Local Human Rights Groups Calls for Ending Military Aid to Israel Ad Campaign Kicks Off on Key TriMet Bus Routes
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- Written by Peter Miller Peter Miller
- Published: 30 August 2011 30 August 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Local Human Rights Groups Calls for Ending Military Aid to Israel
Ad Campaign Kicks Off on Key TriMet Bus Routes
PORTLAND, OR (August 30, 2011) - As part of a growing national campaign, advertisements urging an end to U.S. military aid to Israel went up this week on key Portland TriMet bus routes. The Portland media campaign was initiated by Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights (AUPHR) and is supported by groups and individuals around the Portland area including the Portland Chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, Portland Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, Lutherans for Justice in the Holy Land -- A Ministry of Central Lutheran Church, Portland, OR, Friends of Sabeel—North America, and Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights.
A rally announcing the campaign to the public will take place at Pioneer Courthouse Square on Wednesday, August 31, 2011 at 5pm.
The “Be on Our Side” media campaign promotes a productive U.S. policy towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on peace, security, and equality for Israelis and Palestinians. The organizers of the campaign point out that the tens of billions of dollars in aid granted to Israel over the past decades have not brought peace any closer, and instead, are being used to perpetuate the hopeless cycle of death and destruction.
The Metro campaign is aimed at bringing the public’s attention to the U.S. government’s commitment to at least $30 billion more dollars in military aid to Israel between 2009 - 2018.
According to Donna Boyd of AUPHR, “Combined with the Arab Spring and the shifting Middle-Eastern political relationships and our own American financial budget crisis, it is time that we re-examine our financial support to Israel. This campaign is to make Portlanders realize that we have been spending billions of American tax payers dollars arming Israel with weapons used to keep four million Palestinians under military occupation and oppression while Oregonians are experiencing cutbacks in greatly-needed social services. In Oregon alone, $28 million in federal taxpayer money goes toward Israel’s military each year.”
Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights (AUPHR) is a Portland based organization that advocates for a US foreign policy that promotes adherence to and compliance with international human rights by all countries including Israel. AUPHR is a member organization of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, whose member groups around the country are working to end U.S. military aid to Israel.
More information on the campaign is available at the campaign’s website at www.TwoPeoplesOneFuture.org > Press Kit