The posters were plastered on top of adverts at some point over the weekend during a violent flare-up between Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Israel in which 690 rockets were shot from Gaza into Israel. In response, Israel bombed 350 targets.
The posters, which were captioned, "Israel's killing children again, enjoy your weekend" garnered shock and outrage with social media users condemning such actions. It's unclear at this stage who is responsible for the posters, however organization Protest Stencil posted about it with the caption, "What will it take for people to stop normalising Israel's rampages...?"
On Twitter, UK Media Watch shared the picture with a post saying that "this anti-Israel hate in London was likely fueled by initial media reports, which promoted the unsubstantiated - and later refuted - Hamas claims that Israel killed a 14-month-old baby."
It was found that the baby was actually killed by a rocket that had fallen short in Gaza - not by an Israeli air strike as Hamas claimed, the IDF confirmed on Sunday.
This anti-Israel hate in London was likely fueled by initial media reports which promoted the unsubstantiated - and later refuted - Hamas claims that Israel killed a 14 month old baby https://t.co/bSSk0V1AAr
— UK Media Watch (@UKMediaWatch) May 6, 2019
The Australia Jewish Association also shared the image on Facebook.
"Spotted on a London bus shelter, this disgraceful bigoted commentary on Israel responding to over 1000 missiles launched at its civilian communities from Gaza," it said. "This gives the terrorists exactly what they want, namely to build negative sentiment against Israel and to fuel antisemitism."
The organization said "We don't know whether this was commissioned advertising or just plastered over without permission" but "given the rise in UK antisemitism, this ugly message is as disturbing as it is total rubbish."
Other social media users called the posters "disgusting," "antisemitic," "sick" and "concerning."
This is not the first time that illegal anti-Israel posters have been plastered on to UK bus stops.
In September 2018, posters saying that "Israel is a racist endevour" were illegally stuck onto bus shelters, tube stations and on tubes across London. The city's mayor Sadiq Khan condemned the posters, calling them "offensive" and ordered their removal. London Palestine Action claimed responsibility for the act of vandalism.
The posters began to pop up as the Labour antisemitism row began heating up and Jewish activists shared concerns over the rising antisemitism in the UK.