Bowing to pressure, Israeli bus companies remove ads deploring settler violence

An ad campaign by a group of Israeli human rights organizations – Breaking the Silence, Peace Now, Yesh Din, Warriors for Peace and others – demanding that the Defense Minister and Minister of Internal Security put an end to settler violence was removed from major Israeli bus companies Egged and Dan yesterday, October 4.

The campaign referred to a major pogrom carried out by 80 to 100 settlers in several villages of the South Hebron hills last week, on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, centering on the village of Mufqarah. The pogromchiks wounded a three-year-old child, who was hospitalized, and caused severe damage to vehicles and houses. Three of the attackers were arrested by the police, but released by the courts. The child, identified as Muhammad Bakker Mahmoud Hamamdeh was hospitalized in Beersheba, in Israel, and later released, the Jerusalem Post reports.

The ads, which used the picture of the wounded child as well as the pictures of ministers Benny Gantz and Omer Bar-Lev, said “A three-year-old child was wounded in a terror attack. It is time to stop settler violence.”

In a larger font, it said “Gantz, Bar Lev – this one’s on you.” The campaign began on Saturday night, October 2nd.

Immediately, right wing activists began apply pressure on the bus companies. Breaking the Silence manager, Avner Gvaryahu, noted on Twitter on Sunday that “I just spoke to the people responsible for publicizing the campaign against settler violence on Egged and Dan, and one of them told me explicitly that the companies received threats that their buses would be burned, if the campaign wouldn’t be taken down.”

Gvaryahu added that “first you hit a child on the head with a stone, and then you threaten to burn buses so it wouldn’t be mentioned. This is what terrorism looks like.”

An Egged spokesperson justified the company’s decision by saying the campaign was “political.” Asked by journalists Golan Yochpaz and Anat Davidov to explain why, then, Egged publicizes the notorious anti-abortion group Efrat, the spokesperson claimed, “Efrat isn’t a political controversy.” Apparently, in 2021 Israel, demanding right-wing terrorists be brought to justice is.

Americans for Peace Now described the attack:

Muhammad Bakker Mahmoud Hamamdeh was hit in the head with a rock while sleeping at his home in the South Hebron Hills on September 28, 2021. This escalation started when Israeli settlers attacked a shepherd in the Palestinian village of al-Mufakara. Other Palestinians joined to retaliate against the settlers, prompting over 100 settlers from nearby illegal Israeli outposts of Avigail and Havat Maon to join, according to eye-witnesses. Hussein, who was taken to the hospital in moderate condition, is among a dozen injured Palestinians. 

This isn’t the first case where ads of Israeli human rights group were removed: In July, following massive pressure from the right, Breaking the Silence campaign ads – demanding, again, action against Jewish terrorism – were removed from buildings in Jerusalem. A defiant Gvaryahu wrote yesterday that:

“In July, we put the first billboard against settler violence in Jerusalem. Under the pressure of their representatives, the billboard was removed after a week (a day before the campaign ended), and we received all our money back. On Saturday night we began a bus campaign, which, after being seen for hundreds of thousands of times, was again removed under the pressure of the settlers. Once more, we got our money back. In short, we found a loophole which allows us massive amounts of exposure with unending funding. We’re going on campaign on Ayalon [major highway in Tel Aviv]. Anyone in the right volunteering to take it down?”

According to a Haaretz report from Sunday, the military is aware that the number of attacks by settlers against Palestinians has doubled since 2019. 363 actions of what the government calls “nationalistic crimes” were tallied in 2019, but the number for the first half of 2021 was 416. Numbers for the second half of 2021 are, obviously, unavailable, but the number of attacks seem to be on the increase during the last month, which was full of Jewish holidays; holidays and Sabbaths often see an increase in settler activity.  A military source told Haaretz the army is reluctant to face the settlers – and that the settlers are well aware of that.