Palestine Advocacy Project (PalAD) has launched a dynamic new ad campaign “Israel’s Leaders: In Their Own Words,” directly quoting prominent Israeli officials’ extremist and bigoted rhetoric.
The In Their Own Words series was created to spark conversation on U.S. college campuses seldom featured in the mainstream media. Thus far nine college campuses, including University of California-Berkeley, have agree to publish ads in their campus newspapers.
Image: Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman “Those who are against us, there’s nothing to be done – we need to pick up an ax and cut off his head” (Graphic: Palestine Advocacy Project)
PalAd intern Maggie Liu said, “As a college student living on a politically-active campus, I know firsthand how little young people know about the reality of the situation. I hope these ads will bring some much-needed dialogue to campuses across the country.”
Image: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “We must defend ourselves against wild beasts” (Graphic: Palestine Advocacy Project)
Palestine Advocacy Project notes that during this election cycle American politicians have condemned Donald Trump’s racist, inflammatory rhetoric but they let Israeli politicians off the hook time and again because both the Democratic and Republican establishments pander to the Israel lobby:
Because, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put it, “I know what America is. America is a thing you can move very easily, move it in the right direction.”
One of the ads features Israel’s explicitly racist Minister of Justice, Ayelet Shaked. Liu points out, “If you do your own research, you’ll quickly find many more hateful quotes.” She’s absolutely right.
Image: Israeli Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked “They should go, as should the physical homes in which they raised the snakes. Otherwise, more little snakes will be raised there.” (Graphic: Palestine Advocacy Project)
One of the ads features Israel’s deputy defense minister, Rabbi Eli Ben Dahan, who heads the army’s “Civil Administration” (occupation) of the West Bank supervising the theft of Palestinian land as well as granting and revoking entry and travel permits for Palestinians. He says Palestinians are beasts:
Image: Israeli deputy defense minister Rabbi Eli Ben Dahan “[Palestinians] “are beasts, they are not human.” (Graphic: Palestine Advocacy Project)
Farida El Hefni, a student at University of Rochester in New York states, “It is beyond disturbing that someone in a position of power can say these things and not even flinch,” and asks “How are these politicians that are so quick to accuse people of being anti-Israel or anti-Semitic the same ones using fascist language to describe an entire group of people?”
Image: Miri Regev, Israeli Minister of Culture and Sport: “I am happy to be a fascist” (Graphic: Palestine Advocacy Project)
Remember former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon’s inflammatory reference to amputating organs“?:
Image: Former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon: “The Palestinian threat harbors cancer-like attributes that have to be severed. There are all kinds of solutions to cancer. Some say it’s necessary to amputate organs but at the moment I am applying chemotherapy.” (Graphic: Palestine Advocacy Project)
PalAd intends to continue exposing the hypocrisy surrounding the U.S.’s relationship with Israel. Their 2014 “One Word” campaign showcased the daily violence Palestinians are subjected to. PalAd’s recent poetry campaign brought Palestinian Poet Laureate Mahmoud Darwish’s work into public spaces. And their new campaign, focusing on the violent rhetoric of upper echelons of Israeli political leadership — backed by US politicians — synchronizes with our election cycle. There’s no better time to have a national dialogue about our relationship with Israel.
Check out more of these violent statements here. The campaign is also accepting donations here.
Image: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “beat them up, not once but repeatedly, beat them up so it hurts so badly, until it’s unbearable” (Graphic: Palestine Advocacy Project)
