Not one billboard company in the Netherlands has agreed to accept an outdoor billboard campaign intended to raise awareness about the 136 hostages still being held captive in Gaza by the Hamas terrorist organization after nearly 100 days.
The National Public Diplomacy Directorate, through the Government Advertising Agency, prepared an outdoor billboard campaign throughout the Netherlands to raise awareness about captives whose voices and eyewitness testimony have been silenced by Hamas.
The campaign was expected to be launched as part of numerous information and public diplomacy initiatives as the hearing on the petition against Israel by South Africa at the International Court of Justice in The Hague gets underway.
The billboards designed for the paid campaign displayed pictures of different hostages, mentioned their names and the fact that they are being held hostage in Gaza, under the caption “She/He can’t testify today”.
The main message conveyed by the billboards is the fact that 136 Israeli hostages are being held captive by Hamas and thus cannot testify at The Hague Tribunal.
These are the main victims and witnesses to the acts of genocide and crimes against humanity committed by Hamas and to the war crimes Hamas commits each day while they are held hostage.
Israel appealed to more than 10 different billboard companies in the area of The Hague, Rotterdam and Schiphol Airport. Ultimately, not one accepted the billboards.
During the work with one of the billboard companies, the design language and the message that would appear on the billboard were approved; but unexpectedly when the billboards were due to go up, a message was received from the billboard company that the advertisement was canceled.
“The attempts at silencing the hostages’ voices will be answered with a loud voice,” Israeli National Public Diplomacy Directorate head Moshik Aviv declared.
“Even in front of the court in The Hague there are those who choose an aggressive and outrageous manner to take down an information campaign on hundreds of billboards throughout the Netherlands, including in The Hague.
“The truth will prevail and the State of Israel will continue to stand up for the justice of its path and tell the whole world the truth. We are running an unprecedented international information campaign. They will not be able to silence us.”
Government Advertising Agency CEO Moriya Shalom called the billboard companies’ refusal to publish photos of the hostages “a severe affront to freedom of expression and Israel’s right to speak out in a loud voice against the terrorism suffered by its citizens.
“This is a crude attempt to silence the voices of the Israeli hostages, who were abducted during Hamas’s murderous terrorist attack,” Shalom said. “Their right to be heard is beyond all doubt.”
