StandWithUs,(SWU) a non-profit pro-Israel education and advocacy organization based in Los Angeles, will fight to counter the anti-Israel campaign which was launched throughout Vancouver transit sites in August.
Though StandWithUs has countered anti-Israel ads in the U.S. on travel lines since 2007, this will be the first time the organization will post ads in Canada. Their campaign will consist of placing posters in ten TransLink stations and will run beginning the week of October 14 until November 14.
StandWithUs will display two different posters. One of the posters will depict the land which was inherited by the Jewish people during Biblical times to the present - by juxtaposing a map of the ancient Jewish kingdom circa 1000 BCE, and a map of the land designated as the Jewish homeland by the League of Nations in 1920, comparing them both to a map of the much smaller State of Israel of today.
The second ad, will show Israeli and Canadian children waving their national flags, celebrating the shared values and freedom both countries enjoy.
The SWU ads will counter the map posters sponsored by the Palestine Awareness Coalition (PAC) which depict a “disappearing Palestine,” with Israel appearing to expand into Judea and Samaria. In reality, it is the Jewish state that has steadily gotten smaller, SWU said.
“The anti-Israel ads distort facts. We have already encountered these particular 'map' ads in the U.S. They presume there once was an Arab country called 'Palestine' when in fact no such country ever existed prior to the one being considered today," explained Roz Rothstein, CEO of StandWithUs. "Conversely, there has been a continuous Jewish presence in the land of Israel for three millenia, and the League of Nations recognized the Jews' historical connection to the land which is why it carved out the Palestine Mandate as the Jewish homeland,” Rothstein said.
Meryle Kates, StandWithUs Canada executive director, said that she was proud to be working for an organization which works to correct misrepresentations about Israel with facts.
"The StandWithUs posters balance the propaganda with the facts. They also remind Canadians of the shared values and many benefits of Canada's steadfast alliance with Israel," Kates said.
The anti-Israel billboard campaigns first began in the U.S. and for the past six years, StandWithUs has countered each one - running ads in several cities such as San Francisco, New York City, Houston, Washington, DC, Albuquerque, Chicago, Denver, and Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
“StandWithUs will not allow anti-Israel campaigns to go unanswered, no matter where they appear. Our goal is to set the record straight, and to inform the public about Israel's challenges and extraordinary achievements in helping make the world a better place,” concluded Rothstein.