Anti-Israel billboards mislead the public

BOSTON (JPR)—The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) described an anti-Israel billboard campaign appearing throughout the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) System as, “intentionally designed to mislead the public.” The billboards show a series of four maps and falsely claim that Israel has systematically confiscated land from the Palestinians. The ads, which began appearing last week, are sponsored by Henry Clifford, who co-chairs the virulently anti-Israel group Committee for Peace in Israel and Palestine.

“These billboards are intentionally designed to mislead the public,” said Robert Trestan, ADL New England regional director. “They are a part of an ongoing anti-Israel campaign that distorts the issues by oversimplifying the facts surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, leaving out such critical details as the history prior to 1946 and Israel’s willingness to compromise for peace both through an exchange of land and developing a two-state solution with the Palestinians.” Trestan added that “Debate about the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians and its resolution should be encouraged.  Misleading ad campaigns pander to emotions and interfere with a serous conversation based on accurate facts.”

The billboards feature four maps of Palestine/Israel from 1946 through 2010 and attempt to display the expansion of Israel at the expense of the Palestinians. In 2012 The Anti-Defamation League of New York responded to the same ads found in Westchester Train Stations, explaining that, “The billboards attempt to showcase that all of Israel was owned by Palestinians pre-1948 when, in reality, much of the land was owned by non-Palestinian absentee landlords who lived in Cairo, Baghdad, Damascus and Beirut.”

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world’s leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.