Dear Mr. Walsh,
Joseph Goebbels, the head of propaganda for the Nazis said the following; "a lie repeated often enough will be believed" (see reference below). Now we have the lie of Israeli apartheid and your company has decided it represents a truth when every aspect of Israeli life shows it is a lie. By allowing the messaging in the Israel Apartheid bus ad to be plastered on your buses, even if the layout is improved, Metrobus is falling for the ancient trick--lie about the Jews and nobody cares; foster antisemitism, and nobody cares; kill the Jews and nobody cares. But what does that say about Metrobus? It says you are host to antisemitism and perhaps some of those who approve such an ad hold antisemitic views. It says you value the ad income more than the wellbeing of your Jewish community.
There is no substance to the claims of the sponsoring organizations, but the history of individuals and organizations that carry a death wish is on display--they wish to annihilate the country of Israel, eradicate it, deny its legitimacy, demonize it and isolate it from among the nations of the world. This is what you're hosting and what the obnoxious lie represents.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has himself said that BDS is antisemitic and the purveyors of the boycott, divestment and sanctions agenda have found a home in St. John's Metrobus company. How comforting-- demonize an entire nation, the only democracy in the Middle East, the only country with gay rights, the only country with equality rights for all citizens, the only multi-faith country where Christianity flourishes and the number of mosques has increased substantially since its establishment as a Jewish state--and you want to spread the lie of apartheid.
How dare you?!
If you are a publicly funded organization, then you are misusing public funds to foster Jew hatred. Do you not see growing antisemitism in this country, and world-wide, and in your own community? It always starts with the Jews, but it never ends there. The major source of antisemitism today is blaming Israel and no matter what evil one wishes to denounce, blaming it on the Jews is standard fare.
Jews are the indigenous people of Israel, being there 4000 years ago, clearly 2000 years before Christianity and 3000 years before Islam was born. Arabs come from Arabia and were invaders. Jews come from Judea, which is part of Israel, hence our ethnicity.
You cannot opt out of this by stating the policy you have demands truth and then you use ads to promote lies. You cannot claim the statement in this ad is true for some people but not others. That is a Non sequitur. Since 21% of Israel is Arab and the Arabs have full and equal rights and participate in every aspect of society, including in the Knesset (the Parliament) you have zero evidence of any apartheid. The claim is based on only one thing--Jew hatred. It is a fact that you have an organization that claims to be Jewish supporting these ads, but Independent Jewish Voices is a leftist radical fringe group and no more represents the Jewish community than the Proud Boys represent the majority of Canadians.
Probe further, and ask, why is an organization in Canada promoting lies? How is this part of any Canadian agenda? How is this promoting peace? How does lying about Israel serve any justice for Palestinian Arabs who live under the domination of one of two terror regimes-Hamas in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority in the Disputed Territories? Israeli Arabs are not subject to torture, incarceration and murder which has been well documented as part of the PA regimes practices.
This ad campaign serves no purpose other than to promote lies and bigotry, and endanger Jews.
It is time to End Jew Hatred! Take down the bus signs and refuse to carry such a vile message. Do not let Goebbels have the last say.
If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
Respectfully,
Andria Spindel
Executive Director Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation