[ April 17, 2024 ]
The good thing about the historically bad coverage the Washington Post gives to this subject matter is the interview they did ran unedited.
Kudos to Cavna.
“Muhammad on the Metro? AFDI’s Geller on her plan for cartoon WMATA ads. [Q+A],” By Michael Cavna, Washington Post, May 28, 2015;
Story continues below advertisementTHREE YEARS after American Freedom Defense Initiative founder Pamela Geller bought “Support Israel. Defeat Jihad” ads that could be prominently seen on Washington-area Metro trains, she is again seeking D.C. transit commercial space for her signage. This time, through, Geller plans to depict Muhammad.
And not just any image of the Islamic prophet, but the cartoon by artist Bosch Fawstin that won the AFDI’s “Jihad Watch Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest” competition this month in Garland, Texas, where two gunmen attacking the contest venue were killed.
Geller announced this week on Breitbart.com (as first reported by The Hill) that the AFDI has submitted the Muhammad ad for review by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. Metro spokesman Dan Stessel has acknowledged that the ad is going through the review process, and said in a statement that the Muhammad sign “has not yet been approved for our system” — which includes Metro buses and trains.
Besides Washington, Geller has previously succeeded in getting ads placed on transit systems in San Francisco, Chicago and Philadelphia. Last month, New York’s MTA voted to ban all political ads in the wake of a judge’s ruling that the agency could not reject provocative ads, like those of the AFDI, because they were critical of Islam. The MTA’s move could foreshadow the decision facing the WMATA, which in 2012 lost a federal judge’s ruling to Geller; her ad at that time read, ““In Any War Between the Civilized Man and the Savage, Support the Civilized Man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad.”
Comic Riffs caught up with Geller to talk about her latest Washington campaign within her longer endgame:
MICHAEL CAVNA: First, can you confirm that you specifically submitted Bosch’s winning cartoon to [WMATA] for consideration as an ad — and [if so], did you write any ad copy to run with it? Basically, if it’s approved as is, what will we see?
PAMELA GELLER: Yes, I submitted it with the caption, “Support Free Speech.” That’s what we will see, along with the AFDI logo.
MC: You were initially legally successful in getting your [“Hamas Killing Jews”] ads placed on public transit in New York, of course. How do you compare that to this new D.C. effort, in terms of legal hurdles and likelihood?
PG: First Amendment rights are the same in N.Y. and D.C. The outcome of legal challenges should also be the same.
MC: Have you submitted this ad anywhere besides Washington?
PG: We have not yet submitted the ad anywhere besides Washington. We await word from the WMATA.
MC: Have you had any direct contact or response from anyone at [WMATA]? And if D.C. Metro does not approve your ad, do you plan to pursue this further in Washington — either legally, or by eyeing other potential places of public signage?
PG: No, I haven’t heard from anyone, and yes, we will challenge in court any ban on the ad.
MC: In terms of freedom of expression in this country, is there anything you believe is too visually profane, or objectionable, or sacrilegious, to be allowed as public signage such as a Metro ad or billboard?
PG: There are reasonable obscenity laws. There is nothing profane, or objectionable, or sacrilegious about my ad. The cartoon clearly addresses the need to stand up against, rather than surrender to, violent intimidation and forcible attempts to impose Sharia upon Americans — for drawing Muhammad is not illegal under American law, but only under Sharia.
MC: Over the weekend, I spoke with, and listened to [via panel debate], “Doonesbury” creator Garry Trudeau — in Washington, coincidentally — on the matter of his belief that satire should strive to be “responsible,” and that free speech can be its own kind of fanaticism — and that Charlie Hebdo, in the context of France, was “punching down.” If you were debating Mr. Trudeau on this subject yourself, what would you first say in response to his statements?
PG: I’d tell him that he was making excuses for self-censorship in the face of violent intimidation. He never spoke about being “responsible” in regard to the crucifix in a jar of urine or other expressions of contempt for Christianity. He is only speaking that way about cartoons critical of Muhammad because Muslims kill over them. He is advocating surrender. And as for “punching down,” his claim that Muslims in France are a despised and oppressed minority is leftist fantasy. In reality, the killers were part of a well-financed, highly trained global network of jihadis intent upon murdering anyone who dares stand in the way of their goal of imposing Sharia in the West. They won’t have to murder Trudeau. He is already on his knees.
MC: I’ve spoken with scores of American cartoonists about drawing Muhammad, and many who believe in the First Amendment as an absolute still decline to draw Muhammad. What do you think most motivated the cartoonists like Bosch who entered your Texas contest — beyond, of course, a $10,000 winner’s purse?
PG: First, a love of freedom. And courage, which those cartoonists with whom you spoke obviously don’t have, and a determination to show that we will not kowtow to thuggery.
MC: Danish editor Flemming Rose told me his goal a decade ago — in commissioning Muhammad cartoons– was not to antagonize Muslims in Denmark, but rather to acculturate them in the liberties of his nation. How would you characterize your Muhammad-cartoon efforts in the U.S.?
PG: In the same way.
MC: How do you respond to [Southern Poverty Law Center] labels like “hate group”?
PG: As for the SPLC, it is the real “hate group.” Who appointed it the arbiter of what is and what isn’t a hate group? It uses this label to defame and stigmatize all those who don’t share its far-left views — and the mainstream media willingly aid and abet this defamation by treating the SPLC as a neutral and objective authority.
MC: What’s next for you on this front, and how would define “victory” for your group in regards to Muhammad cartoons? What’s the longer endgame?
PG: Victory would be government and law-enforcement officials standing up for the freedom of speech instead of surrendering to Sharia. The longer endgame: the safeguarding of human freedom and individual rights.
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34 Comments
8 years ago
The SPLC is directed by Obama & Co. to dig up dirt on grass roots leaders who are against moslem refugees in their towns.
This truism really needs to get out: “:As for the SPLC, it is the real “hate group.” Who appointed it the arbiter of what is and what isn’t a hate group? It uses this label to defame and stigmatize all those who don’t share its far-left views — and the mainstream media willingly aid and abet this defamation by treating the SPLC as a neutral and objective authority.”
Who appointed them? The #LeftIslamicAxis which also owns the MSM as well as the Offal Office.
8 years ago
Reply to
Ann Inquirer
I’d like to know who funds the SPLC these days. Is it islamic-nazi petrodollars? Direct from islamic-nazi petrostates? Or most likely funneled through islamic-nazi NGO’s?
8 years ago
Good job, Pamela! We need to demolish the idiotic taboo once and for all.
The vile “Prophet” Muhammad’s Shariamonster, also known as “Islam,” wants to decapitate our freedom of speech. Muhammad himself had his critics murdered – and Muhammad’s Shariamonster still follows his barbarous “Excellent Example.” Say “NO” to the vile Shariamonster, and say “NO” to Islam!
https://drawthevileprophet.wordpress.com/2015/05/11/say-no-to-muhammad-s-shariamonster/
8 years ago
This guy looks like a good candidate for President:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/05/28/former-new-york-gov-pataki-announces-run-for-2016-gop-presidential-nomination/?intcmp=latestnews
I would like to see Pamela as his VP!!!
8 years ago
I am all for free speech. But if I go to D.C. I certainly won’t get anywhere near that bus. I would be willing to bet this will prompt America’s first suicide bomber and he or she will blow up a whole bus of innocent people who are just trying to get to their destination. I get the whole free speech thing, but do you think it is necessary to purposefully try to stir up the hornet’s nest and cause innocent civilian casualties? Maybe put the cartoons up somewhere in public where the situation isn’t endangering children on a bus, because we all KNOW something, somewhere will happen since these people are complete lunatics. Take out ads on billboards or something. I’m not against posting the cartoon, I’m just not sure a bus full of innocent people is the way to go.
8 years ago
Reply to
Denae Leigh Armstrong
Don’t you realise as yet that the “hornet’s nest” doesn’t need any particular reason to be stirred and you’re a target just because you’re not mooslim.
Where I live, when the hornet’s nest becomes a problem, we burn it.
8 years ago
Reply to
Lacouray Too
Yes, I realize that, but plastering it on a bus just makes it even MORE of a target and I do not believe she should do that to innocent people who are riding the bus. There are plenty of other places to hang those cartoons. And by the way, I am for outlawing Islam in our country and throwing everyone of them out. Unfortunately the world is too stupid and too “tolerant” of Islam to see that it is going to be the downfall of all of us!
8 years ago
Reply to
Denae Leigh Armstrong
You are already a target unless of course you are a devout sunni muslim. Whether that advert is plastered all over the bus or not. Remember 9/11, there were no adverts plastered all over the twin towers, 7/7 there were no free speech adverts plastered all over the London tube and buses, and the Madrid train bombings, there were no adverts plastered all over the Spanish trains.
They don’t need any other reason apart from the one that states you are not a muslim so you deserve to die. This rule is contained in the Qur’an, Hadith and Sira.
What more do you need to know?
8 years ago
Reply to
Denae Leigh Armstrong
She is not doing anything to innocent people and if you truly believe”the world is too stupid and too tolerant of Islam”, then pick out a bus with an ad and get on it. Otherwise, you are just one of those people talking out of both sides of your mouth.
8 years ago
Reply to
Denae Leigh Armstrong
It is legal to yell fire in a burning theater
islam is burning everything everywhere
Pamela is trying to warn the people
obama’s loyalty is to his birth as a muslim’s son
If you are afraid of muslims burning down America, vote to have the warlord’s hordes as too hostile to be allowed on north American soil
mosques preach submit or die
obama says when the political winds get ugly for islam he will come down on the side of islam – in his own book – his aim is to be the greatest muslim since saladin
obama is the chief arsonist in command
8 years ago
Reply to
vincent bruce
I would certainly be more than happy to vote to have Islam outlawed and mosques removed from America. But we will never get that opportunity to vote on that subject. Our nation has become a bunch of pansies. But I still think there are plenty of places to hang a cartoon up and make fun of Moho without making a bus full of innocents a target.
8 years ago
Reply to
Denae Leigh Armstrong
Was there a poster on the side of the twin towers in NYC?
These devout muslims are going to do what they do. Its a continuation of what they have been doing for 1400 years. Putting a poster up or not putting it up will not change their goal.
We don’t get to choose whether or not they will attack us, they will attack us and there is nothing we can do to stop that.
We get to choose to uphold our way of life. We do not follow sharia. They are imposing sharia with the ban on images. But the ban on images will not be the last demand. If you don’t want to draw the line at the first amendment, which is freedom of speech and freedom of religion. Which amendment do you propose drawing the line at?
8 years ago
Reply to
Honest Citizen
they have won some things like halah food in schools common core in schools. and all the grocery stores that sale halah food. are boycotting stores that don’t and the ones that don’t are paying out big bucks. heard walmart in Ohio is sale halah foods now.
8 years ago
Reply to
Denae Leigh Armstrong
It took pearl harbour before any Amercans tried to stop hitler
obama calls terrorism workplace violence, he says islam has made America a greater place, that we need to give them jobs,
he thinks by saying it’s because of the weather – that he can divert attention from the prettiest sound in the world – the call to islam’s battle cry –
911 was our pearl harbour
obama hates Winston Churchill for calling islam in a man, like rabies in a dog
mohamhead raped children, his followers chop up babies,
Irans ayotollah says muslim men have the right to quench their sexual thirsts with infants and toddlers, and obama pretends to say he doesn’t want them to have nuclear weapons, obama is part of the chaos theory,
Iran needs to be shown the big stick, but obama prevents us from saving countless victims of islam,
obama is responsible for all the deaths, along with anyone else who pretends to be a loyal American but is lying –
taqiyya will be obama’s epitaph
8 years ago
Reply to
vincent bruce
at this point I say obama is the whole worlds problem. and ISIS talks about killing him. that is the joke of the year. they aren’t going to kill the hand that supplies their weapons, ammo, armored tanks.cars,trucks,you name it.
8 years ago
Reply to
Denae Leigh Armstrong
I believe, personally, that Islam should be outlawed and every mosque shut down. The MOSQUE is where these people are being radicalized and on social media. However, if we are going to bring attention to the problem, putting posters up is fine – but pasting them on a bus full of innocent people, which invites the bus to be attacked, is a bit much. Post it somewhere that it doesn’t make innocent people an unnecessary target!
8 years ago
Reply to
Denae Leigh Armstrong
The only innocent people under Sharia are muslims as Honest Citizen says “We don’t get to choose whether or not they will attack us, they will attack us and the is nothing we can do to stop that.”
I think they should be plastered all over the mosque doors, but that would be Islamophobic, then the muslims would really get upset.
8 years ago
Reply to
Keith
Keith. you know by now every time some one breaths that is not muslim. they get up set.
8 years ago
Reply to
Betty4440
Sorry I haven’t responded earlier but yes I do realise that every time a non muslim breathes it is an offense to Islam.
The problem is trying to get the non-muslim apologists for Islam to understand this.
8 years ago
Reply to
Denae Leigh Armstrong
Just because there’s a cartoon ad on a Bus, it doesn’t mean that Muslims will attack the people on the Bus who has nothing to do with these drawings! The Jihadist usually attack the “Authors of the drawing” (Charlie Hebdo, Pamela Events) not just an innocent Group regarding this matter!
Plz, don’t get me wrong, Muslim Jihadist often attack innocent people like we have seen many time but the motive are different as they Fight against the disbelievers for the sake of Allah because the Goal Of Islam Is The Subjugation Of The “Entire World” To Islam Through The Establishment Of A Global Islamic Rule (Caliphate) And The “Eradication” Of ALL Non-Islamic Populations, Cultures, Religions, Thoughts, Knowledge, Symbols, Traditions And Ways Of Life.
QUOTE: “Eliminating And Destroying Western Civilization From Within And ‘Sabotaging’ Its Miserable House So That It Is Eliminated And God’s Religion Is Made Victorious Over ALL Other Religions.”
SOURCE: By Mohamed Akram, May 19, 1991 (Muslim Brotherhood)
From The Former President Of Algeria At A UN Speech:
QUOTE: – “One day, millions of men will leave the Southern Hemisphere to go to the Northern Hemisphere. And they will not go there as friends. Because they will go there to conquer it. And they will conquer it with their sons. The wombs of our women will give us victory.”
SOURCE: Houari (Mohamed) Boumedienne, President of Algeria, 1965 – 1978, in a 1974 speech at the United Nation
8 years ago
Reply to
Denae Leigh Armstrong
If some idiot wanted to blow themselves up for the glory of 72 worn out
virgins they will do it with out requiring a reason. The racism is usually always brought forth by MSM because the cult member is spread all over the place and can’t deny , agree or explain their reasons.
How sane is the person that finds a way to justify mass murder in the name of a pedophile cult ,using a drawing is a poor excuse ,although they always blame anyone else other then their own twisted and warped religious cult.
8 years ago
Reply to
Denae Leigh Armstrong
Tell it to the Jews blown up in a bus near a black sea resort by muslims sunschein.
8 years ago
http://counterjihadnews.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/poster.png?w=584
The only way to deal with hajji vermin is DEATH!
8 years ago
Reply to
426 HemiCuda
Yes we have a right to defend our selves and innocent others. The Crusades were all defensive counter-attacks against islam having already violently invaded raped enslaved and genocided all the previously Greek, Christian and yes, Jewish countries in the Middle East, like Syria, Libya, Iraq, Israel, ‘Turkey,’ (formerly known as Greece: Tarsus, Thrace, and Anatolia) Tunisia, and Algeria, not to mention Eastern European ones like Albania, Serbia, Romania and others in the Balkans, and of course Iran and ‘Pakistan’ (India).
8 years ago
Reply to
paendragon
I Agree with You! Not only these barbaric Jihadist Muhammadans are killing, raping and enslaving Christians but they are burning & destroying their Churches & Homes so they’re Force to leave the country as refugee!
MUSLIM PERSECUTION OF CHURCH ACROSS THE MIDDLE-EAST, AFRICA AND ASIA ARE BEYOND THE NUMBERS REPORTED:
IN Egypt, Muslims Destroyed and Burned 87 Churches (Arab Spring 2011-14)
IN Niger (West Africa) Muslims Destroyed and Burned 69 Churches (Charlie Hebdo’s Riot 2015).
IN Iraq: Muslims Destroyed And Burned 248 Churches. (Reported in 2014)
IN Nigeria, Muslims Destroyed and Burned 350 Churches (Reported in 2015)
IN Malaysia, Muslims Destroyed and Burned 13 Churches (Reported in 2010)
IN Ethiopia, Muslims Destroyed and Burned 69 Churches (Reported in 2015)
IN Indonesia, More than 430 Churches have been Attacked, Closed Down, or Burned Down Since 2004.
IN Afghanistan = 0 Church Left As They Were All Destroyed By Muslims – The last public Christian church in Afghanistan was razed in March 2010, according to the State Department’s latest International Religious Freedom Report.
IN Saudi Arabia = 0 Church Left As They Were All Destroyed By Muslims – Christians had formed Churches in Arabia prior to the time of Muhammad in the 7th century. Purportedly, one of the earliest Church buildings ever discovered by archaeologists is located in Saudi Arabia, known as Jubail Church, built around the 4th century. Some parts of modern Saudi Arabia (such as Najran) were predominantly Christian until the 7th to 10th century, when most Christians were expelled and forcibly converted to Islam during their conquest.
IN Libya, Syria, Somalia, Pakistan, Kenya, India, Lebanon, Iran, Yemen, Algeria, Mali and more! IN All these “Countries”, Muslims have destroyed, bombed and burned countless of Churches.
8 years ago
Reply to
Yankie
And they also destroy each others’ mosques, but none of this ever gets reported by the enemedia here in the West.
Liberals are racists: they always assume that ONLY White Western people (including, of course, the Jews in Israel,) are INTELLIGENT enough to be guilty of being truly evil, while all their pet “People Of Colour” (including the “swarthy palestinians”) being mentally inferior and all, just can’t help being enslaved by their instincts and emotions into acting as violent animals when frustrated, the poor oppressed little dears, so the liberals will always indulge their crimes, much as one ignores the new puppy as it pees on the rugs.
So here’s their interminably ongoing “narrative” (story):
“SO JUST STOP PICKING ON ALL THE THE POOR HELPLESS MENTALLY INFERIOR SWARTHY ANIMAL VICTIMS, YOU EVIL MENTALLY SUPERIOR WHITE BULLIES! YOU KNOW THEY’RE AT THE MERCY OF THEIR ANIMAL INSTINCTS SUCH THAT THEY JUST CAN’T HELP BEING VIOLENT WHEN CONFUSED, SO STOP BAITING AND CONFUSING THEM, YOU HATERS!”
8 years ago
We will know when we have won when we can routinely tune in to our Saturday morning cartoon shows and see Mohammed desperately but–in the usual anvil-on-his-own-head and dynamite-in-his-own-trousers fashion–always unsuccessfully trying to take out the Road Runner and Bugs Bunny.
8 years ago
pictures of hamhead should be banned along with the queeran, headcuffs and anything else the propagandists of islam spew, just like the “n” word
islam is the equivalent of child porn and snuff films
any who dress in islamic clothes is advertizing terrorism
islam’s only claim to fame is terrorism
they are out to strike fear in the hearts o the humble
they think they are superior
being equal in the eyes of God does not appeal to them
8 years ago
Well said, Pamela!!!
D
8 years ago
Great interview. Deserves a wider audience.
8 years ago
“Support free speech”–nothing wrong with that. Image depicting someone bravely standing up to the assassin’s veto–nothing wrong with that either. What’s the problem? The image doesn’t mention Muhammad.
Thanks to Ms Geller and friends for the acculturation. Hopefully your example will help stiffen the spines of more media and government. Kneeling to assassins is an embarrassment considering our puzzlement of why the Iraqi army runs away.
8 years ago
I think that by calling the drawing a cartoon it lessens the importance of free speech and the concept of the drawing contest.
Dissenters will play down the importance of this gesture by marginalizing the importance …
After all a cartoon makes one think of bugs bunny or porky pig while drawing seems much more authentic as a definition of art which this is.?
But Washington is osamabams home base so hope you win.
