Proposed sign
Advertiser rejects signs calling for public transit on Shabbat
Israel Hofsheet's planned campaign to call for public transit 24/7 via banners on the sides of the very buses that they would like to see operate on Shabbat has been rejected by Cnaan Media, who fears that religious passengers may be offended and may damage the buses.
The company Cnaan Media, the franchisee responsible for advertising on buses belonging to Egged, Dan, Kavim and others, refuses to put up the advertisements of Israel Hofsheet – Be Free Israel calling for public transportation on Shabbat.
Cnaan Media's reason is that it does not want to offend the buses' religious passengers and that it fears that the signs and the buses that bear them may be vandalized.
According to Israel Hofsheet's executive director, Mickey Gitzin, his organization asked to put banners on the sides of buses reading, "We don't shut down on Shabbat! We demand public transportation 24/7" and a logo of Israel Hofsheet.
The proposed ad
Referring to the recent public hullabaloo around required infrastructure work on railways on Shabbat, Gitzin commented that recent events in the country are an opportunity to re-examine the status quo, which has been irrelevant for years: "The matter of Shabbat requires that a dialogue be established, and we're for that, but the refusal to publish a campaign like this constitutes crossing a red line. This is disgraceful, and all of us need to ask ourselves what country we're living in and why we're ready to give in so easily to intimidation and bullying."
He added, "Cnaan is damaging the right to hold a public and democratic struggle in a field that affects us all. The insistence that public transportation services operate on every day of the week is basic and obvious in an advanced, modern state. This is a real need, and the campaign that we wanted to launch isn't provocative of inciting, but one that expresses the wish and voice of many citizens in the country. The time has come that the state begins to hear us."
Israel Hofsheet describes itself as "a grassroots movement that strives for an Israeli society that practices cultural and religious pluralism, protects civil rights, and upholds the principles of democracy and Zionism as put forth in the Declaration of Independence."
Ohad Givli, the CEO of Cnaan Media, confirmed that his company decided not to authorize Israel Hofsheet's campaign. He said, "We, as a policy, don't put up messages that are likely to offend bus passengers. This is not just ultra-Orthodox passengers, but religious passengers in general. I can't stick a sign on buses that calls for them to operate on Shabbat. We definitely fear that people would be offended by the signs, that they'll damage it or vandalize the buses. The person who would be responsible for any damage caused to the buses in such a case would be us, and I'm not ready to put myself in that corner."
