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L.A. Times Accepts Ad Denouncing Israel Trip in Oscar Swag Bag
by Jill Sergeant
February 24, 2016

Oscar-nominated celebrities were urged on Wednesday to skip a $55,000 trip to Israel offered as part of an awards gift bag. Two U.S.-based groups campaigning for an end to Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian Territories made the plea in a full-page ad in the Los Angeles Times that appeared five days before the Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday. “#SkipTheTrip. Don’t endorse Israeli apartheid,” said the ad, sponsored by the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation and Jewish Voice for Peace. The ad said the trip, which is partially paid for by the Israeli government, was part of a larger “‘Brand Israel’ strategy to distract from almost 50 years of illegal occupation of Palestinian land.” READ MORE