StandWithUs activists. (Left to right) Miriam Young, Nicollette Lavi, Lauren Rosenthal, StandWithUs Research Assistant, and Charlotte Korchak, StandWithUs West Coast Campus Coordinator. Photo: StandWithUs.

JNS.org – The pro-Israel education group StandWithUs on Aug. 17 launched a one-year campaign that will feature pro-Israel advertisements on the interior of 98 buses in Chapel Hill, NC. The campaign counters an anti-Israel ad placed on Chapel Hill buses by the Church of Reconciliation. The church’s ad campaign, which also ran for one year, will finish at the end of August.

The Church of Reconciliation’s ad stated “Build peace with justice and equality. End U.S. military aid to Israel.” The ad “confuses and deceives the public,” said Roz Rothstein, CEO of StandWithUs.

“The ad’s words suggest that the U.S. should stop financial assistance to Israel, implying that only Israel is to blame for a lack of peace,” Rothstein said in a statement. “The message is deceptive, and uses velvet-gloved rhetoric to try to influence unsuspecting commuters who may not know the facts.”

The StandWithUs ad, launched in partnership with NC Triangle Voice For Israel, shows Israeli and Palestinian boys with their arms intertwined, along with the text, “Imagine Peace… in a Middle East where Israel and her neighbors share technology and resources to create a future of peace and prosperity for generations to come. The possibilities are endless.”

In July, StandWithUs responded to anti-Israel advertising by placing pro-Israel ads in San Francisco’s Muni bus system and pro-Israel billboards in Montana. Next month, the group will take out ads in Seattle.