'Israel right or wrong' crowd advocates censorship in Seattle

Seattle Times-Edward Mast – I was part of a group that raised money for a series of Metro Transit bus ads that read, "ISRAELI WAR CRIMES: Your Tax Dollars At Work." We abided by King County guidelines and our ads were approved by King County Metro Transit.

With a signed contract, ads were printed and ready for Dec. 27, which marked two years to the day Israel dropped a bomb on a schoolyard in Gaza just as children were leaving class. Many were killed. For the next three weeks, Israel killed 1,400 people in Gaza, mostly noncombatants. More than 300 of the killed were children. Investigations by the United Nations and Amnesty International concluded that Israel committed war crimes.

We didn't announce the ad campaign, but news leaked out and some local groups that defend Israel from all criticism took action to convince King County that any discussion of Israeli war crimes is inappropriate for public speech.

"War crime" is a legal term referring to a grave violation of the Geneva Conventions. Such violations by Israel have been well-documented throughout its lengthy occupation of Palestinian lands, and have included thousands of Israeli rockets fired into Gaza before 2008 and continuing attacks today. But U.S. military, political and diplomatic support, including $3 billion per year in military funding, gives Israel virtual impunity, and this one-sided U.S. support makes us complicit in Israel's crimes. Read more