Former senior Israeli defense officials rolled out a massive ad campaign in Israel on Sunday “warning” Israelis of a single-state with a Palestinian majority if the two state-solution is not implemented as the end goal in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
The former officials are members of a group known as Commanders for Israel’s Security, “which is made up of approximately 200 former top officials from the country’s security services and is dedicated to advancing the two-state solution,” according to the Times of Israel.
The ad campaign featured pictures of Palestinian crowds, which the Times of Israel referred to as a “Palestinian mob,” overlaid with the caption “Soon we will be the majority” written in Arabic, and “Palestine: One state for two people” in English.
Ad campaign for an Israeli 'pro-separation' group ft. Palestinians warning "Soon we shall be the majority" https://t.co/b4YDz34tVe pic.twitter.com/KgTdwbesVr
— Ben White (@benabyad) January 15, 2017
The ads reference the growing Palestinian population, which is projected to reach 7.13 million by the end of 2020, compared to 6.96 million Jews in “historical Palestine” — meaning the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, and Israel — according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics 2016 census.
The campaign featured in full-page ads in two of Israel’s “most influential newspapers” and billboards across the country, the Times of Israel reported.
Palestinian lawmakers inside Israel slammed the campaign, which was reportedly intended to promote the two-state solution and to oppose right-wing calls to annex large swaths of occupied West Bank, calling it racist.
Former Israeli officials launch ‘racist’ pro-separation ad campaign https://t.co/RvkMSqT5WM
— Ben White (@benabyad) January 16, 2017
Ayman Odeh, a member of Israel’s parliament, posted a statement on Facebook saying “this isn’t a peace campaign, but rather a hatred campaign against Arabs. It’s an ugly campaign and exaggerated campaign, and given the general atmosphere as the [Israeli] prime minister classifies Arab citizens as enemies, this campaign turns dangerous.”
According to the Times of Israel, former Israeli major general Amnon Reshef, a member of the group responsible for the campaign, denied that the campaign was racist or inciteful, saying that “we’re not doing any demonization. There’s nothing here that’s racist.”
(Ma’an, PC, Social Media)
