Pamela Geller's group, the American Freedom Defense Initiative, was given approval to run pro-Israel sign on the Manhattan MTA buses. The MTA initially refused them.
- A federal judge in Manhattan on Tuesday ordered the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to display an ad from a pro-Israel group on buses after the agency declined to run it last year.
The group, the American Freedom Defense Initiative, sued the authority in October, saying it had infringed on the group’s First Amendment rights by rejecting the ad. The authority had argued that the ad could be seen as a call to violence against Jews.
The ad shows a man with a scarf across his face next to the words, “Killing Jews is Worship that draws us close to Allah,” attributed to “Hamas MTV.” Below that, it reads: “That’s his Jihad. What’s yours?” [New York Times]
But, "freedom of speech" oft times shows no mercy, and a pro-Muslim group is running their own signs to mock Geller's campaign (which they call "bigotry").
The Gothamist reports that:
- For now, though, a filmmaking duo plans to fight Geller's bigotry with humor, by launching their own "Islamic frittata" campaign, set to debut in the subway system today.
The campaign is the brainchild of Negin Farsad and Dean Obeidallah, whose 2013 film The Muslims Are Coming! examines Islamophobia in the United States. Farsad and Obeidallah's posters combat Geller's hateful ads with phrases like "The Ugly Truth About MUSLIMS: Muslims have great frittata recipes," and " “Muslims Hate Terrorism! And people who tell you they went to an Ivy League within 10 seconds of meeting them, people who clip their finger nails in public, kale,” etc.
