Billboard Company Cancels “Equal Rights For Palestinians”

 
Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign

April 28th, 2011

Efforts by the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign (SeaMAC) to call attention to injustices against the Palestinian people have once again been censored.

Just days after several billboards went up in the Seattle area with the slogan “EQUAL RIGHTS FOR PALESTINIANS – Stop Funding the Israeli Military”, Clear Channel Outdoor, the billboard company, announced that it was canceling the contract and taking the billboards down.

“It seems clear that even a call for equal rights for Palestinians is a message that the Israel Lobby in this country cannot tolerate,” said Rod Such, volunteer with SeaMAC.
In a call yesterday to SeaMAC representatives, Olivia Lippens, president of local Clear Channel, confirmed that objections from unnamed “groups and individuals” caused Clear Channel to “re-evaluate”.

Several organizations that dispute civil, political, and national rights for Palestinians also objected to SeaMAC’s Metro bus ad campaign, “ISRAELI WAR CRIMES: Your Tax Dollars at Work” which was to run on Metro buses starting last December. King County ultimately cancelled those ads and refused to honor the signed contract with SeaMAC.
At least three of SeaMAC’s billboards were already in place: on Aurora at Republican, on Elliot Way near West Lee St., and on Lake City Way near 104th St.  Ms. Lippens told SeaMAC that the billboards will be taken down as soon as possible and that all money will be refunded.

“We are concerned by the apparent campaign to deny human rights organizations the right to air our views in the public arena”, said Ed Mast, another SeaMAC volunteer. “And we’re very disturbed that those individuals and groups that oppose equal rights and human rights for Palestinians have such power over both public and private media organizations.”

SeaMAC will hold a press conference Thursday at noon to divulge further details. The press conference will take place outdoors under the location of one of the billboards that SeaMAC purchased, on Elliot Ave West, just north of West Lee St. Press packets will be available.