AMP Muni Apartheid Ads. Press Conference Fail

Its not about the ads.  It never was.  The ads serve primarily as a convenient catalyst for garnering publicity.  With over 90,000 dead in Syria, over a million refugees from the civil war and no end in sight,  its very important to have these continuous reminders that after all, its all Israel's fault. Even if its not.   It was inconceivable that Hatem Bazien and his friends from American Muslims for Palestine would plunk down the money for advertisements without a press conference, to pat themselves on the back and roil about their eternal victim hood.  They did not disappoint.

Photos from the American Muslims for Palestine Press Conference earlier this week from their Facebook page

Lynn Gottleib and Hassan Fouda at American Muslims for Palestine Press Conference

Hassan Fouda is a regular at Bay area Anti-Israel events.  Sometimes he likes to pretend he's a Jew.

Anti-Israel activist Hassan Fouda posing as a Jew

Hassam wasn't needed to Jew-wash this time. His friends from Jewish Voice for Peace happily provided that service

Lynn Gottleib, Cecilie Surasky, Hatem Bazian and Hassan Fouda at AMP press conference

Partners in Solidarity: JVP forms alliances with some of the most extremist anti-Israel groups in the area.

Ultimately,  only the San Francisco Examiner  ran the story, but  they didn't give the extremists quite the publicity they craved, stating  "The “apartheid” campaign is the latest in a series of messages on Muni vehicles related to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East."  Yep.  That's "apartheid"  in parentheses.  The Examiner article was followed by an op-ed written by  Rev. Dr. Kenneth Meshoe, a member of the South African Parliament,  president of the African Christian Democratic Party and a black South African who lived under apartheid.

Dr. Meshoe wrote:

....In my view, Israel cannot be compared to apartheid in South Africa. Those who make the accusation expose their ignorance of what apartheid really is.

Apartheid was a legal system of segregation and oppression based on skin color, with a very small white minority dominating over the vast majority of people of color....

 I believe that it is slanderous and deceptive for Israel’s self-defense measures against the terrorists’ campaign of suicide bombing, rocket attacks and other acts of terrorism that have occurred, and continue to occur, to be labeled as apartheid. I am shocked by the claim that the free, diverse, democratic state of Israel practices apartheid. This ridiculous accusation trivializes the word apartheid, minimizing and belittling the magnitude of the racism and suffering endured by South Africans of color.

I urge all people, young people in particular, to visit Israel and learn the facts for themselves so that they can confidently refute these false allegations against Israel. The misapplication of the term apartheid makes a mockery of a grievous injustice and threatens to undermine the true meaning of the term.

 In my view, Israel is a model of democracy, inclusion and pluralism that can be emulated by many nations, particularly in the Middle East.