Seattle – King County met privately with Jewish community leaders Wednesday afternoon over the scheduled posting of ads on Metro buses decrying “Israeli war crimes” against Palestinians, but the ads are still expected to be displayed starting Monday.
The ad shows children and a demolished building, with the caption, “Israeli war crimes, your tax dollars at work,” and was payed for by a group called the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign.
“When the U.S. government has supported, wholeheartedly, one side of this conflict and not really educated the American public on the circumstances of the other side, we feel that we as citizens — it becomes our responsibility to then inform the public,” said Carla Curio with the campaign.
Jewish organizations in King County said they believe the ads put local Jews at risk.
“We are now worried about security in all our institutions in Seattle, and this only inflames people,” said Richard Fruchter, CEO of the Seattle Jewish Federation. “I think that that’s not going to be good for Seattle. We’ve experienced acts of hate and violence in the past in our community, even in the recent past.”
Curio said she didn’t think that would be the case.
“I don’t believe these ads will lead to any sort of violence against Jews,” she said.
Metro is reviewing its advertising policy at the request of King County Executive Dow Constantine in light of the ad, and after the Los Angeles-based David Horowitz Freedom Center said it wanted to run a rebuttal ad that read, “Palestinian war crimes — your tax dollars at work.”
But a First Amendment lawyer who represents KIRO 7 and other media outlets said King County is constrained by the Constitution.
“To the extent that the buses are public forums, the county can’t simply say these are ads we don’t want because they are too controversial,” Bruce Johnson said.
A spokesperson with King County told KIRO 7 that Jewish organizations did not ask that the ads be pulled, but they made clear their concerns and their understanding of the position the county is in.
The Jewish Federation said it would wait to see what happens on Monday to determine what action to take.
(Source: KIRO TV)
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9 Responses
Any violence during the next six months should bring an immediate suit against King County please 100x punitive damages. They have enough control to stop hate
“Curio said she didn’t think that would be the case.
‘I don’t believe these ads will lead to any sort of violence against Jews,’ she said.”
Of course, this miserable, wretched anti-Semite won’t guarantee the safety of any Jew who must live in Seattle under the vicious regime of libel she is exacting against them.
If Curio meant that she doesn’t believe her ads will spawn violence against Jews, she would have said “I will personally compensate any Jew victimized as a consequence of my substantial contribution to increasing the general atmospheric level of anti-Semitism in Seattle” or “if any Jew is attacked, then I will submit to a gang beating administered by paid martial artists at my organization’s expense”. Curio doesn’t believe Jews will be safe after she ravages their reputation; she doesn’t even hope for their safety. Her only concern is for the society that sponsors and almost deifies suicide terrorists aiming to destroy the Jewish civilization.
Curio is part of a cultural phenomenon that mimics the multi-tiered Nazi cancer. The ones in Germany who took out the bus ads demonizing Jews whipped up the street thugs into beating Jews, but the propagandists were separate individuals from the street enforcers; one cohesive movement, with implausible but asserted deniability on behalf of the ring leaders. Curio is a ring leader.
Curio is abusing the freedom of speech by shouting “fire” in a crowded theater. And Seattle is allowing it because, after all, it’s only a Jewish theater. This is a wake up call, happening right here in an American city.
#2 wrote a great line: “Curio is abusing the freedom of speech by shouting “fire” in a crowded theater. And Seattle is allowing it because, after all, it’s only a Jewish theater”…
I think this line should be on some other busses down there.
Maybe this is part of Hashem’s plan to have us all shipped off to Israel by a gentile diaspora population that equates “Jew” with “Israeli” and the hatred that these Amelakim have for Israel, for their alleged war crimes, will ch’v be directed at Jews worldwide. Ultimately these hateful snakes will face the music. Hashem promised to take vengeance against those who hurt us over the centuries. We must love one another for there is no greater defense.
hmmm. . . . and lets suppose this was the other way around. An israeli group proposes to the bus company to advertise anti-muslim ads because of all the suicide bombings, kidnappings, missiles etc. that have occured in E”Y and this group would like to “educate” the public about what is really occurring in Israel and why Israel must defend itself. I have a feeling (is it just me) that somehow the bus company would reject it on the grounds that it would incite violence. suddenly they would have all sorts of excuses for not allowing the ad to run because they would be petrified of the muslim backlash and would be scared for their lives. When its anti Jewish on the other hand the bus company has nothing to be afraid of.
I find the content of these ads to be gross and ill informed, but there certainly were ads demanding action in Darfur (which was a Muslim war crime) all over the New York City subway system a few years ago, and I can’t say I recall anyone either threatening anyone or suggesting that the ads needed to be pulled because of a chance of a backlash.
#6 that is because the muslim extremists support the genocide in Darfur, and they are the ones who carry out the violence. I think that answers your question.
mosheemes2,
The Darfur ads communicated a concern for the innocent victims of violent Islamists, while the Seattle ads communicate a concern for the violent Islamists.
The Darfur ads did not demonize the victims of terrorism, while the Seattle ads demonize the victims of terrorism.
There is a long and unbroken history of violence against Jewish communities preceded by bigoted gentiles’ anti-Semitic smear campaigns, but there is no historical corollary phenomenon with respect to Muslims.
The two cases are not only dissimilar. They’re opposites. So, it’s no wonder that peoples’ reactions to them are not the same!
Have a good Shabbos.
There were bus ads within the last year in NYC and elsewhere offering help to people who wanted to leave Islam. Muslims and their supporters protested the ads. Detroit refused to run them, but Detroit has broad categories of ads they refuse to run (including political ads).