Seattle Times Article on “Dueling Ads”
Pro-Israel vs. Anti-Israel

The Seattle Times coverage favors, yet again, the notorious Jew-hater Ed Mast, who ran a vicious anti-Jewish campaign that prompted our response. And while the reporter, Keith Ervin, did contact me for comment, he used little of our exchange (below). Again, racist Ed Mast gets quoted extensively. Why is it no one ever ask us what we think when their anti-Israel ads go up?

Keith Ervin: "Palestinian Authority has
said it would welcome Jews in a Palestinian state"

Pamela Geller: Actually, the PA President, Mahmoud Abbas, said the
Palestinian state “will be free of all Jews.” Jerusalem Post

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Here are two other sources for that: Scholars for Peace in the Middle East:  Abbas: Palestinian State Must Be Jew-Free SPME

Israel National News: No Jews Allowed in Abbas Planned State Israel National News

The PLO ambassador has said the same thing:  PLO ambassador says Palestinian state should be free of Jews USA Today

Palestinian ambassador reiterates call for a Jew-free Palestinian state Daily Caller

Keith Ervin. "characterizes FDI as a
hate group"

Pamela Geller: It's AFDI (American Freedom Defense Initiative) not FDI.

This is a familiar libel that leftists and Islamic supremacists resort
to in order to discredit their opponents and turn people of good will
away from their message. Our organization is dedicated to the freedom of
speech, the freedom of conscience and equality of rights of all people
under the law. They smear us as "hateful" because they cannot refute
what we say.

Keith Ervin:  "and says King County Metro hasn’t acted fairly."

Pamela Geller: Our ad is a response to Ed Mast's false and misleading ad, which called for equal rights for Palestinians in Israel.

In reality, Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, in which people of all
races, creeds and colors live free, unlike in the Muslim countries that oppress,
persecute and slaughter non-Muslims. Their ad
ran, and ours ran. The only unfairness here was all the hoops that
we were made to jump through before our ad ran, providing abundant
documentation of the claims in the ad, threatening legal action, etc. I
am sure the anti-Israel ad sponsors were not forced to do similar things.

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Now here is the article that Mr. Ervin wrote:

"Controversial bus ads reveal Metro’s quiet policy change" Seattle Times, July 19, 2013

King County Metro Transit’s little-noticed
return to an ad policy that allows discussion of controversial issues
led it to accept dueling ads making claims about Israel’s treatment of
Palestinians and the Palestinian Authority’s policy toward Jews.

By Keith Ervin, Seattle Times staff reporter

Dueling ads over Israel and the Palestinian Authority reflect a
decision quietly made by King County officials more than a year ago to
reopen ad space on Metro Transit buses to political debate.

The latest ad, saying the government of the Palestinian West Bank is
“calling for a Jew-free state,” went on six Bellevue-based buses this
week under a four-week contract with a New York-based right-wing group.

The ad, which ends with the words, “Equal rights for Jews,” was a
response to the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign’s recent ad
advocating “Equal rights for Palestinians.”

Representatives of SeaMAC and the American Freedom Defense Initiative both said King County has unfairly favored the other side.

The new war of words comes after the county’s return to an ad policy
similar to what was in place in December 2010 when Metro accepted a
SeaMAC ad alleging Israeli war crimes. Metro removed the ad after
widespread public objections to it.

U.S. District Judge Richard Jones approved the decision to pull that
ad, which county officials said was a response to threats of violence
and disruption of bus service. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is
reviewing Jones’ ruling.

After an interim ban on all noncommercial advertising on buses, Metro
in April 2011 approved a new policy that once again allowed
public-service ads by nonprofit groups, but banned ads by political
parties and candidates.

The 2011 policy, approved by County Executive Dow Constantine, also
prohibited ads expressing views “on matters of public debate about
economic, political, religious or social issues.”

Metro cited that policy in refusing an ad urging shoppers to “Buy
American” and shop locally. After a Seattle Times story about that
decision, Metro reversed itself and accepted the ad, saying it promoted
purchases as opposed to expressing an opinion on a public issue.

Then, in a little-noticed action, Metro General Manager Kevin Desmond
in January 2012 signed a revised ad policy that lifted the ban on
debating public issues in bus ads.

Metro spokesman Jeff Switzer said that policy was adopted “after we
took a look at the legal parameters and we looked at the national best
practices” for advertising. Allowing more noncommercial ads has helped
Metro maximize ad revenues, which were about $5 million last year,
Switzer said.

The updated policy bans false or misleading statements, demeaning or
disparaging content, and material likely to lead to disruptions of bus
service.

When the “Equal rights for Jews” ad showed up this week, SeaMAC said
it was being treated unfairly because Metro had pulled its “fact-based,
well-documented” 2010 war-crimes ad, but accepted the AFDI’s “false,
distorted, made-up accusation” against the Palestinian Authority.

SeaMAC spokesman Ed Mast called AFDI an anti-Muslim hate group and
said it misrepresented the Palestinian Authority’s position on allowing
Jews to live in a future Palestinian state.

Mast said he didn’t believe Metro’s acceptance of the competing “equal rights” ads showed evenhanded treatment by the county.

SeaMAC’s “Equal rights for Palestinians” ad ran on the outside of up
to 12 buses in Seattle and Bellevue for several months earlier this
year, and is currently displayed in a modified form inside some Metro
buses, Mast said.

AFDI President Pamela Geller said in an email that King County
treated her organization differently than other advertisers, including
SeaMAC, because the county required “abundant documentation” of AFDI’s
claims and wouldn’t accept the ad until the group threatened a lawsuit.

“They (SeaMAC) smear us as ‘hateful’ because they cannot refute what
we say,” Geller said. Her biography on the AFDI website says the group
fights “the treason” of journalists and government officials “in their
capitulation to the global jihad and Islamic supremacism” and the
federal government’s march toward socialism.

Metro’s Switzer denied a claim by AFDI’s lawyer that the transit agency refused the ad multiple times before accepting it.