[News] Israeli fury at unofficial ads on London Underground
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Mon Feb 22 16:54:57 EST 2016
*https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/israeli-fury-unofficial-ads-london-underground*
Israeli fury at unofficial ads on London Underground
2/22/16
Activists from London Palestine Action
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/london-palestine-action> put up
these posters criticizing Israel’s apartheid
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/apartheid> policies against
Palestinians all over London’s underground train network early Sunday
morning.
Speaking to The Electronic Intifada, an activist from the group, who did
not want to be named, they said that they posted 150 copies around at
least four different lines on the network. The activist provided these
photos.
These posters are “subvertisements,” political messages designed to look
like sanctioned advertising. They were fitted on top of paid ads, the
activist said.
The action was timed to coincide with the launch of this year’s Israeli
Apartheid Week
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/israeli-apartheid-week> in the UK
Monday.
In a statement sent to The Electronic Intifada, the activists said:
“Israel and its supporters are used to having the mainstream media
repeat their talking points. Our action’s aim is to shine a spotlight on
the support that Israel receives from the UK government and arms
industry and UK companies like G4S as well as the one sided reporting
which is endemic in the BBC.”
The UK Zionist Federation on Monday called
<https://twitter.com/ZionistFed/status/701764356288225280> for
authorities to “apprehend the original culprits.”
Photos of the posters began appearing on social media Sunday evening.
Transport authorities confirmed to the /Jewish Chronicle/ that many of
the unofficial ads were still up Monday morning. A spokesperson told the
paper Monday <https://twitter.com/MarcusDysch/status/701735202226356225>
that the posters were being removed.
This means they would have been seen during this morning’s rush hour by
some of the millions of commuters that use the tube network every day.
Israeli fury
Israeli politicians reacted with near hysteria Monday.
Inciteful posters removed from the #London
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/London?src=hash> underground trains:
https://t.co/GuFe7lLoXq pic.twitter.com/Hn4TnQK0kl
<https://t.co/Hn4TnQK0kl>
— Israel Foreign Min. (@IsraelMFA) February 22, 2016
<https://twitter.com/IsraelMFA/status/701784093076361220>
Israel’s foreign ministry called the subvertisements
<http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/PressRoom/2016/Pages/Inciteful-posters-removed-from-London-underground-22-Feb-2016.aspx>
“inciteful” and said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/benjamin-netanyahu> had instructed
their director-general to “demand” the posters’ “immediate removal”
during a visit to London for talks with the UK foreign office.
. at yairlapid <https://twitter.com/yairlapid> called ads in London
Underground anti-Semitic, said he talked to Boris Johnson, who had
them removed. pic.twitter.com/66ou3gKByZ <https://t.co/66ou3gKByZ>
— Lahav Harkov (@LahavHarkov) February 22, 2016
<https://twitter.com/LahavHarkov/status/701742764170592257>
Two Israeli opposition leaders also condemned the ads. Yair Lapid
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/yair-lapid> claimed the ads were
“anti-Semitic” and implied that
<https://twitter.com/LahavHarkov/status/701742764170592257> he had
persuaded the mayor of London, Boris Johnson
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/boris-johnson>, to remove them.
. at Tzipi_Livni <https://twitter.com/Tzipi_Livni> on London
Underground signs: BDS is against the existence of Israel. We are
all together in battle against it.
— Lahav Harkov (@LahavHarkov) February 22, 2016
<https://twitter.com/LahavHarkov/status/701754283478351875>
Former foreign minister Tzipi Livni
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/tzipi-livni> (who in 2009 evaded
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/hilary-aked/war-crimes-suspect-shaul-mofaz-evades-arrest-uk-parliament>
a UK arrest warrant for war crimes) denied that Israel practices
apartheid <https://twitter.com/LahavHarkov/status/701754847696187392>
and said the posters showed that the boycott, divestment and sanctions
movement “is against the existence of Israel.”
A spokesperson for the Israeli embassy in London claimed
<https://twitter.com/yiftahc/status/701746959598669824> that the ads
were a “grim” act of “vandalism.”
Full statement
London Palestine Action activists issued this full statement detailing
references for all the facts stated on the posters:
*London Tube Subvertisment*: The campaign was done by activists from
London Palestine Action (LPA) for the launch of the Israeli
Apartheid Week 2016. Approximately 150 posters were neatly placed on
top of adverts already located in the tube carriages. The reasoning
behind the action was not only to promote the start of the Israeli
Apartheid Week but also to counterattack Western media’s silence
over the situation in Palestine. As public bodies, local councils
and student unions are threatened to be banned by law
<http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/israel-boycott-local-councils-public-bodies-and-student-unions-to-be-banned-from-shunning-israeli-a6874006.html>
from boycotting “unethical” companies, Israeli Apartheid Week and
similar collective actions are more crucial and relevant than ever.
The subvertisments cover four issues:
* The BBC repeatedly sacrificing the truth on the altar of their
pro-Israeli bias
* The infamous British security company, G4S, helping in the
imprisonment and abuse of thousands of Palestinians, including
hundreds of children
* The UK – Israeli arms trade resulting in massacres of
Palestinians, but also greasing the cogs of the Israeli
apartheid machine
* The destruction of Palestinian homes becoming a means of routine
collective punishment under the Israeli occupation
*BBC Bias*: In the first eight months of 2015
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/articles/debate/23754-the-missing-data-on-the-palestinian-revolt>,
Israeli occupation forces injured more than 1,372 Palestinians and
between October - December 2015, 116 Palestinians were killed
<http://www.imemc.org/article/74193>. Not only has the Western media
ignored the extrajudicial killings but the coverage misrepresented
and was completely bias towards Israel, particularly in the BBC
news. Once again, BBC was forced to admit
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/amena-saleem/bbc-forced-admit-it-misled-over-palestine>
its coverage of the situation in the West bank has been misleading
and refuses to acknowledge Palestinian deaths and their suffering
under occupation. In a letter to Netanyahu
<http://www.btselem.org/press_releases/20151115_letter_to_pm_on_extrajudicial_killings>,
B’Tselem condemned the Israeli government: “Your government permits
– and encourages – the transformation of police officers, and even
of armed civilians, into judges and executioners.” Dania Irshied, a
17 year old, was one of the many victims of extrajudicial killings
that continue until today. Amnesty International called on Israel
<https://www.amnesty.org/en/press-releases/2015/10/israeli-forces-must-end-pattern-of-unlawful-killings-in-west-bank/>
to bring its “pattern of unlawful killings” to an end.
*Child prisoners and G4S*: More than 500 Palestinian children
<http://www.dci-palestine.org/issues_military_detention> are
arrested, detained and prosecuted in the Israeli military court
system every year. G4S provides services to the Israeli prison
system making it complicit in the illegal occupation of Palestine
and the unlawful imprisonment of Palestinians, including children.
By outsourcing occupation-related work to G4S, the Israeli state
frees itself from accountability for human rights violations and
breaches of international laws. G4S is one of the UK’s most reviled
companies <http://www.waronwant.org/g4s> engaged in conflict related
profit making the world over.
*Apartheid is Great (Britain)*: UK is directly complicit in Israel’s
continuing violations of human rights and international law.
British-made arms worth £7m
<http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/exclusive-uk-approved-7m-israeli-arms-sales-in-six-months-before-gaza-conflict-9878280.html>
were used by Israel to massacre more than 2,000 Palestinians in
Gaza. By purchasing arms from and selling arms to Israel, the UK
government is giving direct material support
<http://www.waronwant.org/sites/default/files/Killer%20Drones,%20War%20on%20Want.pdf>
for Israel’s aggression and sending a clear message of approval for
its actions. Almost 100 companies
<https://www.caat.org.uk/resources/mapping/organisation?tag=military-export-applicant-to-israel>
supplying military & security equipment to Israel are based in the
UK. Amongst suppliers on your doorstep are BAE Systems, Lockheed
Martin, G4S, Boeing, Elbit Systems. Israeli companies make enormous
profits from military technology that is “field-tested” on
Palestinians. The UK government sponsors three
<https://www.caat.org.uk/issues/arms-fairs> “major defence and
security exhibitions in the UK” – DSEI, Farnborough International
and Security & Policing arm fairs.
*House Demolitions*: Since October 2015, 29 demolitions were carried
out in occupied East Jerusalem. In January 2016, Israel demolished
three Palestinian homes
<http://www.btselem.org/punitive_demolitions/20160116_january_demolitions>
in punitive actions, leaving 18 persons homeless. In 2014
<http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.640147>, Israel
demolished 1,177 homes in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
This policy is a form of collective punishment, and in accordance
with humanitarian and human rights law, is assessed as a war crime
and a crime against humanity.
--
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
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