The pro-Israel group American Freedom Defense Initiative, headed by activist blogger Pamela Geller, on Wednesday sued the NY Metropolitan Transportation Authority, asking Manhattan federal court to force the MTA to accept a bus advertisement including the phrase “Hamas Killing Jews, ” ABC reported. The ad has been rejected on the grounds that it could incite violence.
On september 19, the MTA released a statement saying it was rejecting ads that include the phrase “Killing Jews” because displaying them on buses “would imminently incite or provoke violence.”
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At the time, MTA Director of Safety and Security Raymond Diaz concluded that the proposed advertisement “would lead reasonable observers to interpret it as urging direct, violent attacks on Jews, given turmoil in Gaza, Syria and Iraq and New York City’s heightened security concerns.”
According to the lawsuit, Geller’s group sought to buy the ads to express its message on public issues “including issues such as Islam’s hatred of Jews.”
According to Geller, in late August the MTA notified the group that it would display three of the four proposed ads, excluding an ad with the quote “Killing Jews is Worship that draws us close to Allah, ” suggesting it could incite violence.
In the ad, a covered face appears next to the “Hamas MTV” quote, and the statement: “That’s his Jihad. What’s yours?”
The lawsuit cites “ongoing terrorism conducted by Hamas operatives against Israeli civilians in the name of Islamic jihad, ” suggesting the rejected ad is timely.
Geller said the ad in question had been displayed in other major cities, including Chicago and San Francisco, and there was no violent reaction.
The MTA mentioned that it was aware of the fact that the rejected ad was a parody of “MyJihad” ads sponsored by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which sells the notion that jihad is an individual and personal struggle, and not at all violent terrorism.
“The MTA does not decide whether to allow or not allow a proposed advertisement based on the viewpoint that it expresses or because that viewpoint might be controversial, ” the statement said.
