London bus stops vandalised with ‘Israel is a racist endeavour’ posters
London Palestine Action claims responsibility for a spate of full size posters that appear across the capital
Jenni Frazer is a freelance journalist
Responsibility for a flyposting campaign at central London bus-stops, declaring “Israel is a racist endeavour”, has been claimed by London Palestine Action.
The full-size posters were posted over existing advertising space, belonging to JC Decaux, at a number of bus shelters, including those on Westminster and Waterloo Bridges. The posters went up this afternoon, the day after the Labour Party in-fighting about criticism of Israel and antisemitism resulted in the eventual adoption of the full International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn tried and failed to add a rider to the IHRA definition suggesting that it was legitimate to describe Israel as a racist endeavour.
On Wednesday afternoon the flyposters went up and were admired as “amazing work” by Asa Winstanley, who writes the anti-Israel publication the Electronic Intifada.
He said the action had been taken by “the same activist group which brought you the brilliant tube “subvertisements” which sent Israeli politicians into hysterics back in 2016”. This reference was to a series of adverts put up in London Underground, covering existing, legal adverts, which declared Israel to be an apartheid state.
London Palestine Action posted a series of pictures of its bus-stop action, saying on social media that Israel was “created by ethnic cleansing; maintained by ethnic exclusion. Israel is a racist endeavour”, making the phrase into a Twitter hashtag.
JC Decaux described the posters as “vandalism” and said that steps were being taken to have them removed. A respondent on London Palestine Action’s Twitter feed asked ironically whether the notorious Nazi-era yellow star, with “Jew” in the centre, would be the next thing to be highlighted.
A TfL spokesperson said: “These adverts are absolutely not authorised by TfL or our advertising partner JCDecaux.. It is flyposting and therefore an act of vandalism which we take extremely seriously. We have instructed our contractors to remove any of these posters found on our network immediately.”
- FULL Jewish News interview with John McDonnell: ‘MPs shouldn’t face deselection’
- Listen to the full interview with John McDonnell here:
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
