Pro-Israel Group Responds To MTA Palestinian Ads

CHAPPAQUA, N.Y. – A battle of train station billboards is brewing in Westchester.

A pro-Israel group plans to respond to a pro-Palestinian billboard posted at Westchester Metro-North train stations last week. The billboard, titled "Palestinian Loss of Land – 1946 to 2010," met criticism from elected officials and commuters for being “anti-Israel.”

Beginning Monday, the California-based non-profit StandWithUs will place six ads in Metro-North railway stations in Chappaqua, Mount Kisco and White Plains, according to a news release. The ads aim to highlight the historical Jewish connection to the land of Israel, and how Israel has had a positive impact on the world.

“We cannot allow the public to be misled by the factual distortions in yet another anti-Israel campaign,” Roz Rothstein, CEO of StandWithUs, said in a statement. “We are committed to countering anti-Israel campaigns whenever they appear.”

The pro-Palestinian billboards featured four maps of Palestine/Israel from 1946 through 2010 and appeared to showcase the expansion of Israel at the expense of the Palestinians. Supporters of the billboard said it was simply showing facts, which Rothstein said is not true.

“The anti-Israel ads are a shocking distortion of history,” he said. “The message presumes there once was an Arab Palestine, when in fact no such country ever existed. As two of our billboards point out, this region has been recognized as the Jewish homeland for over 3,000 years.”

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