New York City Israel-Palestine Ads Anger Critics

The Committee for Peace in Israel and Palestine has purchased a series of advertisements at New York subway stations which depict a series of maps depicting a growing Israel and shrinking Palestine are offending a lot of people who are saying they are “deliberately misleading and inaccurate,” according to Fox News

The ads, show a hugely shrinking Palestine and have a sign that says:

“4.7 million Palestinians are classified by the U.N. as Refugees.”

Henry Clifford, co-chairman of the group, told FoxNews.com

“There’s always room for discussion of different sides of every story, but there’s no room for discussion on fact. Anyone who challenges these maps and the content of these ads, it’s they’re obligation to show that they’re historically wrong. The ball is in their court.”

Dovid Efune, editor of the Brooklyn-based Algemeiner Journal, a Jewish publication says the ads should be removed.

Efune said,

“They are offensive, Primarily because they’re deliberating misleading and inaccurate, but they also remove all historical context. What’s happened over time is that it’s actually the Jewish-owned land that’s became smaller and smaller and smaller. If you look in the historical context, it’s actually the Jewish land that has decreased over time.”

Efune has called the ads offensive and wants the Metro Transit Authority to remove them.

He said,

“They say they don’t want to get into politics, but in the past they have declined to run ads based on them being offensive to certain groups. They should be consistent and take the ads down now.”

Aaron Donovan, a spokesman for the transit agency, released a statement saying the ads are going to stay. The statement said,

“The MTA and our advertising contractor, CBS Outdoor, review proposed advertisements to ensure that they comply with the MTA’s uniform, viewpoint-neutral advertising standards. We do not decide whether to accept or reject a proposed ad based on the viewpoint that it expresses or because the ad might be controversial. The MTA does not endorse the viewpoint expressed in this ad, or any of the ads that it accepts for display.”

Due to First Amendment concerns the MTA takes all ads that do not violate its terms of service.

The Anti-Defamation League has also weighed in on the posters with Ron Meier, ADL’s New York regional director saying,

“The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is extremely complex and cannot be summarized in a series of four maps. This ad campaign completely ignores the facts, including the history of land ownership prior to 1948, Israel’s repeated efforts to exchange land for peace, and the commitment of successive Israeli governments to achieving a two-state solution with the Palestinians.”