The Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign’s Press Releases

ONLINE PRESS RELEASES

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 7th, 2013
Contact: Edward Mast press@seamac.org (206) 633-1086

More cities join SeaMAC's Equal Rights bus ad campaign, while Seattle protests the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians

Palestine: Stolen Homeland
Sunday May 12, 2013
12:00-5:00 PM
Westlake Plaza, 4th & Pine downtown Seattle

Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign (SeaMAC) has started running its bus ad campaign EQUAL RIGHTS FOR PALESTINIANS: THE WAY TO PEACE in Bellevue, Redmond, and Kirkland this week. Those ads began on May 1 and will run on six buses for four weeks, along with ads on six buses in Seattle at the same time. The Equal Rights ads are also running on buses in Port Angeles and Clallam County, and have appeared in buses and newspapers in Tacoma and Olympia.

Photos available on request; also at www.seamac.org.

SeaMAC will also cosponsor Palestine: Stolen Homeland, a theatrical installation of over 100 small tents inscribed with the names of Palestinian villages destroyed in 1948. The display will commemorate and protest the events of 1947-9, when two-thirds of the Palestinian people were forcibly displaced and over 400 Palestinian villages were destroyed. The new state of Israel created laws to prevent the return of those Palestinians after the war, and now Palestinians are one of the largest and longest-suffering refugee populations in the world. To describe these events, Palestinians use the word “Nakba” which means “catastrophe.”

In his book The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, Israeli historian Ilan Pappe has described the events of 1947-9 as "a crime against humanity that Israel has wanted to deny and cause the world to forget." Pappe also observes that Palestinians in the West Bank and Greater Jerusalem are undergoing ethnic cleansing today, as Israel continues to drive them out to make room for more Israeli settlers.

PALESTINE: STOLEN HOMELAND is organized by Palestine Solidarity Committee, Voices of Palestine, and Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign.

To observe Mothers Day -- originally an anti-war holiday -- PALESTINE: STOLEN HOMELAND will also include a booth for MOTHERS AGAINST ETHNIC CLEANSING.

For more information about Palestine: Stolen Homeland, contact info@palestineinformation.org .

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 14th, 2013
Contact: press@seamac.org

Equal Rights campaign extends another month in Seattle and moves to Olympia and Tacoma

Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign’s ad, “EQUAL RIGHTS FOR PALESTINIANS: THE WAY TO PEACE”, will stay on King County Metro buses for at least four more weeks. The campaign was originally scheduled to run for one month only, but donations from the community have made it possible to extend the campaign twice now. The ad calls for an end to segregation, apartheid, and discrimination against Palestinians by Israel.

At the same time, local groups in both Olympia and Tacoma are taking the campaign to those cities. In Tacoma and Pierce County, the local chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace will run SeaMAC’s Equal Rights ad for several weeks in The News Tribune, and Tacoma Friends of SeaMAC will run the ad in The Tacoma Weekly this week.

In Olympia, the Rachel Corrie Foundation will run SeaMAC’s Equal Rights ad as an interior display on twelve Intercity Transit buses for four weeks.

Photo available on request.

SeaMAC’s Equal Rights ads in all three cities are timed to coincide with important March events:

OLYMPIA, MARCH 14-16:

March 16th will mark the 10th anniversary of the killing of Rachel Corrie in Gaza by an Israeli soldier who was driving a Caterpillar bulldozer. Rachel Corrie was standing in protection of a Palestinian home that was threatened with demolition by the Israeli military. According to the U.S. State Department, the State of Israel has yet to investigate this killing in a way that is “thorough, credible and transparent”.
Olympia will mark this anniversary with several events.

Thursday March 14, 4:00-5:30 PM: LEGISLATIVE BRIEFING

Take a Stand for Justice: Rachel Corrie - 10 Years
Columbia Room at the State Capitol (Legislative Building)
Speakers include former Congressman Brian Baird, Phyllis Bennis, Cindy & Craig Corrie

Friday, March 15th, 6:30-8:30 PM: FILM SCREENING

Where Should the Birds Fly? documentary about Israel’s assault on Gaza, 2008-9
Olympia Film Society at Capitol Theater, 206 5th Avenue SE

Saturday, March 16th, 1:00-9:00 PM: RALLY AND GATHERING

Rally at Sylvester Park, and music, dance, food, remembrance at the Olympia Ballroom;
Phyllis Bennis, Ramzy Baroud, music by House of Tarab, David Rovics and Batiste Dabke.
http://rachelcorriefoundation.org/ or contact Jen Martinez jen@rachelcorriefoundation.org (360) 754-3998

Tacoma Friends of SeaMAC will also run memorial notices for Rachel Corrie in The News Tribune and The Peninsula Gateway.

SEATTLE, MARCH 30:

On Saturday March 30, local activists will march with music and dance through downtown Seattle as part of an International Day of Action for BDS: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel until Israel complies with international laws and allows equal rights for Palestinians. March 30 is also Land Day, the anniversary of the day in 1976 when six Israeli Palestinians were shot and killed by the Israeli army during non-violent protests against the confiscation of Palestinian land (see www.haaretz.com/opinion/why-land-day-still-matters-1.421606 and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Day).
The March 30 procession will begin at 1:00 pm at Westlake Park, 4th and Pine in downtown Seattle. Sponsoring organizations include the Northwest BDS Coalition and Palestine Solidarity Committee - Seattle.

Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign (SEAMAC) is incorporated as a non-profit corporation in Washington State and as a 501 (c)(3) organization under Federal tax code.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 18, 2013
Contact: press@seamac.org

SeaMAC launches Equal Rights ad campaign on King County Metro buses

Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign (SeaMAC) has launched new ads on King County Metro buses calling for an end to segregation, apartheid, and discrimination against Palestinians by Israel.

Timed to coincide with Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, the ads have the slogan “EQUAL RIGHTS FOR PALESTINIANS: The Way To Peace”. They will will run on twelve buses for at least four weeks. Photo available on request.

Israel has separate sets of laws, rights and opportunities for Israeli Jews and non-Jews. Palestinians in Israel’s Occupied Territories are denied basic political, voting and civil rights, and even Palestinians who are citizens of Israel are subject to segregation and discrimination inside Israel itself. Israel’s declaration of independence makes reference to equality, but Israel’s Basic Laws contain provisions denying equal status to non-Jews.

“Equality for all people is the necessary first step toward peace. As long as Israel maintains its system of special privilege for Jews and persecution for Palestinians and others, there will be conflict.” says SeaMAC volunteer Peter Lippman.

“Calling for equal rights may seem simple, but real equal rights would require foundational change for the State of Israel,” adds SeaMAC Board Member Carla Curio.

The US gives several billion dollars of military aid to Israel each year, plus political, diplomatic and military support, in spite of US laws forbidding such aid to any country that has a consistent record of gross violations of human rights.

SeaMAC continues to pursue a lawsuit against King County for censoring SeaMAC’s Metro bus ad campaign launched in December 2010, “ISRAELI WAR CRIMES: YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK,” which was approved, accepted, printed, then cancelled by King County. With legal representation by the ACLU, SeaMAC has filed an appeal to overturn a recent dismissal of the lawsuit.

SeaMAC has also been running a series of print ads exposing Israel’s ongoing discrimination and war crimes against Palestinians. The complete series of SeaMAC ads is available at www.SeaMAC.org.

Press packet available on request.

The Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign is incorporated as a non-profit corporation in Washington State and as a 501 (c)(3) organization under Federal tax code.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

9/27/12
Contact: Ed Mast, press@Stop30Billion.org (206) 633-1086

Appeals court to hear SeaMAC lawsuit over King County’s refusal to run Metro bus ads

On October 3, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign (SeaMAC) lawsuit over King County’s cancellation of a contract with SeaMAC to run ads on Metro buses. The hearing will take place at Gonzaga University School of Law, Barbieri Courtroom, 721 North Cincinnati Street, in Spokane beginning at 1:00 pm. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Washington is representing SeaMAC in the suit.

The bus ads, reading “Israeli War Crimes: Your Tax Dollars At Work,” were examined, approved, and accepted by King County and Metro officials. SeaMAC signed a contract and paid the full cost in advance, and the ads were printed and scheduled to run for four weeks starting on December 27, 2010. The date was chosen because it was the second anniversary of Israel’s three-week military offensive against the captive population of Gaza in 2008-09, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,400 Palestinians -- most of them non-combatants and more than 300 of them children.

The language of the ad was chosen to reflect the fact that investigations by Amnesty International, the United Nations and others found evidence of war crimes committed by Israel during the assault on Gaza. Other war crimes have been documented during Israel’s long occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

At the last minute, on December 23, 2010, King County reversed course, cancelled the contract, and refused to run the ads. Filed in U.S. District Court in January 2011, the lawsuit (SeaMAC v. King County) asserts that King County’s action violated SeaMAC’s First Amendment right of free expression and seeks to have the court order the ads to run on Metro buses, as originally approved. A trial in the case had been scheduled to begin on October 31, 2011, but a District Court judge granted King County’s motion for summary judgment and on October 10, 2011 dismissed the case.

The plaintiffs will ask the Court to reverse this decision. If the Court of Appeals overturns the lower court’s decision, the Court will either direct a verdict for plaintiff (or defendants) or the lawsuit will go back to the trial court to be heard before a jury. After the hearing, there is no deadline for a Court of Appeals ruling, and it typically takes 90 days or longer to reach a decision.

Photo of original SeaMAC bus ad available on request.

Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign is an all-volunteer organization incorporated in Washington State. For more information: http://www.SeaMAC.org

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Peter Lippman, press@SeaMAC.org (206) 285-2154

MORE BILLBOARDS CENSORED

In a disturbing repeat of Seattle events, twenty-three billboards in Los Angeles calling for an end to US military aid to Israel were first put up, then censored and taken down.

On June 11, the New Mexico-based Coalition to Stop $30 Billion to Israel had twenty-three billboards erected in Los Angeles and surrounding cities with the message "Tell Congress: Spend our Money at Home, Not on the Israeli Military" over an American flag background. The billboards were contracted to run for four weeks. Photo at www.stop30billion.org

Just one week later the billboard company--CBS Outdoor, a subsidiary of CBS Corporation-- took all the billboards down. The billboard company said they were canceling the contract and refunding the money because "your organization has used the ‘CBS Outdoor’ name without permission" in email messages and in a petition thanking CBS for putting up the billboards in the first place.

A similar campaign by local Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign (SeaMAC) was censored in almost exactly the same way in April 2011. One week after several billboards went up in the Seattle area with the slogan “EQUAL RIGHTS FOR PALESTINIANS – Stop Funding the Israeli Military”, Clear Channel Outdoor, the billboard company, announced that it was canceling the contract and taking the billboards down. At the time, Olivia Lippens, president of local Clear Channel, confirmed that objections from unnamed “groups and individuals” caused Clear Channel to “re-evaluate”.

Earlier, in December 2010, SeaMAC's Metro bus ad campaign, "ISRAELI WAR CRIMES: Your Tax Dollars at Work" was approved, accepted, and printed by King County Metro, but King County then censored those ads and refused to honor the signed contract with SeaMAC. ACLU continues to represent SeaMAC in a lawsuit against King County for breach of contract and violation of First Amendment rights.

“We are concerned by the apparent nationwide campaign to deny human rights organizations the right to air our views in the public arena”, said SeaMAC volunteer Ed Mast. “And we’re very disturbed that those individuals and groups that oppose equal rights and human rights for Palestinians have such power over both public and private media organizations.”

SeaMAC continues to plan further public advertising campaigns while pursuing the lawsuit against King County.

MORE INFORMATION AND PHOTOS:

Los Angeles ads:
http://stop30billion.org
or
http://mondoweiss.net/2012/06/stop-30-billion-campaign-plasters-los-angeles-with-billboards.html

Coalition to Stop $30 Billion to Israel:
Jeff Warner, (526) 694-1637, PatnJeff@Keyway.net
Susan Schuurman, (505) 702-4203, SusanJSchuurman@Gmail.com

Seattle billboards, bus ads, and print ads:
http://www.SeaMAC.org
press@SeaMAC.org

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: press@SeaMAC.org

Ed Mast (206) 633-1086

Ad campaign and public display event to protest ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians

Palestine: Stolen Homeland

Sunday May 13, 2012

12:00 - 5:00 pm

Westlake Plaza, 4th & Pine downtown Seattle

Music, cultural displays, and a theatrical installation of over 100 small tents inscribed with the names of destroyed Palestinian villages will commemorate and protest the events of 1947-9, when two-thirds of the Palestinian people were forcibly displaced and over 400 Palestinian villages were destroyed. The new state of Israel created laws to prevent the return of those Palestinians after the war, and now Palestinians are one of the largest and longest-suffering refugee populations in the world. To describe these events, Palestinians use the word “Nakba” which means “catastrophe.”

In his book The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, Israeli historian Ilan Pappe has described the events of 1947-9 as "a crime against humanity that Israel has wanted to deny and cause the world to forget." Pappe also observes that Palestinians in the West Bank and Greater Jerusalem are undergoing ethnic cleansing today, as Israel continues to drive them out to make room for more Israeli settlers.

Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign has launched a four-week campaign of print ads in The Stranger to increase public awareness of Israel's ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing against Palestinians. For the complete series of ads, visit www.SeaMAC.org.

Israel controls the lives of over five million Palestinians, most of whom are denied basic civil and human rights. The US gives several billion dollars of military aid to Israel each year, and in 2009 promised $30 billion in aid over the following ten years. Over a thousand Palestinian prisoners have joined a mass hunger strike against mistreatment of Palestinians inside Israeli prisons, and in particular against the Israeli practice of administrative detention whereby Palestinians are imprisoned indefinitely without charge or trial.

PALESTINE: STOLEN HOMELAND is organized by Palestine Solidarity Committee, Voices of Palestine, and Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign. The event will take place rain or shine, with covered areas in case of rain.

To observe Mothers Day -- originally an anti-war holiday -- PALESTINE: STOLEN HOMELAND will also include a booth for MOTHERS AGAINST ETHNIC CLEANSING.

Photos of the Nakba display or SeaMAC's ads are available on request.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: press@SeaMAC.org

Peter Lippman (206) 285-2154

Ed Mast (206) 633-1086

Carla Curio (206) 450-0706

SeaMAC launches new ad campaign on King County Metro buses

Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign (SeaMAC) has launched new ads on King County Metro buses as part of a continuing effort to expose the misuse of U.S. taxpayer money to support Israel’s ongoing discrimination against the Palestinian people.

With the slogan “I’M A PALESTINIAN – EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL”, the ads will run on twelve buses for the next four weeks. Photo available on request.

SeaMAC’s new ad campaign is also part of Israeli Apartheid Week, February 27-March 2. Local Israeli Apartheid Week events are being held at the University of Washington, Antioch University and Seattle University. Visit http://seattle.apartheidweek.org/ for information.

“Palestinians want equal rights,” says Carla Curio, volunteer with SeaMAC. “Israel’s discrimination and apartheid are basic causes of the ongoing conflict. Equal rights for Palestinians and Israelis will be the foundation of a just peace.”

Israel controls the lives of over five million Palestinians, most of whom have neither voting rights, political rights nor civil rights. Israel has separate sets of laws, rights and opportunities for Israeli Jews and non-Jews. Palestinians in the Occupied Territories are denied basic civil rights. Palestinians citizens of Israel are subject to segregation and discrimination, with central provisions of Israel’s Basic Law explicitly denying equal status to non-Jews.

SeaMAC designed the new ads to fit King County Metro’s revised and restricted advertising policy. SeaMAC continues to pursue a lawsuit against King County for censoring SeaMAC’s Metro bus ad campaign launched last December, “ISRAELI WAR CRIMES: YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK,” which was approved, accepted, printed, then cancelled by King County. With legal representation by the ACLU, SeaMAC has filed an appeal to overturn a recent dismissal of the lawsuit.

SeaMAC has also been running a series of print ads exposing Israel’s ongoing discrimination and war crimes against Palestinians. The complete series of SeaMAC ads is available at www.SeaMAC.org.

Press packet available on request.

The Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign is incorporated as a non-profit corporation in Washington State and as a 501 (c)(3) organization under Federal tax code.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 28, 2011

Contact: press@SeaMAC.org

Carla Curio (206) 450-0706

Peter Lippman (206) 285-2154

SEAMAC BRINGS BACK ISRAELI WAR CRIMES AD

Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign (SeaMAC) will publish a large ad with the slogan ISRAELI WAR CRIMES: YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK on December 28 in both The Stranger and Seattle Weekly. The ad commemorates Israel’s assault on Gaza in December 2008, as well as the censoring of SeaMAC’s “Israeli War Crimes” bus ad last year by King County Metro.

The half-page ad will run for two weeks in each newspaper. The ad repeats the slogan and design of SeaMAC’s bus ad that was censored by King County Metro last year.

The dates of the bus ad last year and the newspaper ads this year were chosen to observe the anniversary of Israel’s three week military offensive against the captive population of Gaza which began on December 27, 2008, and resulted in the deaths of more than 1,400 Palestinians -- most of them non-combatants and more than 300 of them children. The language of the ad is based on investigations by Amnesty International, the United Nations, and other human rights groups, which found evidence of war crimes committed by Israel during the assault on Gaza. Numerous other war crimes by Israel have been documented during the long occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. The ads also draw attention to the $30 billion promised to the Israeli military by the U.S. government over a 10-year period, which is part of the U.S. government’s one-sided financial, military, diplomatic, and political support for Israel.

King County first approved and then censored SeaMAC’s bus ad on December 23, 2010. King County Metro then twice revised its advertising policy to prevent any “public issue advertising expressing or advocating an opinion, position or viewpoint on matters of public debate about economic, political, religious or social issues”. In spite of that policy, King County Metro has since accepted advertisements for the Mormon religion and a labor rally, as well as a recent ad that said “Buy American”.

“It’s hard to see how King County has been unbiased or ‘viewpoint neutral’ when they have continued to run other political and religious advertisements while censoring ours,” said SeaMAC volunteer Edward Mast.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Washington is representing SeaMAC in a lawsuit against King County for breach of contract and for violating SeaMAC’s First Amendment right of free expression. The trial was scheduled to begin in federal court on October 31. King County lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, and a federal judge granted King County’s motion on October 10. SeaMAC has filed an appeal with the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Another SeaMAC ad, with the slogan EQUAL RIGHTS FOR PALESTINIANS, was accepted and put up on billboards in April 2010 by Clear Channel Outdoor, a private firm. Clear Channel then censored SeaMAC’s ads. Clear Channel had also run other controversial ads which caused public outcry, including an ad that advocated laboratory testing on live animals.

“Why should criticism of Israel be singled out for silencing?” says Peter Lippman, another SeaMAC volunteer.

SeaMAC’s print ads about Israeli war crimes are part of a series that began last August in Seattle Weekly and The Stranger. The ongoing series draws attention to Israel’s policies of segregation and apartheid, as well as the treatment of Palestinian child prisoners and Israel’s attempt to impose a non-viable fake state on Palestinians living under Israel’s illegal military occupation.

SeaMAC’s complete series of print ads can be viewed at www.www.SeaMAC.org.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 11, 2011

Contact: press@SeaMAC.org

Edward Mast (206) 633-1086

Peter Lippman (206) 285-2154

SeaMAC will appeal dismissal of lawsuit against King County over cancelled Metro bus ads

Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign (SeaMAC) has filed an appeal with the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn the recent federal court decision to dismiss SeaMAC’s lawsuit against King County for canceling a contract with SeaMAC to run ads on twelve Metro buses.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Washington will continue to represent SeaMAC in the appeal.

“We’re unhappy that a jury will not be allowed to examine the evidence, but ACLU’s legal team has decided that there is a very good case to be made that the dismissal was improper and should be overturned,” said Mark Eichinger-Wiese, a volunteer with SeaMAC.

“King County censored SeaMAC’s free speech while protecting the free speech of those who want to silence SeaMAC’s message. Criticism of Israel should not be singled out for censorship, especially when based on evidence from the United Nations and international human rights groups,” said Edward Mast, another SeaMAC volunteer.

The bus ads, reading “Israeli War Crimes: Your Tax Dollars At Work,” were examined, approved, and accepted by King County and Metro officials. SeaMAC signed a contract and paid the full cost in advance, and the ads were printed and scheduled to run for four weeks starting on December 27, 2010. The date was chosen because it was the second anniversary of Israel’s three-week military offensive against the captive population of Gaza in 2008-9, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,400 Palestinians -- most of them non-combatants and more than 300 of them children.

At the last minute, on December 23, 2010, King County reversed course, cancelled the contract, and refused to run the ads. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Washington is representing SeaMAC in a lawsuit against King County for breach of contract and for violating SeaMAC’s First Amendment right of free expression. The trial was scheduled to begin in federal court on October 31. King County lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, and a federal judge granted King County’s motion on October 10.

An appeal to the Ninth District Court typically takes twelve months or more to reach oral argument before a panel of three judges. If the panel grants the appeal, the case will go back to trial in before a six-person jury.

Photo of original SeaMAC bus ad available on request.

Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign is an all-volunteer organization incorporated in Washington State.

For more information: wwwStopFundingApartheid.org

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 11, 2011

Contact: press@SeaMAC.org

Edward Mast (206) 633-1086

Carla Curio (206) 307-3374

SeaMAC Considers An Appeal in Lawsuit Against King County over Cancelled Metro Bus Ads

The Seattle Middle East Awareness Campaign (SeaMAC) is considering its next legal steps in the wake of a ruling on its lawsuit against King County for canceling a contract with SeaMAC to run ads on twelve Metro buses starting last December.

A trial in the suit was scheduled to begin in federal district court on October 31. King County lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, and late Friday afternoon, October 10, a federal judge granted King County's motion.

Ads about abortion, atheism and other contentious issues have appeared on Metro buses. SeaMAC's ad used language from Amnesty International and the United Nations. "Why should criticism of the State of Israel be singled out for exclusion from buses or any other public forum?" said Carla Curio, a volunteer with SeaMAC.

The bus ads, reading "Israeli War Crimes: Your Tax Dollars At Work," were examined, approved, and accepted by King County and Metro officials. SeaMAC signed a contract and paid the full cost in advance, and the ads were printed and scheduled to run for four weeks starting on December 27, 2010. The date was chosen because it was the second anniversary of Israel's three-week military offensive against the captive population of Gaza in 2008-9, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,400 Palestinians -- most of them non-combatants and more than 300 of them children.

The language of the ad was chosen to reflect the fact that both Amnesty International and United Nations investigations have found evidence of war crimes committed by Israel, and other war crimes have been documented during Israel's long occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

SeaMAC and the ACLU are reviewing the decision and considering legal options, including the possibility of appeal to the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. "This may not be the legal system's last word on the matter," said Peter Lippman, another SeaMAC volunteer.

Photo of original SeaMAC bus ad available on request.

Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign is an all-volunteer organization incorporated in Washington State.

For more information: www.StopFundingApartheid.org

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Press Packet: Segregation, Apartheid and Equal Rights

For a chronology of past press coverage: click here

Latest press release: click here to see PDF

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 18, 2011

Contact: Edward Mast press@SeaMAC.org (206) 633-1086

SeaMAC launches print ad campaign about Israel’s segregated roads, schools and towns

“I’M NOT ALLOWED ON ISRAEL’S SEGREGATED ROADS” says a West Bank Palestinian in one of a series of newspaper ads launched this week by Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign (SeaMAC). The ads are part of SeaMAC’s continuing effort to expose the misuse of U.S. taxpayer money to support Israel’s system of segregation and discrimination against the Palestinian people. Palestinians are prohibited from driving on segregated Israeli-only settlement roads; Palestinian students inside Israel are channeled into a segregated school system with separate and unequal resources; and Palestinians are not allowed to live in illegal Jewish-only Israeli settlements.

The three ads will run over the next three weeks in The Seattle Weekly and The Stranger. The ads can be seen at www.stopfundingapartheid.org/press.htm

“Segregation was the system of apartheid we rejected in this country, and people of conscience here should refuse to support similar segregation and apartheid in Israel”, says SeaMAC volunteer Carla Curio. “Israel’s refusal to treat Palestinians as equals is an ongoing obstacle to justice and peace.”

According to Human Rights Watch, "Palestinians face systematic discrimination merely because of their race, ethnicity, and national origin, depriving them of electricity, water, schools, and access to roads, while nearby Jewish settlers enjoy all of these state-provided benefits.”

http://www.hrw.org/news/2010/12/18/israelwest-bank-separate-and-unequal

The US gives several billion dollars of military aid to Israel each year, and has promised $30 billion of aid over the next ten years.

The print ads continue the campaign begun by SeaMAC’s bus ad and billboard campaigns. Last December, SeaMAC’s Metro bus ads, “ISRAELI WAR CRIMES: Your Tax Dollars At Work,” were first approved, accepted and printed, then suddenly cancelled by King County. A subsequent billboard campaign with the slogan “EQUAL RIGHTS FOR PALESTINIANS – Stop Funding the Israeli Military” was approved and accepted by Clear Channel Outdoor, and three of the four contracted billboards were put up for the first week, but then were taken down by Clear Channel.

The ACLU is representing SeaMAC in a lawsuit against King County for violating SeaMAC’s constitutional rights by refusing to honor the contract to run the bus ads. The lawsuit will come to trial starting on October 31 of this year.

Press team for SeaMAC: Carla Curio (206) 788-0955, Peter Lippman (206) 285-2154, Edward Mast (206) 633-1086 -- all available at press@SeaMAC.org

Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign is an all-volunteer organization incorporated in Washington State. For more information: www.StopFundingApartheid.org

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