The other day we reported that the Boston transit authority had pulled down ads demonstrating the loss of Palestinian lands to Israel since the creation of the Jewish state. Well, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation authority (MBTA) has been shamed for censorship, and is putting the ads back up.
In Lisa Wangsness and Martine Powers’s reporting for the Boston Globe, notice how little was required to cause the outdoor advertising agency to censor the ads– from the evidence, just a call from the Anti-Defamation League, which was then informed the ads were coming down. “There was a breakdown in our established procedures for handling complaints about specific ads,” the MBTA sheepishly told the Globe.
The MBTA said Friday morning that all 80 posters had been taken down Wednesday and Thursday, just a few days after being posted. The transit agency said its advertising contractor, Titan, made the decision.
“The MBTA informed Titan of the complaints and Titan decided to remove the ad,” said Joe Pesaturo, spokesman for the agency….
Robert Trestan, New England regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, said his group had informed the MBTA about the numerous complaints it had received about the ads. He said the ADL did not ask the T to remove the ads, but the agency told the ADL that the ads were coming down.
Trestan was sharply critical of the ads’ content.
“The billboards are intentionally designed to mislead the public, and they are part of an ongoing anti-Israel campaign that distorts the issues by oversimplifying the facts around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”..
Jewish Voice for Peace stood up for the ads, and so did the ACLU. The JVP statement reads in part:
“As Palestinians lose land, they also lose their homes, villages, freedom of movement, and access to basic resources like farmland and water. We must acknowledge the reality in these maps in order to create justice, equality, and security for Palestinians and Israelis.”
And the Globe talked to the ACLU:
Sarah Wunsch, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts who has worked on previous cases in which the ACLU has successfully sued the MBTA for blocking ads, said removing the ads amounted to “pure censorship of political speech.” She praised the transit system for changing course.
Well, no surprise there at all.
Seems that the ADL is losing its punch. That’s very welcome news.
Glad the ads are back up, or will be soon. Isn’t it a shame that the ad-agency guy, who could SEE the ads, didn’t know they were anti-Israel until the phone calls tol him they were. And I wonder if he could have got away with preventing the ads if he’d refused them from the beginning, before they went up.
It’s good to see the ADL pulled out into the light of day.
In reading decades of FBI records about the group’s (often illegal) tactics, the only thing that seemed to have a positive impact was widespread publicity.
When the ADL went after Senator Rufus Holman, he could not find any venue to clear his name after they smeared his reelection campaign and boycotted his business. The FBI was reluctant to do anything since the head of the Portland FBI office carried David Robinson, head of the ADL Oregon office, as Confidential Informant #7 “on the Bureau’s records…. A toxic mix for impunity.
http://irmep.org/ila/adl/
Robert Trestan, New England regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, said his group had informed the MBTA about the numerous complaints it had received about the ads. He said the ADL did not ask the T to remove the ads, but the agency told the ADL that the ads were coming down
Yes. You are right. Why they heck do they complain to your organization? Tell them that this is about a historical conflict, you are partisan to one group and then recuse yourself.
Did someone complain to you about the bus journey ,through the serene countryside and school district , of violent porn from Geller and did you call them to remove the ads?
Trestan was sharply critical of the ads’ content.
“The billboards are intentionally designed to mislead the public, and they are part of an ongoing anti-Israel campaign that distorts the issues by oversimplifying the facts around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”..
Another kicker -from ADL.
All year round one hears the misleading statements from the pundit,honchos,expert,analyst ,and the moderator and the host on the TV,radios,and town hall meetings in election cycles that we need to attack Iran, bomb Iran,or put more sanctions on Iran .There was no daylight among the them .There was no daylight among them on Park 51 or on Iraq war . Did you ever bother to remind those very people that they were misleading the public and continues to do so , did you tell them out in the open that the tension around Iraq or Iran were being simplified and reduced to vacuous talking point with potential for proven deadly results? Did you them to shut up or ask the media not to offer space them for the US Iran or US Iraq conflicts since the issues have been hijacked by a totally irrelevant external factor known as Israeli interests and American wont get the bang for the buck soaked in blood and waste.?
“The transit agency said its advertising contractor, Titan, made the decision.”
Titan is owned by William Apfelbaum, which may help to explain their willingness to concur with the ADL.
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=23036804&ticker=MAXW
I suspect the complaints went directly to to Titan.