Boston Subway Ads Shock Commuters

(Photo:Ads Against Apartheid)

Bostonians have been checking out the “ONE WORD” campaign in their subway system, describing Israel’s crimes against Palestinians. The ad campaign was launched this week by Ads Against Apartheid (AAA), a local Boston-based nonprofit.

The ads are currently running in Boston’s downtown State Street Station where they can be seen by upwards of 13,000 riders per day. AAA’s website states they are “challenging Israel’s commitment to peace”.

The ads have already made headlines– in Palestine and Israel that is. Both WAFA Ads against Apartheid Launches Campaign Questioning Israeli’s Commitment to Peace and Ynet, MBTA approves pro-Palestinian ads in Boston subway quote Chadi Salamoun, the President of Ads Against Apartheid, and Richard Colbath-Hess, the NGO’s co-founder:

“The ads simply state the facts and are backed up with citations from credible human rights and international organizations, including the United Nations,” said Chadi Salamoun, the president of Ads Against Apartheid, who added that “if the ads are shocking, that’s because the reality on the ground is shocking.” Richard Colbath-Hess, a Jewish-American faculty member at the University of Massachusetts, and the co-founder of Ads Against Apartheid, noted that “American tax dollars help the Israeli government maintain an incredibly brutal military occupation, which has denied the Palestinian people their basic rights for decades. These ads show what Israel’s occupation and apartheid really look like, and it is important for Americans to see that.”

Colbath-Hess told me that the ads featuring one word per ad– HOMELESS, VIOLENCE, and STOLEN– each represented an aspect of Israel’s “unrelenting injustice towards Palestinians.” IMHO, the “ONE WORD” approach is in your face, educational and very effective:

Ads Against Apartheid is planning to expand the campaign to other cities all across America. The campaign has other hard hitting ads up on their website too. Instructing readers to “Stop Talking, Start Acting” and support spreading the campaigns.

Here’s one featuring that pillar of Israeli zealotry Naftali Bennett, from AAA’s Peace or Land Series:

This one is from their Palestinian Children Series: