An anti-jihad ad that has caused a stir in other cities now has another destination for its message: the subways of Washington.
The ad by the American Freedom Defense Initiative states, “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad.”
Jihad - Arabic for "struggle" - is considered a religious duty for Muslims, although there are both benign and militant interpretations of what it means.
Last month, the American Freedom Defense Initiative posted the ads in the subways of New York and San Francisco.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations posted a response ad that reads, “Help stop bigotry against our Muslim neighbors.” Another one reads, “Support peace in word and deed.”
And the council is ready to try to counter the new ads in the nation's capital.
The ads were initially blocked, but on Friday, U.S. District Judge Mary Collyer ruled that the D.C. transit system must allow the advertisements because of free speech rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.
"We don't think it's controversial," said Pamela Geller, the executive director of the American Freedom Defense Initiative. "It's truth. Telling the truth now is equated with 'hate' and 'bigotry' in an attempt to silence and demonize the truth-tellers. That makes my ads all the more important.”
According to Geller, the American Freedom Defense Initiative ads have two missions: “to affirm the truth about the barbaric jihad against free people” and to affirm free speech.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which is working with the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and Jewish Voice for Peace, knows it can’t get the ads removed. Instead, the groups want the D.C. transit officials to help reduce the negative impact of the posters.
“With respect to your response in this matter, it is not our desire that (the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority) disallow advertisements that contain any political speech,” the Council on American-Islamic Relations said in a statement. “I do believe there are measures WMATA can take to mitigate the affect hate speech has on the community.”
These measures include working with organizations representing affected Muslim and Arab communities, placing disclaimers to show that the transit authority does not support the views of the ads, and providing free space for advertisements focused on promoting, understanding and tolerance, the Islamic group says.
More than likely, the free ad space will be used for the Council on American-Islamic Relations' ads against the American Freedom Defense Initiative’s message.
“The counter-ads are fine from a free speech standpoint,” Geller said. “But where were these groups countering ‘hate’ when the Fogel family was murdered in Israel? Or when the Chabad house was targeted for a bloody jihad attack in Mumbai? Or when Christians are persecuted on an increasingly frequent and violent basis in Egypt, Pakistan, Indonesia and elsewhere?”
Just like the Washington transit authority, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority had to display the American Freedom Defense Initiative ads because of a court ruling, despite refusing to allow the ads a year ago.
Although the ads cannot be removed, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Muneer Awad, hopes the MTA will also help reduce the effect of the ads in the city.
"We're trying to make sure MTA has policies to discourage hate speech," Awad said. “These hate ads are part of a larger problem.”
The MTA is considering amending its advertising policies to prohibit all noncommercial advertisements, spokesman Aaron Donovan said.
“If they countenance the outlawing of my ads, they should be careful: One day, they may wish to say something that offends the political or media elites, and they'll wish they had stuck up for my freedom of speech,” Geller said.
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Hmm, I don't like this kind of political ads. Under what context is this uncivilized or not? who make the rules on this?
True Christians are loving, kind, and peaceable. Jesus stated at Matthew 5:43: "You heard that it was said: 'You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' However, I say to you: continue to love your enemies and to pray for those persecuting you."
I'm sorry to disappoint you. Those who loved the enemies eager to kill them were killed and are dead. Only those who fought back defending themselves, their families and their countries are still alive.
Islamorealism is a good thing.
Oft I wonder where be these gods men talk about, where be the places they hide. And oft I wonder at the words of self proclaimed self made man. and the words they speak in worshipfull vocie of their own creator.
Muslims are barbarians. Mohammed was a pedophile. Islam is bad for planet earth. Islam is evil.
Bigger than Jewish Holocaust in human history is done by Muslims against Poor Hindus, which wolrd never talks about because Hindus are not assertive enough and even then they welcomed Barbaric mad muhemmedi islam into India. I support this initiative against Savge cult of islam. Death to ISLAM is must for survival of Human being. Islam is not religion its curse and worst than cancer and AIDS altogether.
Hear hear!
Boo Hoooo,
Pakistani people are garbage and they smell like camel dung. Pakistani people are filthy barbarians. Muslims are trash.
You are over-generalizing. Most Muslims around the world don't want to destroy Hindus of India. Live and let live.
The End Is Near .
Lovin it. Salamis can suck on it.
The poster says its anti jihad (HOLY WAR) if anyone is attacking the poster for this reason they can go to hell.
I can imagine how much the Jews would whine if someone posted an anti-Israel statement
There is no need to imagine, Jim... Go to any Palestinian, pro-Iranian, KKK web site and you'll find a lot of anti-Israeli statements. You will, however, not find Jewish whining.
CAIR and the Muslim Student Association already purchased anti-Isreal ads on New York Transit busses and subways. There were no protests or lawsuits.
Muslims are worst than roaches...
Victims of jihad are not only a Jewish thing. It is also the Buddhist being persecuted, the Christians in the Middle East, the Christians in India, Pakistan, the Jewish (one example, remember the youth killed this spring in Bulgaria). So Non-Muslims will eventually have to stick together. The violence caused by Muslims is escalating. Who can deny it? Open your eyes. This ad is meant to alert a lot of people, not only the Jewish people. The West must remain free and free of caliphate=one Muslim leader controlling the world, the dream of many many Muslims.
Only Shi'ite Muslims believe there is still a caliphate. Sunni Muslims (the majority) believe the caliphate ended with Ali in the 600s CE.
One man's jihadist is another man's preemptive war monger.
One man's terrorist is another mans freedom fighter.
Also, one man's muslim Defender is another man's christian Invader.
Well, that "other man" is WRONG. Just because you parrot some old slogan a bunch of times doesn't make it true. A freedom fighter does not target innocent civilians, then hide behind other innocent civilians when the army or police come after him. There is no freedom to be gained by that.
For example, there were nearly 300,000 christians living in Iraq before the christians invaded.
One man's christian isn't another man's christian. (He's a foreigner who needs killed and sent to burn in hell forever)
Saddam kept them from getting killed by the Sunnis and Shi'ites. Now that he's gone, they have free rein to kill each other and any Christians they happen to come across.