A while back I wrote about an American campaign to end aid to the state of Israel:

In 2008, the Bush administration signed an agreement that secured $30 billion for Israel over a period of 10 years.

The group behind the advertisement is the Coalition to Stop $30 Billion to Israel. The two men who founded and lead the grass-roots organization are Lori Rudolph and Rich Forer; both are Jewish. Rich Forer was previously a member of the hawkish American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

But, he states, that in the last couple of years he has been reading about the history of Israel. Not the founding myths of Zionism, but the real history. About how Israel was born out of ethnic cleansing, and death and destruction against the innocent Palestinians. Forer says that he has been shaken and awaken on the injustices that Israel has committed. It should be noted that the books he read were mostly by Israeli historians. It was Gaza that finally actuated activism on Forer’s behalf; an assault he has called a “monstrous act of inhumanity.”

After years of sleeping, Americans too are finally beginning to wake up and realize that the propaganda they have been feed about Israel is, alas, just that. And that propaganda is starting to wear thin.

Recently I have begun to harbor doubts about a turning-tide in American discourse on Palestine/Israel. It is not that Israel comes under more criticism today than before, it does; but I may have mis-read the situation as signaling a turning-point rather than a tweaking of the parameters of debate. Alas, the billboard would point to the latter.

After being put up, it was predictable that pro-Israel groups would protest. That is what they do. They seek to end all debate, to maintain their hegemony over public discourse. It is not that they seek to malign critics, but that they wants to silence critics entirely. For America’s pro-Israel fanatics, it is not enough that they win 95% of cases, they aspire to dominate 100%. If they won them on merits in a open discussion, that is fine. But, NO, they seek to silence all debate and make sure that the only viewpoint heard is that voiced by Zionist groups.

And now they have done just that with the “Stop $30 Billion to Israel” campaign. After coming under pressure by pro-Israel groups, Lamar Outdoor Advertising, despite signing an eight week contract, has begun to remove the billboards. No doubt Lamar was threatened by a boycott by pro-Israel businesses. The Coalition to Stop $30 Billion to Israel issued the following press release:

On April 8th, the Coalition to Stop $30 Billion to Israel erected the billboards throughout the Albuquerque area in order to inform the public about the misuse of their tax dollars, denominated in human lives. The group was motivated by concern for the Palestinian people who had recently been subjected to a massive invasion of the Gaza Strip by the Israeli military. Over 1,400 Palestinians – mostly civilian, including three hundred children – were killed and over 5,000 were injured. In 2007 the Bush administration signed a Memorandum of Understanding that provides $30 billion of U.S. taxpayer dollars to Israel over a ten year period beginning in 2008. The majority of these dollars will be used to purchase American-made weapons.

The design of the billboard had been approved by Lamar and the billboards’ wording and final image were suggested by Lamar’s graphics designer.

According to information from Lamar, it appears groups claiming to be pro-Israel have conducted a campaign to pressure Lamar to remove the billboards. The Coalition believes this is a deliberate attempt to silence its right to free speech because the humanitarian message of the billboards supports equal rights for the Palestinian people, thereby necessitating criticism of Israel.

As a final note, I will state that there is nothing outrageous in this particularly case. Pro-Israel groups and businesses, of course, have ever right to pressure and withhold business from companies that advertise anti-Israel billboards. If a billboard campaign put up anti-Palestinians messages, I would boycott it too [if I had a business]. The point is not that they use unsavory tactics, there is no evidence of that; but that they, pro-Israel groups, moved by such zealotry in trying to crush debate. They already have nearly the full support of Congress, the media is pro-Israel, and so are most Americans. Can they relax a bit? Do they have to go around like the thought police crushing any criticism of Israel? It is their fanatical intolerance that is most grotesque and will eventually be their undoing.