[ April 26, 2024 ]
“Leader of pro-Israel group.” So as far as the Washington Post is concerned, if you head a human rights organization dedicated to the freedom of speech, the freedom of conscience and equality for all before the law, then you are the leader of a pro-Israel group.
Indeed.
Story continues below advertisement
“Leader of pro-Israel group sues Metro over issue-ad ban prompted by Muhammad cartoon” By Lori Aratani, Washington Post, July 2, 2015
The leader of a controversial pro-Israel group that was blocked in its effort to place ads featuring a cartoon of the prophet Muhammad in Metro stations has filed suit against the transit agency, saying that the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority has violated the group’s First Amendment rights by refusing to display the ads.“This case seeks to protect and vindicate fundamental constitutional rights,” the suit states.
In May, Pamela Geller, the co-founder and president of the American Freedom Defense Initiative, sought to take out a series of ads featuring the winning entry from a “Draw prophet Muhammad” cartoon contest it had sponsored in May. That contest drew national attention after two men, Nadir Hamid Soofi and Elton Simpson, opened fire with semiautomatic rifles outside the building in the Dallas suburb where the May 3 event was held. Both were shot and killed by a police officer. A security guard suffered a leg wound, but no one else was injured.
But rather than display the ads, in June Metro’s board voted to ban all new advocacy ads for the rest of the year.
In an e-mail, Geller called the transit agency’s actions “an end-run around the First Amendment.”
“As one of my readers pointed out, no contemporary medium of communication may pass the test of being merely commercial and non-political,” she added. “The New York Times runs an editorial page every day — not to mention the slant of their ‘straight news’ — and therefore, if they can advertise, so can the Village Voice, the Socialist Militant, and Dabiq (ISIS’s four-color magazine), for that matter.
“Public safety has been thrown in for good measure. Color me skeptical. If we’ve learned anything since 9/11, it is that America is the target. The West is the target for Islamic terrorism. The whole country is on heightened alert for an Islamic State attack on July 4th. Abridging our freedoms so as not to offend savages is surrender and un-American. It results in more demands, more surrender, more capitulation to sharia law (which is what WMATA did).”
News of the suit was first reported by Washington City Paper.
Metro officials said they do not comment on pending litigation.
Officials with New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority adopted a similar policy in May. The transit agency had rejected one of the ads Geller’s group sought to display out of concern it could lead to violence. Geller sued and a federal judge ruled in April that the MTA would have to display the ad. Instead of complying, the board voted to ban all political advertising in the system.
[New York transit officials vote to ban all political advertising]
Metro has had a mixed history with Geller’s group.
In September 2012, AFDI bought ad space in four Metro stations for the message, “In Any War Between the Civilized Man and the Savage, Support the Civilized Man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad.” AFDI sued after Metro sought to delay displaying the ads because of unrest in the Middle East, but a judge ordered the ads to be posted.
Last year, when AFDI bought space on Metro buses for ads linking Islam to Nazism, the transit agency quietly accepted the advertisements. This time around, however, officials reconsidered.
Lynn Bowersox, Metro’s marketing manager, said revenue from issue-oriented ads accounts for about 20 percent, or roughly $2.5 million, of the agency’s overall annual income from advertising. Advocacy ads, if they had been allowed to continue, would have brought in about $1 million in the remaining seven months of this year, she said.
Metro officials said the board could vote to make the ban on issue-related ads permanent or extend it into 2016, a presidential election year, when demand for campaign ad space would be exceptionally high.
Here is the lawsuit:
The Truth Must be Told
Your contribution supports independent journalism
Please take a moment to consider this. Now, more than ever, people are reading Geller Report for news they won't get anywhere else. But advertising revenues have all but disappeared. Google Adsense is the online advertising monopoly and they have banned us. Social media giants like Facebook and Twitter have blocked and shadow-banned our accounts. But we won't put up a paywall. Because never has the free world needed independent journalism more.
Everyone who reads our reporting knows the Geller Report covers the news the media won't. We cannot do our ground-breaking report without your support. We must continue to report on the global jihad and the left's war on freedom. Our readers’ contributions make that possible.
Geller Report's independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our work is critical in the fight for freedom and because it is your fight, too.
Please contribute here.
or
Make a monthly commitment to support The Geller Report – choose the option that suits you best.
Quick note: We cannot do this without your support. Fact. Our work is made possible by you and only you. We receive no grants, government handouts, or major funding.Tech giants are shutting us down. You know this. Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Adsense, Pinterest permanently banned us. Facebook, Google search et al have shadow-banned, suspended and deleted us from your news feeds. They are disappearing us. But we are here.
Subscribe to Geller Report newsletter here— it’s free and it’s essential NOW when informed decision making and opinion is essential to America's survival. Share our posts on your social channels and with your email contacts. Fight the great fight.
Follow Pamela Geller on Gettr. I am there. click here.
Follow Pamela Geller on Trump's social media platform, Truth Social. It's open and free.
Remember, YOU make the work possible. If you can, please contribute to Geller Report.
Join The Conversation. Leave a Comment.
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spammy or unhelpful, click the - symbol under the comment to let us know. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.
If you would like to join the conversation, but don't have an account, you can sign up for one right here.
If you are having problems leaving a comment, it's likely because you are using an ad blocker, something that break ads, of course, but also breaks the comments section of our site. If you are using an ad blocker, and would like to share your thoughts, please disable your ad blocker. We look forward to seeing your comments below.
33 Comments
8 years ago
So the Washington Post would properly be deemed a “purveyor of demagoguery, liberalism, homosexuality, freeloading & illegal immigration.”
8 years ago
Honestly, I don’t get the comparison of a transit company with a medium of communication, i.e., a newspaper, which has an editorial policy. People expect newspapers to have editorials which are biased viewpoints by definition. That’s the point of reading the paper, to get information. But no one rides the subway or a bus to get their news reports or political commentary so why does the transit have an obligation of freedom of speech? Please explain.
8 years ago
Reply to
RCCA
You may have missed the point. The point was that the ban was on so-called “issue-oriented advertising” while at the same time the TA would continue to accept “commercial” advertising, including advertizing for various, diverse, and often issue-oriented media of communication including websites, newspapers, magazines, and movies. But to permit advertizing of the medium while censoring the message is very steep and slippery slope, as evidenced by the actions of the NY MTA just a few days ago: They refused an ad for the movie The Muslims Are Coming.” (see http://b1ff5939f6.nxcli.net/2015/06/sharia-free-speech-ban-muslims-whinesue-when-it-applies-to-them-too.html )
I don’t know if the MTA had a problem with a specific Muslims Are Coming ad but none of them have anything that I see as “issue-oriented” unless every movie about “mistrusted” immigrants is now “issue oriented” so that the movies mentioned here could not be advertised: https://www.legallanguage.com/legal-articles/movies-about-immigration/
See some Muslims Are Coming ads here: http://tinyurl.com/pbv5ssy
An ad for Terminator Genisys is an ad promoting anti-robotics fear mongering! Issue-oriented, see?
The point is that now, by these vague (absent) guidelines, no medium of communication may be advertized because the medium advertized may be promoting a point of view. If not, I want to buy an ad that says “For news of what’s really happening in the world, visit PamelaGeller.com”.
If that’s okay, why not JihadWatch.com? You think there is a clear and Constitutional way of drawing the line?
8 years ago
Reply to
RalphB
Thanks for the thoughtful comment. I don’t think it’s that hard to distinguish between issue oriented advertising and product advertising. If the “product” is issue oriented then it gets bumped into the issue oriented column. On the other hand, products and services which everyone uses regardless of their race, religion, ethnic background, gender, sexual orientation are all suitable. BTW, those movies you mentioned weren’t really about advocating any particular immigration policy, they were all formulaic romantic comedies, all versions of “My Fair Lady” in modern context.
8 years ago
Reply to
RCCA
What I’d like to know is, why is Pam not emulating the figures in Ayn Rand’s crap novels that she so admires? When society turned up its nose at THEM, they just forged ahead, doing their own thing. Pam, on the other hand, is like a toddler dumping spaghetti on its head shouting “Look at me!!”
NOBODY WANTS YOU AROUND, PAMELA.
8 years ago
Reply to
Jaques Chic
I suggest to you , Sir, how entirely wrong you are. By the thousands.
8 years ago
Reply to
veritas
Well, y’know… we don’t all have security details like Pam does. Would you feel safe on a bus with a Mohammed cartoon on the side of it, knowing you were now traveling on a rolling massacre magnet? Because THAT is what Pam wants for you.
8 years ago
Reply to
Jaques Chic
Let me get this straight. You think it’s safer to bow to Muslim intimidation rather than confront it?
Sorry, but that way lies disaster. Islam is savage faith with at its core a hatred of all other faiths (and secularism). Its entire history is one of murderous campaigns to exterminate the “infidel.” Daesh is but the latest iteration of such savagery.
So yes, let’s turn a blind eye. Let’s not “offend” the Muslims in any way—and believe me, those ways are myriad. A cartoon showing a quasi-historical entity, that’s offensive? Get real.
But hey, let’s keep on giving in. Give them an inch and before long they’ll want a thousand miles.
Pamela Geller should be a shining example to you. She is to me and to a great many others. May her bright light never dim!
8 years ago
Reply to
June Skelton
where would it end , otherwise ? What will be next ? With 81% of polled Muslims wanting Sharia law , it would never end, just as it never ends in Muslim countries.
8 years ago
Reply to
Jaques Chic
The London 7/7 bus and trains were “rolling massacre magnets”. No drawing of Mohammed was involved.
8 years ago
Reply to
Michael Copeland
True, but you miss the broader point. “Self radicalized” terrorists, those with no actual ties to a terrorist group but who are looking to get in on the action, obviously want to make their bones in a sensational way. Like it or not, it is now understood by those lunatics that killing people associated with drawings or cartoons of Mohammed is an instant “win”.
This has nothing to do with the merits of free speech, Michael, or “bowing to extremists”. It is just a simple fact: violent nut jobs WILL use the excuse of a Mohammed cartoon to attack civilians. Ask Pamela if you don’t believe me.
Therefor, if you start putting these cartoons on busses, you are basically painting a target on them.
Pamela doesn’t travel by bus, Michael, but you or I might. Do you see what I am saying?
8 years ago
Reply to
Jaques Chic
How many buses have been blown up by muslims in Israel and the UK that had no such advertisements again?
8 years ago
Reply to
IslamDownpressesHumanity
The question I am still looking for an answer to is: Do you want to be on the first bus a terrorist blows up because of Pamela’s efforts?
8 years ago
Reply to
Jaques Chic
I took a few days to carefully consider my answer to you. On the very face of it, Sir, your response is ridiculous. Ms. Geller wants nothing of the kind. Futhermore, if you have a narrative to contend with, try contending with the Qu’ranic narrative of “kill the Jews”. The Jewish people may be first on a list, but only first. When the world learns that en masse and stands to protect Israel and the Jewish people, then they will be standing to protect freedom and security. Their own. First on a list, doesn’t make the Jewish people ONLY on the list. As can be shown around the world, in the 29,000 terrorist attacks since 9/11
8 years ago
Reply to
Jaques Chic
Talk about being a toddler, Jacques. “NOBODY WANTS YOU AROUND, PAMELA” is about as infantile and ridiculous a comment can get. LOL.
Also, Pamela is more the 5 star type but I happen to love Italian food so the thought of Pamela wearing pasta, oh my, molto delizioso!
8 years ago
Reply to
Jaques Chic
What a Bozo. You’re entitled to dissent. But I disagree. When you talk about a rolling massacre magnet this is supposed to be America. You can’t just sit on the sidelines and remain silent. Freedom is about hollering. Freedom is about taking a stand. When any faction in America or elsewhere demonstrates blatant disregard of principles that we hold to be valid, it’s time to make a stand. There isn’t anything easy about Freedom, if you want it you have to fight for it. And if you want to keep Freedom, you have to fight to keep it. And it doesn’t matter what it costs, it has to be done. Or the Bully wins.
8 years ago
Why are you hiding the fact you are a pro-israel group? There is nothing wrong with that? Do you think its more effective if you work from a (dishonest) neutral position? Why? Unless you put Israel over the US there is no foul. But maybe you want the US to war with muslims because you think that is the way to “save” Israel? Even at the cost of innocent american lives?
8 years ago
Reply to
Ente
The “hiding” is all in your paranoid imagination, Ente, especially the business about wanting war. If you’re interested in who wants war, find out which side has rejected every peace proposal of the other side.
For the mission of AFDI, read the current platform: http://b1ff5939f6.nxcli.net/2013/04/american-freedom-defense-initiative-announces-platform-for-defending-freedom-in-wake-of-boston-jihad.html/
Follow the links there for more. Not that much about Israel but no fear of being friendly towards her either!
The point is not that AFDI is a pro-Israel group! Of course it is: AFDI favors the civilized over the savage. Or maybe you missed that one. The point is that AFDI exists to promote liberty, civilization, civil rights and constitutional government in America. Inevitably, it also does so throughout the world of course because without a free America the future civilization is extremely shaky.
8 years ago
Reply to
RalphB
No, she pretends to be a “freedom of speech” group, look again. She carries that flag to send US kids to war to “save” israel. THIS article is about denying she is a pro israel leader… read this part, its the intro:
“Leader of pro-Israel group.” So as far as the Washington Post is concerned, if you head a human rights organization dedicated to the freedom of speech, the freedom of conscience and equality for all before the law, then you are the leader of a pro-Israel group.”
SHE IS SAYING HER GROUP IS NOT A PRO ISRAEL GROUP. Fucks sake, learn to read and know what this clown is about.
8 years ago
…..All time hit pamelageller Find Here
8 years ago
Was it not Paul Revere who rode his horse through American towns shouting : ” The muslims are coming ! The muslims are coming ! “
8 years ago
…and is it also obvious that the Islamic world, which consists of ISIS, Al Queda, Muslim Brotherhood, and many others, support everything that is Islamic, operating under a philosophy that makes everything American unacceptable under their belief system. Even if the plaintiff’s support the country of Israel, why should that ever prohibit them from speaking truthfully about subjects that are otherwise constitutionally protected. The underlying problem here in America and the rest of the so-called Free World, from my perspective, is the inability to shake off the underlying anti-Semitism that underpins and controls the actions of so many in this world and in the media and government. Those of Jewish culture have for eons been scorned and reviled, yet that culture has not had a history which ever actually condoned Hate and Intolerance, ever supported large group violence as a consequence of so-called blasphemy, and today affirmatively are required to defend themselves against those hoards who intend to behead all those Non-Islamic believers and especially those of the Jewish culture. Judaic culture has made significant positive and helpful contributions to the human species; yet the anti-Semitism is still the rule of conduct rather than the exception. The governmental conduct outlined in this commentary is clearly a function of that anti-Semitism, and it should be recognized for what it is. I would have added to the complaint filed herein that allegation, as I truly believe that what motivates the type of conduct at issue is overt, though unspoken, anti-Semitism. Is not it time for people to end this hatred of those of the Jewish culture, the same way that we need to end the other race issues that so many complain still exists in this society. Keep up the great work Pamela and Robert, because maybe in your lifetime we might, to some extent, end this history of unjustified Hate and Intolerance.
