Category Archives: Media

Vancouver Sun Letters to the Editor, Sept. 7, 2013

Re: Amid chaos and conflict, Rosh Hashanah brings hope for a sweet year, Editorial, Sept. 5

Enough with the attacks on the Israel/Palestine transit ads. This latest tirade, which appeared as an editorial in today’s Vancouver Sun, was simply too much. Yes, it’s Rosh Hashanah, but the thought that Jews in synagogues across the country are in a state of panic over a small number of factual ads on Vancouver’s buses and SkyTrain stations is ridiculous.

The timing of the ad was completely out of the Transit Ad Coalition’s power, so trying to criticize the sponsors of the ad for their insensitivity about a Jewish holiday is a non-starter. Furthermore, attacking a member of the Transit Ad Coalition by slamming what are putatively her personal politics is outrageous. It smacks of McCarthyism. Continue reading →

Jewish Independent Editorial, Sept. 6, 2013

Fifteen buses and one transit station in Vancouver will be sporting geopolitical propaganda for the next few months. Paid for by the Palestine Awareness Coalition, the ad campaign features four maps – each showing a shrinking “Palestine” succumbing to an encroaching Israel – with the headline “Disappearing Palestine.” There is much deception in the ads, no historical context, a conflating of peoplehood with nationhood, etc., etc. But is deception/misinformation in advertising enough of a reason to ban said advertising?

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, Pacific Region, and the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver were among those calling for TransLink to reject the ad campaign, as “these advertisements distort history, are malicious and essentially question the legitimacy of Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state.” A legal opinion procured by CIJA-PR and Federation concludes that TransLink is permitted “to have a policy that provides for a safe and welcoming transit system and to exclude advertisements that objectively and reasonably interfere with that goal.” TransLink, however, contends (also based on a legal opinion) that it must run the ad because its advertising policy “cannot violate freedom of expression under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” “except in accordance with Section 1 of the Charter, which makes all Charter rights subject to ‘such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.’” Continue reading →

Allan Garr, Vancouver Courier, Sept 5, 2013

While much of the world is watching the tragedy unfold in Syria and waiting for the United States to make its “no boots on the ground” move against the Assad regime, we have our own little Middle East related drama going on right here in Vancouver. That is all thanks to a decision by TransLink to run ads on buses and rapid transit stations entitled “Disappearing Palestine.”

If you haven’t seen the ads, it is no wonder. The $15,000 dollar purchase gave the Vancouver-based groups calling themselves the Palestine Awareness Coalition a modest presence: The material appears on 15 of TransLink’s 1,600 buses and at two transit stations, one downtown and one at Oakridge (which incidentally is about as close as you can get to the heart of Vancouver’s Jewish community.)

It is composed of four maps of what is now the state of Israel and shows a shift it claims has taken place since 1946 in terms of Palestinian presence when the territory was known as Palestine. The only text states that five million Palestinians are classified by the UN as refugees. Continue reading →

Councillor, Jewish organizations hope to block controversial campaign about Middle East

By Ben Spurr, Now Toronto, Sept. 3, 2013

New maps could soon appear on TTC vehicles, and they won’t depict the subway line.

A pro-Palestinian group has approached the transit commission about buying space to put up ads similar to ones that incited controversy last week when they appeared on Vancouver’s TransLink system. Continue reading →

Vancouver Sun Letters to the Editor

Re: TransLink won’t pull ads launched by Palestine coalition, Aug. 29

TransLink was misguided in its approval of the Disappearing Palestine ads. First and foremost, is the timing. The Jewish New Year occurs in the first week of September this year, and then there is Yom Kippur, which is their most sacred day of the year.

The choice to buy ad space this time of the year strongly suggests intent by the Palestine Awareness Coalition to be provocative and insults those of the Jewish faith, as well as the legitimacy of the existence of the state of Israel. The ads should not have been permitted to proceed on this basis.

Second, is the issue of the content. Yes, the borders of Israel have altered since the UN plan of division in 1947. This is the result of a succession of wars. Wars change national boundaries and ownership of land, as seen in the redrawn map of Europe after the Second World War. Continue reading →

the (unofficial) bc libarary association intellectual freedom committee blog

On TransLink buses (and one station) this week you might see an ad featuring four maps with progressively dwindling amounts of green on them. There are no exhortations. There isn’t a lot of context. But these are undoubtedly an intellectual freedom issue we should be aware of, because these ads are being challenged as the equivalent of homophobic sexist messages singling people out to feel unsafe.

Of course these maps are of Israel/Palestine.

The maps, created by the Palestine Awareness Coalition show the territory that Palestinians control and how it has shrunk over the 20th century, with a headline that reads “Disappearing Palestine.”

Continue reading →