Underground posters
1) Electronic Intifada, best source of information, 2)Ynet, 3) Jewish Chronicle, 4) Electronic Intifada, excerpt on Tim Llewellyn and BBC.
Israeli fury at unofficial ads on London Underground
By Asa Winstanley, Electronic Intifada,
February 22, 2016
Activists from London Palestine Action put up these posters criticizing Israel’s 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 in the UK on 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 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 on Monday morning. A spokesperson told the paper on Monday 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 on Monday.
Israel Foreign Min. ✔ @IsraelMFA
Inciteful posters removed from the #London underground trains: http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/PressRoom/2016/Pages/Inciteful-posters-removed-from-London-underground-22-Feb-2016.aspx …
3:02 PM – 22 Feb 2016
Israel’s foreign ministry called the subvertisements “inciteful” and said Prime Minister 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.
Two Israeli opposition leaders also condemned the ads. Yair Lapid claimed the ads were “antisemitic” and implied that he had persuaded the mayor of London, Boris Johnson, to remove them.
Lahav Harkov @LahavHarkov
.@Tzipi_Livni on London Underground signs: BDS is against the existence of Israel. We are all together in battle against it.
1:03 PM – 22 Feb 2016
Former foreign minister Tzipi Livni (who in 2009 evaded a UK arrest warrant for war crimes) denied that Israel practices apartheid 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 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 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 occupationBBC Bias: In the first eight months of 2015, Israeli occupation forces injured more than 1,372 Palestinians and between October – December 2015, 116 Palestinians were killed. 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 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, 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 to bring its “pattern of unlawful killings” to an end.
Child prisoners and G4S: More than 500 Palestinian children 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 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 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 for Israel’s aggression and sending a clear message of approval for its actions. Almost 100 companies 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 “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 in punitive actions, leaving 18 persons homeless. In 2014, 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.
Anti-Israel ads cover London Underground trains
Millions of passengers encounter BDS ads slamming “Israeli apartheid”, accusing it of massacres and torture, and claiming the BBC is biased towards Israel.
By Ynet/ Reuters
February 22, 2016
Millions of Monday morning passengers on the London Underground were greeted with a number of ads taken out by the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Movement accusing Israel of torturing and massacring Palestinians and slamming UK companies with links to the Jewish state.
According to a report in the Jewish Chronicle, the campaign includes four ads purportedly put up in 500 trains.
The posters were made for what anti-Israel activists dub “Israel Apartheid Week”. One claims that British-made arms were used by Israel to “massacre Palestinians” in the 2014 Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, while another says the BBC’s reporting is biased towards Israel, and a third criticizes security company G4S for working in Israel.
Notably, the BBC was recently criticized by Israel for alleged bias against it after it reported on Palestinian terrorists who were shot dead in a manner implying the terrorists were the victims.
Transport for London, the body that oversees the London Underground, said in a statement that it had not approved the ads. “These are not authorized adverts,” read the statement. “It is fly posting and therefore an act of vandalism which we take extremely seriously. Our staff and contractors are working to immediately remove any found on our network.”
MK Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) said he spoke with London Mayor Boris Johnson regarding the campaign on Monday. “Since the government of Israel, as usual, did nothing, I contacted the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, who is a friend of Israel and explained that the State of Israel found these things unacceptable,” said Lapid. “I asked him to intervene. He explained that they were put up without authorization and would give the instruction for them to be taken down immediately.”
Speaking shortly after, Netanyahu said he had requested that Dore Gold, the Foreign Ministry’s director-general, who was holding meetings in London, ask the British government to crack down on the ads.
“Whoever says we are not taking action is not telling the truth,” Netanyahu said.
Interviewed by Israeli broadcasters, Gold gave credit to Israel’s embassy in London, saying its staff had spotted the ads on Sunday and had flagged them up to British authorities as part of their anti-boycott campaigning.
Reuters contributed to this report
Anti-Israel posters on London tube network are ‘unauthorised vandalism’
By Rosa Doherty, Jewish Chronicle
February 22, 2016
Transport for London has said a series of anti-Israel posters seen on tube trains across the capital are “unauthorised acts of vandalism”.
The posters appeared in advertising slots on trains at the weekend ahead of the annual “Israel Apartheid Week” campaign which began on Monday.
They showed mocked-up versions of BBC reports and claimed the Corporation’s coverage of Israel and the Palestinians was biased.
But Tfl said in a statement that the posters had not been authorised and were being removed.
A TfL spokesman said: “These are not authorised adverts. It is fly posting and therefore an act of vandalism which we take extremely seriously.
“Our staff and contractors are working to immediately remove any found on our network.”
The campaign claimed British-made arms were used to “massacre” Palestinians during Israel’s last operation against Hamas.
Posters the London underground were titled “Apartheid is Great Britain”.
Another image targeted security company G4S, which operates some prisons in Israel and the West Bank.
The posters accused the firm of “securing Israeli apartheid” and doing “whatever it takes to secure profits”.
Images on social media on Sunday suggested the adverts were part of a four poster campaign by activists.
It is thought more than 500 could have been posted, with anti-Israel activists claiming they would be on display to the tube’s four million customers for the entirety of the apartheid week campaign.
A London Jewish Forum spokesman said: “These posters are awful smears that do nothing to contribute to peace and dialogue, placing significant strains on inter-community relations across London.
MK Yair Lapid with Mayor of London, Boris Johnson
“They are an act of vandalism, seeking to undermine the UK’s relationship with Israel and designed to foster discomfort. We welcome Transport for London’s commitment to quickly remove them.”
Conservative London Assembly member and transport spokesman Richard Tracey said: “It is utterly deplorable that these offensive ‘adverts’ have been smeared across parts of the tube network by a small number of activists.
“Racist and deeply insensitive propaganda will not be tolerated anywhere in our capital, let alone on our transport network, and I urge anyone who sees these posters to report them to TfL staff immediately.”
A BBC spokesperson said: “We are committed to reporting all aspects of a very complex conflict in a fair and balanced way, reflecting a range of voices.”
The posters caused a stir in Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and MK Yair Lapid from Yesh Atid – who described the posters as “unacceptable” – claiming they were instrumental in Tfl’s removal of the posters.
Mr Lapid said at a meeting in the Knesset today:”I contacted the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, who is a friend of Israel and explained that the State of Israel found these things unacceptable, I asked him to intervene. He explained that they were put up without authorization and would give the instruction for them to be taken down immediately.”
Mr Netanyahu however disputed this saying that he had instructed Foreign Ministry director Dore Gold to deal with the issue.
The source of the quote from Tim Llewellyn, above, is explained below.
Former BBC correspondent speaks out
By
July 13, 2014
EXTRACT
[H]ow can the BBC be expected to provide balanced reporting on the occupation and treat Palestinians lives with the same respect it gives to Israeli lives, when one of its own Middle East correspondents stated that the killings of the three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank were more uniquely awful than the killing of all Arabs in the Middle East?
Speaking on the flagship Today programme on BBC Radio 4 on 1 July, correspondent Kevin Connolly said: “There was a special kind of chilling factor, a cold-blooded calculation to that crime [the murder of the Israeli youths] that slightly sets it aside from the other waves of violence that we report on across the Middle East.”
It is this kind of attitude that has led Tim Llewellyn, who was the BBC’s Middle East correspondent in the 1980s, to despair.
On 11 July, … Llewellyn wrote to BBC Director General Tony Hall and passed the letter onto the Palestine Solidarity Campaign for publication.
In his letter, Llewellyn takes issue with the BBC’s constant headlines and reports which proclaim that “Israel’s blitz on Gaza is in response to rocket fire from Gaza.”
“This is not something the BBC can state as a fact. It is an interpretation. It is an Israeli position,” Llewellyn adds. “Your newsrooms must know by now that Israel continually carries out air and artillery strikes against Gaza, usually without provocation, a territory that is under permanent armed siege.”
“The fact that the BBC rarely reports Israel’s continuous incursions into Gaza and armed assaults on the Gazan population, and the resulting deaths and injuries and property damage, makes them no less real. We have become used to the fact that, in a BBC newsroom, an Israeli life is worth the lives of an infinite number of Palestinians,” Llewellyn writes.
Llewellyn concludes his letter, which he told the Palestine Solidarity Campaign was a cri de coeur, with these words: “I can only say with great sadness that as a former BBC Middle East correspondent I despair at the either innate or deliberately induced lack of impartiality that shows itself in every aspect of your treatment of this [occupation], which so fundamentally animates and divides people across the world.”