‘Israel is an apartheid endeavour’ bus poster removed

A vandalised bus shelter on Bayham Street in Camden temporarily bore the antisemitic slogan “Israel is an apartheid endeavour” yesterday.

It formed part of a spate of posters put up in advertising spaces across London bus shelters by a Twitter account called Protest Stencil, which has claimed responsibility on Twitter.

As part of the campaign, posters were stuck over advertising space belonging to the bus stop advertising company JC Decaux, but they have since been removed.

JC Decaux confirmed to Jewish News the posters were “vandalism” rather than advertising.

The flyposting campaign was timed to coincide with “Israeli apartheid week” and the “43rd anniversary of Land Day.”

London Palestine Action endorsed the campaign, tweeting: “Racist endeavour? Apartheid endeavour? Either is an accurate way of describing Israel’s regime.”

The posters fall foul of the IHRA’s working of antisemitism, which includes describing Israel as a racist endeavour among its examples.

A Board of Deputies spokesperson said: “This is an act of criminal vandalism, thankfully short-lived. Those responsible for this politically motivated poison must be caught and prosecuted.”

Mark Gardner, of the Community Security Trust, said: “This is another offensive stunt in which the group responsible is deliberately abusing the IHRA definition of antisemitism in order to cause upset and provoke a public reaction from the community.”