The lightboxes displaying Amnesty’s denunciation and condemnation of Israeli apartheid are to be switched off in Turin and to never be lit in Milan, InvictaPalestina wrote in a press release.

It adds that the contracts were terminated unilaterally. "The reason provided for this is that both the GTT Company, the public transport provider in Turin, and the Mondadori Group, in Milan, do not support any political advertising."

However, according to the statement, the advertising agency consulted with its trusted Legal Office as well as the Council of the Italian Journalists' Association before stipulating the contract, as it usually does when the message of the advertisement is not merely commercial.

The experts approved the contract because the advertisement included passages from an official Amnesty International report alleging apartheid in "Israel."

According to the statement, there was an intervention that triggered pressures, threats, and blackmail, which are all plausible reasons for canceling more lucrative contracts. As a result, the legal opinion succumbs to the power of blackmail.

Earlier last month, the streets of Turin city welcomed large luminous screens where passersby were attracted to powerful messages defining the concept of apartheid.

The ads aimed to bring attention to the fact that "Israel" is an occupation that instituted an apartheid system that has persisted since 1948.

A group of local associations who are outraged by the brutal system of tyranny and discrimination inflicted on Palestinians, as well as by the Western political establishments' indifference to this crime against humanity, initiated this campaign.

The same campaign was also held in Florence, Italy in October. 

In a statement, InvictaPalestina said, “We were inspired by a similar campaign carried out by anonymous activists in London”, adding that “the message was powerful in its simplicity: a dictionary entry defining the concept of apartheid, mentioning its application in South Africa's past and 'Israel's' present.”