[ April 25, 2024 ]
"Anti-jihad 'savage' ads to hit New York City's subway system"
FOX NewsNEW YORK – As violent protests
over an anti-Islamic film ridiculing the Prophet Muhammad sweep over
much of the Muslim world, a conservative blogger's provocative ad
equating Muslim radicals with savages is set to go up in New York City's
subway system.Pamela Geller, who once headed a campaign against an Islamic center
near the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attack site won a court order to post the
ad in 10 subway stations on Monday. The ad reads, "In any war between
the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support
Israel. Defeat Jihad."The ad was plastered on San Francisco city buses in recent weeks,
prompting some artists to deface the ads and remove some of the words,
including "Jihad," or holy war. Geller said she filed suit Thursday in
the U.S. capital to post the ad in Washington's transit system after
officials declined to put up the ad in light of the uproar in the Middle
East over the anti-Islam film.Story continues below advertisementAbdul Yasar, a New York subway rider who considers himself an
observant Muslim, said Geller's ad was insensitive in an unsettling
climate for Muslims."If you don't want to see what happened in Libya and Egypt after the
video — maybe not so strong here in America — you shouldn't put this
up," Yasar said.But "if this is a free country, they have the right to do this," he
said. "And then Muslims have the right to put up their own ad."Geller, executive director of the American Freedom Defense Initiative
and publisher of a blog called Atlas Shrugs, called an order by a
federal judge in New York allowing the ads "a victory for the First
Amendment" and said she wasn't concerned that her ad could spark
protests like the ones against the depiction of Muslims in the video
"Innocence of Muslims." Violence linked to the movie has left at least
30 people in seven countries dead, including the American ambassador to
Libya."If it's not a film it's a cartoon, if it's not a cartoon it's a
teddy bear," she said. "What are you going to do? Are you going to
reward Islamic extremism? I will not sacrifice my freedom so as not to
offend savages."New York police aren't anticipating adding any security to subways
when the ads go up and have received no threats or reports of violence
relating to them, chief spokesman Paul Browne said.The Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York initially
refused to run Geller's ad, saying it was "demeaning." But U.S. District
Court Judge Paul Engelmayer ruled last month that it is protected
speech under the First Amendment."Our hands are tied," MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan said. "Under our
existing ad standards as modified by the injunction, the MTA is required
to run the ad."Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, backed publication of the "patently offensive" ads.
"More offensive would be their censorship because that would violate
the guarantee of free expression of all ideas regardless of how
distasteful they are," she said.Geller said the subway ads cost about $6,000. Donovan said they will be up for a month.
Opponents say the ads imply that Muslims are savages.
"We recognize the freedom of speech issues and her right to be a
bigot and a racist," said Muneer Awad, the executive director of the New
York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.But he said he hopes elected officials and the MTA, which runs the
nation's largest mass transit system, "take on a leadership role in
denouncing hate speech."Geller, as head of a group called Stop Islamization of America,
helped spur a monthslong campaign two years ago to remove a planned
Islamic community center blocks from the World Trade Center site, which
she called the "ground zero mosque." Plans to build a larger center are
pending, although Muslims still have regular prayer services at a mosque
in the building.When the ad ran in San Francisco from Aug. 13 to Sept. 4, transit
officials took the unusual step of running disclaimers on the sides of
the buses, while some artists painted over "Jihad" or photoshopped
pictures that said instead, "Defeat Racism."Geller's group has also placed ads in Metro-North Railroad stations
north of New York City that read: "It's not Islamophobia, it's
Islamorealism."The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority hadn't seen
Geller's lawsuit on Thursday, spokesman Dan Stessel said. The agency
told Geller the ad would be "deferred" because of the ongoing violence
in the Middle East, he said."To be clear, we have not rejected the ad," Stessel said, but "merely
asked the advertiser to be sensitive to the timing of the placement out
of a concern for public safety, given current world events."
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3 Comments
11 years ago
Excellent, Pamela.
Its time for all New Yorkers to see savagery called savagery.
The Lying New York Times must be having a hissy fit.
Yay!
11 years ago
FOX news is like the rest of them with its pro-islam reporting.
11 years ago
The only bigot here is Muneer Awad. How can Pamela be a racist? What race is Islam?
This is just another excuse from freedom hating Muslims to try and control free speech. To bad. Go back to some flea bitten Muslim country, Awad, and see how well you like it.
