By Eric Nusbaum , Assistant Editor, JTNews
The controversy over ads critical of Israel banned from King County Metro buses last month became a legal matter today. In conjunction with the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign, the ACLU of Washington filed suit in U.S. District Court requesting an injunction that would place the ads on buses as soon as possible.
The 12 ads, which read “Israel War Crimes: Your Tax Dollars At Work,” were slated to run for four weeks beginning on Dec. 27, 2010. On Dec. 23, King County Metro announced the ads would not be run, and that an interim policy for non-commercial advertising would be implemented.
At a press conference announcing the suit, SMEC spokesman Ed Mast cited other controversial bus ads run by King County Metro, including one related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza.
“We rejected stronger language,” said Mast. “We abided by King County guidelines for what was appropriate speech in a public forum. What we want is not some kind of punitive action. We want our ads back up as they were approved and accepted.”
Attorney Jeffrey Grant, who represents SMEC in the suit, said that legally the case boils down to free speech.
“This case is about more speech, not less,” said Bender. “People have competing views on this, strongly held. But that’s the whole idea about the First Amendment; that people should get their ideas in the marketplace and let people talk about them.”
Rob Jacobs, director of Israel advocacy organization StandWithUs Northwest, said he is concerned that the bus ads would not necessarily amount to a serious dialogue.
“We had hoped that this would go away and that there would be an opportunity for dialogue and serious communication that’s more than slogans on the sides of buses,” Jacobs said.
A statement released by the Jewish Federation reinforced the organization’s support for the Metro decision not run the ads, calling them “inflammatory” and “destructive.”
“This kind of demonization of Israel is contrary to reconciliation and does not contribute to furthering the peace process. Our core values direct us to seek ways to build bridges, not to destroy them,” the statement said.
The case may rest on King County’s claim that the running the ads and corresponding response ads submitted by groups such as David Horowitz’s Freedom Center would be disruptive to Metro service. The county is currently in the process of creating a new policy for dealing with non-commercial metro ads.
“The county sells advertising to raise revenue for the provision of bus service,” said Frank Abe, director of communications for King County Executive Dow Constantine. “The escalation of this issue from one of 12 local bus placards to one of widespread and often vitriolic international response introduced a new and legitimate risk of harm to or disruption of our bus system.”
If the injunction sought by ACLU and the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign is filed, then Jacobs said his group would run ads encouraging a focus on the peace process. He also suspects that negative ads would be run by parties on both sides of the Israel-Palestine issue.
Mast acknowledged the controversy surrounding the ads but explained that he would remain unsatisfied until they were accepted by King County Metro as appropriate and finally run.
“Certainly the controversy spread the slogan wider than we had anticipated,” Mast said. “But at the same time we need to stand by it as appropriate speech.”