Israel Matzav

Another advertising food fight on San Francisco's BART

There's going to be another food fight on BART - Bay Area Rapid Transit - which is the San Francisco Bay area's public transportation system.

For the fourth time in this past year, StandWithUs is countering anti-Israel BART ads that call for ending US military aid to Israel. But this time, StandWithUs has decided to change the subject. Instead of correcting the misinformation, the StandWithUs ad campaign will highlight Israel’s gifts to the world and to the Bay Area in particular.

One poster underlines that “Israel Saves Water” through cutting edge water conservation technology that is being used in Sonoma County. A second poster shows how “Israel Saves Lives” through its innovative AIDS treatment which targets infected cells without harming healthy cells, and may lead to a cure for this dread disease.

The posters on water conservation and HIV will appear in key BART locations from June 18th to July 17th. They will be located above the down escalator at the BART station in downtown Berkeley and at the Civic Center station in San Francisco. There will also be platform ads in the Bart stations at the Embarcadero, the Civic Center, Powell Street, and in downtown Berkeley, the Mac Arthur station, and the 12th Street Station in Oakland.

“Instead of focusing on the misinformation in the anti-Israel ads, we decided to focus on some of Israel’s remarkable contributions to the world and to Bay Area residents specifically. The anti-Israel activists continuously try to turn Americans against Israel with negative billboard and other messages. Our ads focus on the real Israel--its vibrancy, creativity, and humanitarianism. Our goal is to inspire viewers with hope that some of the world’s toughest problems can be solved, and to let them know that Israel is on the forefront, working alongside the U.S. to solve those problems ,” explained Roz Rothstein, StandWithUs CEO.

StandWithUs’ educational resources document why U.S. military aid to Israel benefits both countries. In its print materials, lectures, and Internet resources, StandWithUs underscores that Israel and the U.S. have shared values and aspirations, and shared challenges. Most Americans are aware that Israel is on the front lines of terrorism, and faces ongoing threats from terrorist cells in the West Bank and from the terrorist group Hamas which has fired thousands of rockets from Gaza into southern Israeli communities. Americans know that Israel must be militarily strong to protect its citizens and others in the region from the fanatical Iranian regime that repeatedly spews genocidal rhetoric against Israel. Most Americans know that it is the height of irresponsibility to call for an end to military aid to Israel while Iran races toward nuclear weapons capability and regional hegemony. Above all, most Americans know that blaming Israel alone as the obstacle to peace ignores the context of Palestinian extremism, terrorism, and refusal to adhere to its signed commitments to continue direct negotiations.

“At StandWithUs we look at problems as opportunities. As anti-Israel activists continue to display their typical negative ads which omit the Palestinian responsibility for the stalled peace process, we have a choice. We could directly counter them and set the record straight, which we do in all our work, or we could inform the public about Israel’s achievements in helping make the world, and the Bay Area in particular, a better place. We decided to use this opportunity for an uplifting message,” said Rothstein.

Despite the ongoing threats it faces, Israel has put its energies into research and development and humanitarianism as highlighted in the StandWithUs posters.
“We hope that those who publicize misinformation about Israel understand that every time they do, we will be there to correct the facts and to inform the public that Israel is a light among nations ,” affirmed Rothstein.

For more information about Israel’s water conservation technology, see http://www.jewishnewsdaily.com/jewish-world-news/israel-plunges-into-water-technology/
and for more information about the Sonoma County program, see: http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/37046.wss

For more information about the AIDS cure, see: http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/hebrew-u-researchers-develop-treatment-to-kill-hiv-cells-1.311823

For more information about the electric cars, go here A Better Place, http://www.betterplace.com/the-company-leadership and the Plug-in Car: http://www.plugincars.com/sf-bay-area-deploy-battery-swappable-electric-taxis-101948.html

I moved the ads around. One pro-Israel ad is at the top, and the second one is at the bottom with the bad guys' ad.

Labels: BDS, Israeli high tech, San Francisco

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:50 AM