American Muslims for Palestine sent out the following press release:
The American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), a national education and advocacy group, is using the beloved Cherry Blossom Festival to attract attention to its message: US aid to Israel has got to stop.
The ad, which depicts Uncle Sam holding an Israeli flag with the tagline “Americans are sweating April 15 so Israelis don’t have to,” calls for an end of US foreign aid to Israel. It is appearing on Metro buses on the Cherry Blossom Festival route in order to attract the attention of tourists.
“While Americans are struggling to pay their taxes during these difficult economic times, our hard-earned money is going to a country that has implemented the last and longest-lasting military occupation in the modern world,” said AMP board member Dr. Osama Abu Irshaid, of the DC area.
The United States is committed to a 10-year, $30-billion deal, which ends in 2018. Currently, the United States gives Israel more than $3 billion per year in military and other aid. That money largely supports Israel’s occupation, which is illegal under international law and deprives Palestinians of their human rights.
“We tie foreign aid to human rights in other countries. Why don’t we do the same in Israel?” Dr. Abu Irshaid asked. “Here in America, schools have cut programs, laid off teachers, cities are going bankrupt, millions of unemployed have been dropped from unemployment benefits and benefits for veterans have been cut. That $3 billion is sorely needed here at home.”
AMP is a national nonprofit organization based near Chicago, whose mission is to educate the American public about issues related to Palestine and its rich cultural and historical heritage. AMP calls for an end to the occupation. Without US financial assistance, Israel would not be able to maintain the occupation, the group asserts.
The ad campaign, which will run in the DC Metro area until April 13, is the second national campaign for AMP. The first ad, which debuted in March 2013 in New York City, raised the issue of Israeli apartheid.
Now, THAT’s gonna get some emotions and some head-scratching going! Bring it on!
Brilliant.
Paraphrasing Fred Allen on television, Zionism is a triumph of ideology over reason and the minds that control it are so small that you could put them in a gnat’s navel with room left over for 2 caraway seeds and a Likudnik’s heart.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/20/israel-architecture-association-ban-international-forum-palestinian-settlements
“Britain’s leading architectural association has called for its Israeli counterpart to be excluded from the International Union of Architects in protest at Israel’s occupation of Palestine, in a further indication of the growing momentum of the boycott movement.
The Royal Institute of British Architects (Riba) has demanded the suspension of the Israeli Association of United Architects (IAUA) from the international body, saying it is complicit in the construction of illegal settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and other violations of international law.
Riba’s president, Angela Brady, told a meeting of the its council on Wednesday that failure to back the motion “would send a clear message to the world that we as an institution turn a blind eye or by inaction support what’s going on – land grabs, forced removals, killing the state and human rights, and reinforcement of apartheid”.
But other council members pointed to human rights violations in other parts of the world, such as North Korea, which is a member of Riba. “Don’t you think architects are designing prison camps and torture chambers there?” asked one council member, Francesca Weal.
The motion – backed by 23 votes to 16, with 10 abstentions – was welcomed by the Palestinian BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) movement. It claims there is mounting international support for a boycott of Israel and points to an increasing number of companies disinvesting over fears of damaging their reputations.
“Architects and planners are central to Israel’s colonisation of Palestinian land and the forced displacement of Palestinian people,” said Rafeef Zaidah, of the Palestinian BDS national committee. “Given the complicity of the [IAUA] in Israel’s construction of illegal Israeli settlements, it is only right that it is excluded from international forums.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZj9bi7YNmI
http://www.amazon.com/Civilian-Occupation-Politics-Israeli-Architecture/dp/B003D7JY8Q/
Metro buses here in D.C. had ads praising Snowden on their sides recently.