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Yet again... Anti-Islam ad campaign coming to MTA buses, subway stations

Posted by Gold_12th on Fri Sep 19 01:44:50 2014

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An incendiary ad campaign that includes an image of American journalist James Foley just before his beheading in Syria is coming to 100 MTA buses and two subway stations.

The ads, paid for by flame-throwing blogger Pamela Geller, at a cost of $100,000, are intended as an “education campaign” to warn of the “problem with jihad” and Islamic sharia law, Geller said.

In one of the placard ads, Foley appears handcuffed, on his knees, next to the hooded, black-clad jihadist who is about to execute him — an image from the video released by the group Islamic State, which boasted of the execution.

The ad also contains a second photo, of the Briton suspected by some of being Foley’s killer. The Brit is shown in happier times, before he allegedly joined ISIS.

“Yesterday’s moderate is today’s headline,” the placard says.

A second ad contains a 1940s photo of a pro-Nazi Palestinian leader chatting with Adolf Hitler under the headline, “Islamic Jew-Hatred: It’s in the Quran.”

In addition to the 100 buses, Geller’s ads will appear at the entrances of the E. 59th St. station on the Lexington Ave. line and the Columbus Circle station.

Geller is a prolific blogger who writes of a “global jihad conspiracy” and calls President Obama a “clown” and an “Islamic apologist.”

Her ads will surely offend some bus and subway riders, but the MTA said it has no choice but to allow them.

It tried to block Geller several years ago when she wanted to post ads in the subway that labeled enemies of Israel as “savages.”

The MTA said the ads violated its “no demeaning” language policy. But a judge ruled that rejecting the ads violated Geller’s First Amendment rights.

“If you read the court decision on this, our hands are tied,” said MTA spokesman Adam Lisberg.

Following that battle, the MTA updated its policy to force all viewpoint ads like Geller’s to contain language clearly stating that the opinions expressed are not the transit agency’s.

Geller’s new ads will contain the disclaimer.

In addition to the ads featuring Foley and Hitler, Geller has created a placard that links the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights group known as CAIR, to the terror organization Hamas.

“Hamas is ISIS, Hamas is al-Qaeda, Hamas is Boko Haram, Hamas is CAIR in America,” it reads.

It’s a paraphrase of a quote by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was stressing the links between Islamic extremists.

Netanyahu, though, didn’t mention CAIR.

“Geller is a known hater and there’s no law in this country that forces her to tell the truth,” said Corey Saylor, a CAIR spokesman.

He said the group has considered suing her, but doesn’t think it’s worth it.

“Defamation law being what it is in this country, we understand it would be difficult,” he said.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/shocking-anti-islam-ad-campaign-okd-mta-article-1.1945174

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Re: Yet again... Anti-Islam ad campaign coming to MTA buses, subway stations

Posted by BusMgr on Fri Sep 19 13:31:23 2014, in response to Yet again... Anti-Islam ad campaign coming to MTA buses, subway stations, posted by Gold_12th on Fri Sep 19 01:44:50 2014.

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It is not quite right for the MTA to say it has no choice but to allow the advertisements. MTA is free to make the choice to eliminate advertising within its system, and to forgo the revenue it generates for the system. But MTA has made a policy decision that the revenue generated by advertising is more important than the potential for some people getting offended by some advertising. (MTA probably made the right policy decision because, even if MTA did eliminate advertising it its system, the promoters of this speech could just as well advertise elsewhere, e.g., newspapers, advertising billboards, to reach the same audience.)

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Re: Yet again... Anti-Islam ad campaign coming to MTA buses, subway stations

Posted by Kevin from Midwood on Fri Sep 19 23:36:36 2014, in response to Re: Yet again... Anti-Islam ad campaign coming to MTA buses, subway stations, posted by BusMgr on Fri Sep 19 13:31:23 2014.

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Now they're being sued again.

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