Controversial joint Arab party campaign ads removed

Police on Friday ordered the removal of several campaign banners placed by the Joint (Arab) List in the central Israeli town of Taibe, after local residents raised complaints that the ads conveyed a message they deemed to be hurtful to the country’s Arab population.

According to Channel 2 news, the banners were designed to look as though they had been vandalized, with the words “death to Arabs” spray-painted across them. The racist message, however, was actually deliberately printed on the banners, in an attempt to demonstrate the threats posed to Israel’s Arab civilians, according to the Joint List’s campaign manager.

“The slogan ‘death to Arabs’ was taken from a picture of an actual ‘price tag’ attack,” Joint List officials were quoted by Channel 2 as saying. “It is unacceptable and inappropriate for police to take down these banners,” they added.

Police launched an investigation into the controversial campaign ads in order to determine whether the messages which had been displayed could be labeled as an act of incitement and whether they violated Israeli law.

“Price tag” refers to vandalism and other hate crimes usually carried out by Jewish ultra-nationalists in retaliation for government policies perceived as hostile to the settler movement. Mosques, churches, dovish Israeli groups and even Israeli military bases have been targeted by nationalist vandals in recent years.