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Tuesday, February 8, 2011

City County: People Threatened Violence if Buses Ran Ads Critical of Israel

Posted by Dominic Holden on Tue, Feb 8, 2011 at 12:06 PM

Posted last night and updated with comments from the ACLU of Washington, which stands by its lawsuit that argues the ads should run, despite the threats.

The reason King County refused to run ads about "Israeli War Crimes" on the side of buses in December, it revealed in records filed in King County Superior Court today, was that Metro call centers and inboxes were deluged with inflamed protests, not only from Jewish people afraid for their safety on buses, but from Jewish sympathizers threatening the county with violence if the ads ran. The county also believed that allowing the ads could escalate to a "risk of terrorist violence."

"You want WAR against the Jewish people? YOU GOT IT!" one person wrote. While others, according to a court brief filed by King County Prosecuting Attorney's office, said, "If you run these ads we will … shut metro down," and, "KC ATTY IS FORCING ME TO VIOLENCE."

One person sent photos of gored corpses in bombed out buses with handwriting that said, "No to bus ads for Muslim terrorists." (You can see, if you want, in this .pdf).

The ad that started it all

"WE JEWS ARE NOT THE SAME AS THE JEWS OF EUROPE DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR!!" one person wrote to King County Metro, which operates the buses. "WE GET PISSED OFF, WE TAKE ACTION!!! TAKE THE ADS DOWN!!!!!"

After seeing some of these communications, County Executive Dow Constantine says his leadership team "expressed grave concerns to me that several of the calls and emails conveyed an intent or threat to block or vandalize Metro buses, and there were some communications that could be interpreted as expressing more violent, if less specific, intentions," according to his declaration filed with the court.

The Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign had paid to run ads in December, but Constantine blocked them over the week of Christmas due to an unspecified threat of service disruptions. In attempt to overturn that decision, the ACLU of Washington filed a lawsuit on the group's behalf that argued King County violated the Constitution by refusing to post the ads only after they proved controversial.

ACLU spokesman Doug Honig says the court filing "contains nothing that changes our view that the County should honor its contract to run the approved ad submitted by the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign. We will be presenting our case at a hearing on our request for a preliminary injunction this coming Monday morning at 10." Even if that fails, Honig says, the court case will proceed on its own merits.

Late last month, I speculated that the county received violent threats and probed officials for details (a threat would demonstrate a legitimate threat of service disruption, which officials hadn't revealed). They refused to acknowledge those threats until today.

The county cites several other concerns, including Jewish passengers who feared for their safety in a bus with the ads on the outside. "I do not intend to endanger myself by riding on a vehicle that has emblazoned on the side of it hate messages," one person wrote. Sheriff Sue Rahr wrote to the court that the ads may "create a potential security risk for the Metro transit system." And US Attorney Jenny Durkan reportedly told Constantine that a transit system is "a vulnerable target."

Another concern: Increasing visibility in the Middle East. An article about the ad appeared on the website of Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades, an armed branch of Hamas. The county received counter ads from Horowitz Freedom Center (a conservative group) and the American Freedom Defense Initiative (an anti-Islamic group). "The counter ads would almost certainly intensify public unease," Constantine wrote. "It also appeared to me that Palestinian or Muslim communities, among others, could perceive the counter ads to be insulting, degrading, or offensive."

"Under such circumstances," King County attorneys wrote, "it was responsible for King County to act to reduce Metro's visibility to terrorist groups and the risk of terrorist violence."

Fielding the thousands complaints also cost $24,000 of Metro staff-time, far outweighing the $1,794, Metro would make from the ad, the county says. And the county received more generic disruptions. One person wrote, "SO HELP ME I BETTER NOT SEE ON OF THOSE ADS ON A BUS. I MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO CONTROL MYSELF" Another commented, "I think I will organize a 'riot' at your bus stops... Maybe the Jewish population should change their behavior."

Constantine's declaration is here; the county brief is here; some of the complaints are here.

The ACLU of Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Comments (51) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

this is war. fuck the jews. they threaten violence?

Posted by im not anti semitic, i just want to *!@$ the violent jews on February 7, 2011 at 8:14 PM

How do you know the letter writers were jews? Maybe they were lying.

Posted by six shooter on February 7, 2011 at 8:14 PM

@2) Fair enough. They could have been lying about being Jewish.

Posted by Dominic Holden on February 7, 2011 at 8:19 PM

"WE JEWS ARE NOT THE SAME AS THE JEWS OF EUROPE DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR!!" one person wrote to King County Metro, which operates the buses. "WE GET PISSED OFF, WE TAKE ACTION!!! TAKE THE ADS DOWN!!!!!"

Way to piss on your ancestors, you shitbag. Many of them rose up and armed themselves to try to fend off genocide.

Posted by Baconcat on February 7, 2011 at 8:38 PM

If you piss me off, I'LL WRITE A STERN WORDED LETTER!

Posted by sirkowski

on February 7, 2011 at 8:42 PM

This about sums it up.

Posted by venomlash on February 7, 2011 at 8:42 PM

@2 - Why, because that can be the only possible explanation - an anti-semetic conspiracy? Accept it - every religion has assholes.

Posted by Free Lunch on February 7, 2011 at 8:49 PM

Israel and the Jewish faith are VERY different things. But Israel does commit horrible war crimes so I guess the truth hurts. :(

Posted by svensken on February 7, 2011 at 8:55 PM

If those aren't terrorist threats, then what are?

Posted by aiff on February 7, 2011 at 9:07 PM

wow, so the west coast city with one of the smallest jewish populations around is going to suddenly explode with fantasy Israeli sectarian violence?

DAMN WE BETTER MAKE IT ILLEGAL TO SAY DRADEL NOW!

Posted by meanie

on February 7, 2011 at 9:16 PM

These ads will make riding a Metro bus dangerous.

Right now they are completely safe, weapons and harassment free sanctuaries.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7…

Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe

on February 7, 2011 at 9:21 PM

Remember when all ya had to worry about was the driver getting hit by some kid with a skateboard?

Posted by maxbell on February 7, 2011 at 9:42 PM

It's a bad idea to let the craziest among us decide what the acceptable tone of speech in our society will be.

Posted by YakHerder on February 7, 2011 at 9:56 PM

In other words, Constantine gave in to terrorism.

Posted by Hawke

on February 7, 2011 at 10:02 PM

I would love to hear from a more progressive Jewish organization such as J Street. I dislike that a faction that represents a minority in Isreal somehow dominate all discourse on the I-P conflict here in the US.

Posted by Chris Jury

on February 7, 2011 at 10:32 PM

I fail to see how accusing Israel of war crimes is 'hate speech' against Seattle's Jews. Accusing the US of war crimes is not hate speech against all Americans. In fact, it's not even, necessarily, hate speech against the people you're accusing. It's certainly strong language, and it certainly is loaded... but "hate speech" means something really specific and I don't think the bus-board cited in this article rises to that level.

Posted by pheeeew!crack!boom! on February 7, 2011 at 11:08 PM

Oh, those peace-loving Israelis. They're *so* persecuted. When will people leave them alone?

Posted by Some Old Nobodaddy Logged In on February 7, 2011 at 11:17 PM

Who were those people who wrote those letters? They were the same kind of people who write awful comments on the Seattle Times website, and who used to write comments on Goldy's blog, and who write comments on the Slog and Publicola. Some of them are Jews, some are Christians, some are atheists. But they're all idiots who are attracted by the scent of blood, as were all of you.

Posted by sarah68 on February 7, 2011 at 11:43 PM

So, bottom line for those keeping score at home: violent threats actually work!

Posted by Mahtli69 on February 7, 2011 at 11:47 PM

I don't see how an advertisement forces anyone to commit violence.

Maybe drop the whopping $2000 to run a rebuttal ad instead?

Posted by Westlake, son! on February 8, 2011 at 12:58 AM

I disagree with those ads because they're hyperbolic, rabble-rousing, no-shades-of-gray-allowed spin. Israel has a horrible record in dealing with its neighbors, and using cluster bombs in populated parts of Lebanon certainly qualifies as a war crime, but this kind of propaganda is exactly the wrong way to rebuke them. Hysterics don't help much.

Posted by venomlash on February 8, 2011 at 1:33 AM

Though only a half-blood Jew, I can't help but feel insulted every time someone (anti-semitic or not) makes the equivalency Jew=Israel. This means Israel crimes = Jew crimes and it also means views critical of Israel = anti-semitism. Fuck that. Less than half of the worlds Jews live in Israel. An almost equal number of Jews live in the US as in Israel, and yet every anti-semite points to Israeli war crimes as proof of how evil Jews are and every rabid zionist paints anyone humbly suggesting that it's not nice to drop bombs on Palestinian schools as an anti-semite.

Fuck that. You can oppose Israeli policies without being an anti-semite and every fucking jew on the planet cannot be held responsible for every shitty thing Israel does.

Posted by Lynx on February 8, 2011 at 1:38 AM

These threats were, of course, forwarded on to the proper authorities for investigation and possible prosecution, right?

Right?

Posted by dagard on February 8, 2011 at 2:00 AM

Well at least we know they only give in to the right sorts of terrorists.

Posted by madcap on February 8, 2011 at 2:37 AM

22, no one thinks jews=israel. Its just easy for the zionists or the adl or whoever to accuse people of antisemitism whenever they are critical of israel. They point to people critical of israel as proof that antisemitism exists, when really there are hardly any people in the world who are actually antisemitic. (Saying jews are miserly or whatever is not antisemitism, its's stereotyping, something almost all people do to some extent (not just regarding jews))

Posted by who cares on February 8, 2011 at 2:49 AM

@22 I totally agree, but you know who insists on making the Israeli=Jew connection is 2nd and 3rd generation american jews. I swear I wish they would let it go. The Jews I know are 90% brooklyn and 10% Russian. Why put your human decency on the line for Israel whose issues are so grave and have so little to do with who you are? Revel in historical Israel but this current thing...please distance yourself Jews. You're worse than the doofis who tells everyone he is directly related to King Arthur or a descendent of George Washington. Really? Who cares? What have you done lately?

Posted by jnonymous on February 8, 2011 at 4:23 AM

I bring my flip camcorder with me everywhere I go. Id be happy to get off the bus and record Israeli retards trying to block the bus from moving.

Oh and why arnt these emails from Israeli supporters threatening violence, being turned over to the FBI?

Posted by Kinison

on February 8, 2011 at 6:51 AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heckler's_v…

Posted by opera cat on February 8, 2011 at 7:03 AM

29 Comment Pulled (No) Comment Policy

@29

yes, you can do that, because that's what free speech entails

Posted by opera cat on February 8, 2011 at 7:31 AM

@21, so in your view, Israel has committed war crimes, but saying so out loud (or in this case, in text) qualifies as "hysterics"?

Posted by Atumornamedmarla on February 8, 2011 at 9:17 AM

@21 It's not hyperbole to call a spade a spade, Venomlash. & what, we're supposed to solely use our inside voices when pointing out atrocities committed with our help that our fellow citizens continue to turn a blind eye to? Fuck that. Sometimes the strident approach helps, sometimes the polite. We need both, and we need to keep raising the topic anyway we can until it’s actually addressed.

Posted by OuterCow on February 8, 2011 at 9:22 AM

Maybe if Metro was adequately funded, it wouldn't have to rent its customers' time out to economic interests in order to make ends meet...

Posted by Fnord on February 8, 2011 at 9:25 AM

@9

You're exactly right it's terrorism. And that terrorism cost Metro a lot of money in lost advertising which the citizens of Seattle now get to pay for via increased fares.

How hard is it to understand that caving in to threats of violence just teaches people that violence is the answer to all of their problems? We need to take a stand against these pro-israel terrorists, and stop funneling money to them for use in their mass murder campaigns.

Posted by JayTerp on February 8, 2011 at 9:29 AM

Jewish terrorism is terrorism.

Posted by ZenDog on February 8, 2011 at 9:40 AM

All I know is I would be seriously pissed off if my last moments on Earth were spent on a fucking Metro bus before it exploded.

Posted by SouthEndMike on February 8, 2011 at 10:55 AM

37 Comment Pulled (Trolling) Comment Policy

I don't care if you equate or don't equate Israel with Jews. I just don't like it when you start using Jewish stereotypes to further your understanding of why Israel seems so bad.

So, in other words, Jew \= Israel in some cases, but in other cases it does.

Posted by six shooter on February 8, 2011 at 12:06 PM

Unanswered questions:

1. Did the County turn all of this over to law enforcement and the Fed to get all the people that issued threats arrested? This is threats of freaking domestic terror!

2. If no on number one, why on Earth not??

3. Why did the County sit on this information that they were under threats of domestic terror?

4. Who made the call to not report this to the law enforcement if that didn't happen, and who made the call to not disclose the threats? Whomever it is needs to be named. If it's an elected, they need to be gotten rid of, even if it's Dow.

Posted by Joe Szilagyi

on February 8, 2011 at 12:13 PM

@26

Uh, no.

The source of the Jew=Israel is Israel itself. This began in the post-WWII era before Israel was even formed. Anyone who opposed Israel or it's policies was equivalent to the Nazis. It worked then & it continues to work today. The meme has so much momentum that it is embraced w/o any critical thinking, as an established fact.

Posted by Some Old Nobodaddy Logged In on February 8, 2011 at 12:20 PM

@13 ftw!

Posted by Timrrr on February 8, 2011 at 12:32 PM

Metro...we'll get you there...in a flaming rolling inferno of suicide bombyness!!

Posted by Last of the Time Lords on February 8, 2011 at 1:02 PM

Isn't threatening violence a hate crime?

I'm shaking my electronic fist in anger at their behavior ...

Posted by Will in Seattle

on February 8, 2011 at 1:12 PM

@43

This is America's blindness to the situation in the Middle East in action: America only sees Muslim terrorism. Even when it's non-existent. Anyone can act as they please in defense of Israel. Imprison people indefinitely, torture, bomb people's homes, pogroms, pillage, and here in Seattle, threaten murder over some signs.

Posted by Some Old Nobodaddy Logged In on February 8, 2011 at 1:38 PM

@44 -- Good luck trolling for a fight on this one, Nobodaddy. Seems like SLOG is pretty sensible today.

Maybe you and Will can be bestest friends now.

Posted by six shooter on February 8, 2011 at 3:25 PM

La, la, la..
"Still they're cousins, identical cousins and you'll find
they laugh alike, they walk alike, at times they even talk alike.
You can lose your mind ... when cousins are two of a kind!"

Posted by Gurldoggie

on February 8, 2011 at 3:34 PM

@45 sure, just buy me a pitcher of cider.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on February 8, 2011 at 4:29 PM

Since someone above mentioned JStreet, here's their address.

http://action.jstreet.org/c/8217/t/5534/…

Quite a few Seattle Jews are members. We actually have as wide a spectrum of opinions about Israeli government policy as all Americans do about our country's policy. That's because we're individuals, not "Jews".

Posted by sarah68 on February 8, 2011 at 4:41 PM

#37
I've seen your "information" about a dozen times. I think that means that you aren't being censored, just ignored.
Also;
If threatening violence will get you what you want from area politicians I am going to get medieval on someone if the potholes on 14th Ave S aren't filled soon.

Posted by Mugwumpt on February 8, 2011 at 7:31 PM

How long is this going to take?

Posted by Mugwumpt on February 8, 2011 at 7:32 PM

Nothing more annoying than self-righteous Americans talking about how evil Israel's actions are.

Don't get me wrong, they are. But America's are equally, if not more, so. How many hundreds of thousands of innocent people did we go halfway around the world to kill in Iraq? How many murderous dictators have we propped up in South America?

As Americans we should start looking at our own government and military first.

Posted by James123 on February 9, 2011 at 3:39 PM