Massachusetts Approves Anti-Israel Ads, But Still Rejects Pro-Israel Ads

The Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) has approved a new viciously anti-Israel ad that the state body had previously rejected.

The poster, which showcases a picture of a child with the word “Violence” in bold print and large, capitalized letters, reads: “Since September, 2000 ISRAEL’S MILITARY has killed one Palestinian child every 4 days*, using U.S. tax dollars.”

When the poster was rejected, the left-wing American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) intervened on behalf of the Palestine Advocacy Project, a group formerly known as Ads Against Apartheid. The ACLU argued that the group should have protected speech under the First Amendment to the Constitution.

While first stating that the propaganda display violated the MBTA policy regarding incessant language towards individuals or groups of people, the transit authority overturned its previous ruling. The ACLU has taken credit for the pro-Palestinian group’s success, according to Sarah Wunch, the deputy legal director of the ACLU in Massachusetts.

The MBTA told JTA that the ads now comply as “viewpoint neutral standards for all advertising displayed on MBTA property.”

However, the MBTA still refuses to run pro-Israel ads submitted by Breitbart contributor and free-speech activist Pamela Geller.

“The MBTA has repeatedly refused to run our pro-Israel ads, which we submitted in response to vicious anti-Israel ads. This is just the latest in a number of anti-Semitic ad campaigns,” Geller told Breitbart News. “We are fighting the MBTA in the courts. We have filed a certified petition to the Supreme Court. Imagine, the city of the Boston jihad bombings refusing to run anti-jihad ads. Despicable,” she added.

The MBTA said in a statement on Friday that it is considering “whether to amend its advertising guidelines and in the future will not accept ads concerning political issues or matters of public debate.”

On its website, the Palestine Advocacy Project, which submitted the ads, describes itself as a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel. No sovereign governments have endorsed BDS, as many states view its goals as wholly anti-Semitic.