Seattle Bus Ads Accuse Israel of “War Crimes”
An advertisement alleging “Israeli war crimes” won’t appear on the sides of some Metro Transit buses for another week, but it’s already ignited a political firestorm.
The Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign, which bought the ad, says it’s intended to break through what it calls the silence over Israel’s mistreatment of Palestinians.
Others have organized a campaign to block the ad, which they say will inflame bigotry against Jews and Jewish organizations.
King County Executive Dow Constantine was advised by county lawyers that the First Amendment to the Constitution prohibits Metro from rejecting the ad if the transit agency continues to accept ads from other advertisers, spokesman Frank Abe said Monday.
While declining to discuss his feelings about the ad, Constantine said in a statement that interest groups sometimes leverage a small ad buy into news coverage “worth many times their investment … .”
“These provocative ads bring in a negligible amount of revenue, but cost hundreds of hours staff time to address the intended controversy — time that is better spent providing bus service.”