A group calling itself the Palestinian Awareness Coalition just launched an advertising campaign in Vancouver which purports to educate the Vancouver public about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict in the Middle East.
The campaign consists of 15 bus posters and a large mural in a transit station in central Vancouver, the general tenor of which is that Palestine has been steadily shrinking into Israel because of Israeli occupation over the past 66 years.
This is patent nonsense and does not stand up to honest, unbiased, objective and knowledgeable scrutiny. The campaign is simplistic and untrue and does not educate the public about the real nature and facts of the conflict at all. All it does is distort the conflict and paint a false picture of the conflict and its roots and history. Its not education, its propaganda. Unfortunately many if not most viewers will see it as accurate and truthful and Israel (and Israelis and Jews) will once more be vilified and demonized on the basis of “information” and “educational material” which simply isn’t factual or true.
The Jewish community in Vancouver is naturally upset and is currently examining a number of options to counter the campaign.
How about countering it with a campaign of its own which presents the true facts of the matter?
Vancouverites, and Canadians, are a generally fair people and a campaign based on facts and not propaganda would enable them to see that the Palestine Awareness Coalition campaign is nothing more than bilge and has no basis in reality. Giving them the truth and doing it in a very public manner is the best possible response to the Palestine Awareness Coalition distortions and drivel.
After all, the truth shall set you free as the saying goes.
The truth of course being the last thing the Palestine Awareness Coalition wants the public to see.
Yours sincerely,
Jerry Philipson
Comox, British Columbia, Canada
Jerry Philipson is a retired grandfather who has spent many years working in non-profit social service agencies in Canada and the United States. He holds dual Canadian and American citizenship and has been passionate about politics, civil liberties, freedom and democracy for virtually his whole life. He is particularly interested in the Middle East and America and believes that it is vital for people of good heart and good conscience to speak out against tyranny and dishonesty and to stand up and defend and protect Western values, principles and institutions.
