As Gaza war continues, Alabama AG ventures into local billboard battle

A billboard war between Palestinian groups and pro-Israel advocates in Birmingham received a surprise entrant on Oct. 7.

In May, a billboard by the “Young Palestinians of Birmingham” appeared off Interstate 65 near downtown, displaying a Palestinian flag with the words “Stand with humanity, stand with freedom, stand with Palestine.”

In response, a small group in the local Jewish community started Birmingham Friends of Israel, raising funds for a billboard that had an Israeli flag with the message “Hamas and Terrorism are your problems too,” and was tagged with #StandUpToAllHate. After raising over $4,000, the cost to have the billboard produced, it went up along Interstate 65, also by the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

The Palestinian group responded by placing its billboard again in early September, this time along the Red Mountain Expressway around 4th Avenue South. The Friends of Israel group was already working on fundraising for its second billboard, this time with an American flag and the message “Stand Up to Antisemitism.”

The Palestinian group has since updated its billboard with two images of Palestinian men holding wounded or dead children, with the caption “This didn’t start on October 7th. Stop Israel now.”

While the two photos are unidentified, online memes also use those two photos, referencing one as Deir Yassin in 1948, and the other as Gaza 2023. Deir Yassin is a village strategically located on the road to Jerusalem and the site of attacks against Jewish forces who were attempting to keep supply lines to Jerusalem open during the 1948 war. A battle took place there, but anti-Israel groups routinely call what happened there a “massacre” of civilians and claim it is an early Israeli attempt at ethnic cleansing.

Then on Oct. 7, the one year anniversary of the Hamas invasion of Israel, several electronic billboards started displaying a “Stand with Israel” message with an Israeli flag and a yellow ribbon for the hostages in Gaza — paid for by Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall’s campaign. One of those billboards is directly across the Red Mountain Expressway from the Palestinian billboard.

Marshall said he placed his billboards in response to the Palestinian messages, and felt it was important to reiterate the support for Israel in Alabama. He had visited Israel one month before the Oct. 7 atrocities, including a stop at one of the border communities with Gaza, where residents spoke about their hopes for peace.

Hamza Abu-Hamdeh, president of the Young Palestinians of Birmingham, told al.com that Marshall should focus on Alabama instead of supporting a foreign entity. Throughout the country, anti-Israel activists have focused on City Councils, urging them to pass ceasefire resolutions aimed at Israel.

Organizers of the Birmingham pro-Israel billboards were surprised to see Marshall’s billboards, and welcomed the support. “Perhaps other AGs throughout the nation will take note of this,” Mark Goldstone said.

Over the past couple of years, a coalition of state attorneys general have probed Unilever and Morningstar to ascertain whether the companies had policies that went against state laws against boycotting Israel. Last December, Marshall was among 13 colleagues who called on media organizations to cut ties with freelancers who were connected to Hamas.

The Friends of Israel billboard project is continuing their efforts, and can be reached at P.O. Box 26027, Birmingham 35244, or at birminghamfriendsofisrael@gmail.com.

New Orleans billboards

Over the summer, the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans put up several billboards in the area with a silhouette of city landmarks and the message “No Hate in Our Home.” That message was then reinforced with a New Orleans Statement of Peace, which was signed by many leaders in the Jewish and non-Jewish communities, and affirmed by the City Council on Aug. 8.

The local chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, which charges the Federation with supporting genocide, posted online that it had “fixed” the billboards, showing instead the message “Zionism is Racism” superimposed on the billboards on social media.

In Chicago, several electronic billboards were hacked on Oct. 16 to display a Palestinian flag with the messages “F— Israel” or “Death to Israel.” The company that owns the billboards shut them off completely about an hour and a half after they were first reported. Police are investigating.

A popular YouTuber in Chicago was referenced on the hacked billboards as having paid for them. He denied any connection and issued a statement that he immediately contacted the billboard company and his attorneys to have them removed.

A similar hack was done on electronic road construction signs in Arizona.