AFDI ad campaign: Time Magazine’s Lie by Omission

Time Magazine's interesting choice of photos ….Israel is blacked out. You'll also notice that Time's Alex Rogers never mentions that all of our ad campaigns were responses to anti-Israel ads running in these same spaces. Those multi-city anti-semitic ads were the catalyst for it all.

And check out the headline. Alex Rogers decribes our ads as "anti-Islam," not anti-jihad. Why?

The good news is that Time is reporting that the WMATA is going to run our new quranic camapaign.

I, for one, watch anxiously for Time to meet Newsweek's destiny. Most deservedly so.

"Controversy Escalates Over Anti-Islam Metro Ads" Time Magazine

Even
after two court cases and a public outcry, these inflammatory ads in
New York and Washington D.C. public transit systems aren't going
anywhere

By Alex Rogers / Washington D.C.

Spencer Platt / Getty Images

People
walk by a controversial ad, which has already been defaced, that
condemns radical Islam in a New York City subway station, Sept. 27,
2012.

Hop on a bus in New York or a train in
Washington D.C. these days, and you might see an ad that reads, “In any
war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man.
Support Israel, Defeat jihad.”  The message that Israel’s critics—and
in some people’s reading, all Muslims—are “savages” is not one that the
N.Y. Metro Transit Authority (MTA) or the Washington Metropolitan Area
Transit Authority (WMATA) want to display. But they don’t have a choice.

The American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), a conservative
anti-Islam group run by activist Pamela Geller, first tried to buy space
for the ads on New York City buses last fall.  The MTA turned them
down, citing its rule against posting “images or information that
demean…on account of race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry.”
Geller promptly sued the MTA for violating the group’s right to free
speech, arguing that by not putting up the ad, the MTA was taking sides
on a political issue.

The court sided with Geller.  N.Y. District Court Judge Paul
Engelmayer denied an appeal on Aug. 29, and the MTA has since revised
its rule to only ban ads that “would imminently incite or provoke
violence,” a standard that follows the one set by the landmark First
Amendment case Brandenburg v. Ohio.  Robert Muise, Geller’s
lawyer, says the new rule is “unconstitutional,” but the MTA hasn’t
rejected the AFDI ads under the new guidelines. It will instead attach a
disclaimer: “the display of this advertisement does not imply MTA’s
endorsement of any views expressed.”  The ads went up September 24.

But the controversy didn’t end there. On September 6, Geller signed a
$5,600 contract to run the same ads from Sept. 24 to Oct. 21 at four
Washington D.C. area Metro stops. Citing “situations around the world”
and the “security and safety” of its passengers, WMATA informed Geller
on September 18 that WMATA would not display the ads, and reevaluate the
contract November 1.  Geller sued WMATA, again alleging First Amendment
violations.

WMATA said it was advised by the Department of Homeland Security to
review the ads because they risked inciting violence in the wake of Middle East protestsset off by an anti-Islamic video produced in California.

“We’re not trying to close the forum to end debate on the
Arab-Israeli conflict,” WMATA lawyer Philip Straub said in a federal
court hearing. “We’re merely saying these words used in this
ad—‘savage,’ ‘war,’ ‘defeat’—echo so closely to the video that’s
resulted in protests and deaths overseas, and, as we were notified by
Department of Homeland Security, the threat of terrorism on U.S. soil,
thatthese words could not be displayed in our system until passions have
cooled somewhat.”

Judge Rosemary Collyer didn’t accept this argument and ordered WMATA
to post the ads no later than October 8, even though she called their
message “hate speech.”

The debate has since spilled out of the courtroom.  A D.C. commuter covered the ads in Post-It notes and a member of Congress has
called for a boycott of Metro trains. The Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR), an “organization that challenges stereotypes of Islam
and Muslims,” has purchased 16-foot banners in the same four Metro
stations Geller targeted.  The CAIR ads, set to go up this week, show a
girl in a hijab with a quote from the Koran: “Show forgiveness, speak
for justice and avoid the ignorant.”

In response, Geller on Monday submitted a new ad to
WMATA that features a picture of the World Trade Center towers burning
next to two Koran quotes: “Slay the unbelievers wherever ye find them,”
and “Those who disbelieve our revelations- we shall expose them to the
fire. As often as their skins are consumed, we shall exchange them for
fresh skins that they may taste the torment.”

Despite the escalation, Dan Stessel, a spokesman for WMATA, says that
the new ads will “probably” go up, “considering court filings on the
matter finding that Metro ad space is a public forum.” It seems Geller’s
inflammatory ads, and the controversy they’ve stirred, are here to
stay.

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