, StandWithUs, SayYesToPeace - Israel's Peace Offer on Thursday, January 06, 2011 by Author: Admin.