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Use Snapchat to Shut Down AIPAC!

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Protesters at this year’s rally outside the AIPAC convention in Washington DC will have one more tool to get their message out on social media: A Snapchat filter produced by the American Muslims for Palestine (AMP).

As a way to ramp up their social media outreach, AMP designed a filter and paid for a ‘geofence’ that includes the entire Washington Convention Center and surrounding areas. That means anyone inside or outside the convention on March 26 through March 28 will have access to the filter when they send snaps from the event. 

“The filter really has a dual purpose,” said AMP Director of Media and Communications Kristin Szremski. “First, it conveys our feelings that AIPAC and other Zionist groups, which support Israel’s occupation, are supporting the theft of Palestinian lands and Israeli military and police actions that result in the deaths of thousands of Palestinians.”

She added, “It’s also possible that because of its imagery with the Israeli flag and the AIPAC tag, convention-goers may use it accidentally if they swipe across filters quickly. It’s a kind of ironic activism, you could say.”

Thanks to Millennials and teenagers, Snapchat, which is based on sending pictures that disappear a few seconds after being viewed, now has more daily users than Twitter. Over the years, the company added editing features such as filters, which allows users to apply a decorative feature or text to their photos. When AMP applied for the filter, it drew a virtual “geofence” around the Washington Convention Center and surrounding areas. This means AMP’s filter will be available to anyone attending AIPAC as well as protestors outside the convention center. 

AMP is supporting Code Pink’s Shut Down AIPAC 2017 activities that include a rally from 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday, March 26. Also, Dr. Osama Abuirshaid, AMP national policy director will be speaking at Code Pink’s Teach In on Monday, Oct. 27. Then on Tuesday, March 28, AMP will join Code Pink and others to advocate on Capitol Hill for Issa Amro, a Palestinian Human Rights Defender facing years in Israeli detention on trumped up charges to stop his peaceful activism. Amro’s, the founder of Youth Against Settlements, trial is set for March 26, the first day of the AIPAC conference. Sign a petition calling for justice to prevail.