For the next couple of weeks, a lot of Denver Jews can expect to be upset.
That is, if they happen to see the signs attached to the sides of RTD mall shuttles and light rail trains that depict a Palestinian youth facing what appears to be an Israeli tank and the less-than-subtle message: “Want peace? Stop ethnic cleansing in Palestine.”
Starting last week and continuing until Nov. 11, two mall shuttles and 10 light rail trains will bear these signs, paid for by two activist groups that call themselves “NoTaxDollarsToIsrael.com” and “ColoradoBDSCampaign.org.”
The signs are apparently not only intended for Israel supporters who live in the Denver metro area, but the thousands of Jews from across the country and beyond who will be in Denver starting today, Oct. 25, through Monday, at the Jewish National Fund national conference here.
The anti-Israel signs, Scott Levin, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, told the Intermountain Jewish News this week, have “obviously been timed to coincide with the JNF conference. That appears to be the impetus for taking the signs out now.”
The appearance of the signs triggered an ADL press release this week that called the propaganda “offensive and inflammatory” but did not call on the Regional Transportation District to remove the signs, based on the belief that their message is constitutionally protected.
The ADL is already familiar with the Colorado BDS Campaign, described by Levin as “an organization that has sought boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel and companies that invest or do business with Israel.
“They have tried to use similar messages at other events and places around town. This is the first time that I’ve seen them buy ads on RTD buses.”
Levin said this week that while he’s not familiar with the structure of these groups, they appear to be composed of the same people who have led BDS efforts at CU, at Denver’s Taste of Colorado event and other instances.
It is not known whether they have connections to two other activist groups, the Boulder-based “Colorado Campaign to Stop $30 Billion to Israel” and the Albuquerque-based “Coalition to Stop 30 Billion to Israel,” which paid for similar anti-Israel ads on RTD buses and billboards in Denver in the spring of 2012.
Levin emphasized that the current ads are considerably more inflammatory than the ones displayed last year, which focused primarily on ending US foreign aid to Israel.
“To me what’s most upsetting about this is the use of the phrase ‘ethnic cleansing,’ which really brings to mind the atrocities in Kosovo and Rwanda — mass murder, mass rape, mass deportation of populations — and there’s been no credible allegation of any such activity happening in Israel, the West Bank, Gaza or any of the areas that these people would refer to as Palestine,” Levin said.
Levin noted that there was a similar propaganda campaign recently in Toronto, in which the local transit system was persuaded by the Jewish community to pull anti-Israel ads based on the conclusion that they conveyed “false information.”
Pointing out that Canadian and American law differ on free speech, Levin said that the falsehood of a particular ad would not necessarily justify its being banned in the US, hence the ADL did not request RTD to pull the ads in Denver.
“I think that while the Regional Transportation District does have policies that would appear to preclude it from accepting false, misleading and deceptive advertising, it’s important to remember that RTD is a governmental entity,” Levin told the IJN.
“Therefore, it is governed by the First Amendment and from the perspective of the Anti-Defamation League, we believe that what they have said, as inaccurate as it may be, is a form of protected speech under the First Amendment.”
Levin advised Denver Jews or JNF conference participants who might be upset or angered by the signs to see them as an opportunity to set the record straight.
“In America, people can say ugly things and it’s up to us — all of us — to stand up and to point out the inaccuracies. While RTD may have been put in a situation where they had to accept these ads, it’s up to us as a community to speak out against them and point out that they are inaccurate.
“They certainly do nothing to lead to peace in the Middle East. We would not want to ever debate these kinds of issues on the side of a bus or a light rail train, but we do need to contribute to the discourse out there to try to correct these terrible inaccuracies.”
Levin expects that the ADL will receive plenty of phone calls and emails from area Jews who see the signs.
Copyright © 2013 by the Intermountain Jewish News
