A federal judge has ordered the Washington Metropolitan Area
Transit Agency to begin displaying anti-jihad advertisements beginning on
Monday, the
Washington Post reported on Saturday.
US District Judge
Rosemary Collyer issued the one-page ruling on Friday, granting an injunction to
the American Freedom Defense Initiative that sought to force the Metropolitan
Area Transit Agency to display the posters in four stations, the Washington Post
reported, even though the agency said the ads might incite violence. The posters
were scheduled to be displayed for a month starting on September 24, but were
delayed until the court decision.
“In any war between the civilized man
and the savage, support the civilized man,” the ad reads. “Support Israel/Defeat
Jihad.”
Rabbi’s for Human Rights in North America plans to take out
subway ads urging riders to “choose love” in what the group’s director calls a
response to the anti-jihad advertisements, The Jewish Week reported on
Friday.
The Rabbis for Human Rights’ ads say, “In the choice between love
and hate, choose love. Help stop bigotry against our Muslim
neighbors.”
The anti-jihad ads initially appeared in San Fransisco, and
have drawn outrage from civil and human rights movements as well as legal
advocates and activists. People have signed a petition demanding to take the ads
down.
The San Francisco Municipal Transit Authority posted full-sized
disclaimer placards on buses that carry the ads.
The disclaimer says that
“SFMTA policy prohibits discrimination based on national origin, religion and
other characteristics, and condemns any statements that describe any group as
‘savages.’”
In July, a
federal judge ruled the anti-jihad posters were protected
speech and ordered the Metropolitan Transit Authority to place the posters in
New York City subways.
Judge Paul A. Engelmayer of Federal District Court
in Manhattan ruled that the authority had violated the First Amendment rights of
the group that sought to place the ad.
Pamela Geller, executive director
of the American Freedom Defense Initiative, also rejected the Metropolitan
Transit Authority’s assertion the posters were demeaning.
“There’s
nothing either hateful or false about my ad,” Geller said in an
email.
The American Freedom Defense Initiative became known when it
opposed creation of a Muslim community center near the former site of Lower
Manhattan Twin Towers, which were destroyed in the September 11, 2001, attacks
on the World Trade Center.
Reuters contributed to this report.