Billboard wars heating up as BDS lays charges

ANT KATZ

Three huge billboards were spotted on major arteries around Johannesburg and a further dozen street pole ads were put up outside the universities of Wits and Johannesburg.

However, last Sunday, one of the IAW billboards near OR Tambo Airport was defaced with what looks like black paint. This led to a case of malicious damage to property being opened at the Kempton Park police station, according to a statement by BDS South Africa.   

The anti-Israel lobbyists say in their statement that Israel and its supporters have “turned to suppressing of expression by defacing the billboards” and “cowardly vandalising” the billboard.

Kempton Park police confirmed that a case had been opened, but said they were dealing with it as one of random vandalism.

The pro-Israel billboards, which first started appearing last October, have been sponsored by Friends of Israel in South Africa – not all of them Jewish or even Israeli.

Their message is: “Israel is the only free, multicultural democracy in the Middle-East,” says SA Zionist Federation National Chairman Ben Swartz.

To press the multicultural theme home, he said, the theme had been very carefully selected. “We’ve used the theme of two women in hijabs and a Jewish surfer,” he told Jewish Report. Hijabs and burkinis (the latter the Muslim version of women swim wear) are being banned around Europe, explained Swartz, “while in Israel everyone knows how to get along.

“We are setting out the true narrative for the broad array of South Africans who want the truth to be told,” said Swartz. “The truth of the matter is that Israel has more civil freedom than just about anywhere, that is what the board is saying…”

The essence of the message is that in Israel it doesn’t matter who you are, you are all equal, says Swartz.

Last October, Swartz told Jewish Report: “The reason we were able to do this, was because the Friends of Israel felt this was a great initiative, and sponsors were happy to come forward.”

However, BDS SA supporters were unlikely to be happy with the new billboards, especially after the defacing of one of theirs. In their statement, they said: “We may disagree with and oppose the Israeli regime, but we urge tolerance and respect and not these bullying and intimidating tactics by Israel and its supporters.”