Ed Mast and other members of the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign held a press conference two days ago, denouncing the decision by the King County executive to prevent the Seattle transit authority from running bus ads opposing US aid for “Israeli war crimes”– on the second anniversary of Cast Lead.
Mast points: Ads were approved and accepted by the transit authority in October. “They found it neither to be incitement or any kind of unacceptable speech… We signed a contract… The banners were printed… Those who wanted to stop the free speech… went over our heads to the county administration and attempted to stop it. As you know, in doing so, they have created an international news story about Israeli war crimes…. They have mounted a campaign to disrupt the normal operations of King County metro transit.” Including claims of imagined violence, but “no credible claim of safety hazard.” No: “They are simply saying the falsehood that criticizing the actions of an overseas government is the same as criticizing some group in this country.” And King County gave in to this campaign of “bullying, intimidation and threat.”
