On Tuesday, I blogged about a poster created by an anti-occupation organization that likens the attitude of Israeli settler outlaws to rapists.
After the blog was posted, the organization behind the poster — which NGO Monitor had identified as Solidarity Movement but is better known as Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity — said the more offensive rape poster (the one depicting a woman) had been used only on the private Facebook page of its designer, not by the movement itself. The slightly more benign version of the poster (the one with the jar of vaseline) was posted on the movement’s Facebook page, but only for about 30 minutes, SJS said.
Here’s the organization’s response in full, which was sent to me by the New Israel Fund, a supporter of Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity:
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The leadership of Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity today responded to accusations regarding a poster campaign dealing with the issue of Migron:
“Neither NGO Monitor nor JTA contacted our organization to ascertain the facts about the Migron poster campaign. Their statements and stories are wrong and deceitful. In accordance with its usual practices, NGO Monitor continues to spread misinformation without even the most basic checking of the facts.
As for those facts: The poster depicting a woman was never used or posted by SJS, since the movement’s leadership deemed it too harsh. . The poster using the Vaseline jar was posted on our Facebook page, where it remained for about 30 minutes and then removed after several people found it vulgar or offensive. The removal was followed by an apology. To state that both posters were being used in an ongoing campaign was wrong.
The poster of the woman was only accessible on its designer’s private Facebook page. It was circulated by several individuals who have been obsessively attacking SJS for the past two years due to political and ideological reasons, specifically for not aligning with certain dogmatic “radical” positions.
We again apologize for using inappropriate imagery and for any offence that may have been given by our Facebook ad.
It is regrettable that unreliable organizations such as NGO Monitor divert attention through bogus accusations from the serious issue of the rule of law in Israel jeopardized by the settlers of Migron and their government backers.
We hope that in the future, media organizations like JTA will be more cautious in relying on dubious sources and will have the courtesy to contact our organization for comment before attacking SJS."
