The transit system was asked to display the cartoon that won first prize at a Mohammed cartoon context in Texas.
Ha’aretz
REUTERS – The Washington transit system on Thursday suspended all “issue-oriented” advertising after being asked to run a subway ad featuring a cartoon depiction of the Prophet Mohammed.
The ban, approved unanimously by the board of directors of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, prohibits political, religious and advocacy ads through the end of the year, a spokesman said.
The transit system had been asked by the American Freedom Defense Initiative to display the cartoon that won first prize at an event in Texas this month at which two gunmen opened fire near the venue and wounded a security guard before they were shot and killed by police.
The ad, which calls for Americans to support free speech, features a bearded, turban-wearing Mohammed waving a sword and shouting: “You can’t draw me!”
In reply, a cartoon bubble portrays an artist grasping a pencil and saying: “That’s why I draw you.”
All visual depictions of the prophet of Islam are considered sacrilegious by many Muslims.
Pamela Geller, founder of the American Freedom Defense Initiative, described the cartoon as “political opinion.”
“There is nothing violent in that cartoon,” she said in an interview on Thursday. “If there is a group you cannot criticize … it’s the tyranny of that group.”
The Washington decision follows a vote in April by New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority to ban all political ads after losing a court battle with the group over an ad that read: “Hamas Kills Jews.”
The group, which is on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s annual list of U.S. hate groups, has run controversial ads on subways and buses in Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco, and it ran an ad on Washington’s Metro in 2012.
The cartoon ad did not come up during the board meeting on Thursday when the vote was taken, according to spokesman Dan Stessel.
Nihad Awad, head of the Council on American Islamic Relations, said Geller and the American Freedom Defense Initiative were trying to turn the public against American Muslims.
“They are using their free speech to propagate misconception and to divide people along ethnic or religious lines,” he said. “It is up to the Metro authorities to deal with these hateful groups.”
0 thoughts on “Washington transit system bans political ads over Mohammed cartoon”
Of course they are trying to upset American muslims it is the jewish way.
Vampira is at it again. She wants another blood sacrifice. It bugs me when I hear Xtians bitching and moaning about how Xtianity is under attack. Islam is what’s under attack. They’re being hounded wherever they go.
I want to see if public ads showing rabbis sucking the blood from an infant’s genitals after circumcision would be allowed. Or a “Jews Kill Arabs” advert.
Christianity and Islam are both under attack. Only Judaism gets an absolute free pass.
Pam is certifiably mad.
Meanwhile, it seems that the more they screech, the more bad press they are getting. It seems that kvetching overtly draws the attention of the populace while the politicians quietly slip in pro Israel laws behind their backs.
This rotten creature serves more purposes than just adherence to Israel. You know, it really is strange that she doesn’t just pack up her bags and move there.
I can not put into words how angry and frustrated I am over this Islamophopbia campaign and the tards that have bought into /support it.
It seems Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer together with their clan think that ridiculing Muslims, Islam, the Koran, and Prophet Muhammad is a fair play under the freedom of speech clause. However, freedom of speech clause cannot be used to defend ads ridiculing Jews, their character, their religion, and the Holocaust. Is it because Jews are considered as “chosen people”? [Robert Spencer says she is Catholic, but Madeleine Albright also thought was Catholic until some people reminded her that she was a Jew.]
The best place for people like Pamela is Israel. She can express herself without any ambiguity and every now and then she can drink a cup of Palestinian blood to quench her thirst.
Of course they are trying to upset American muslims it is the jewish way.
Vampira is at it again. She wants another blood sacrifice. It bugs me when I hear Xtians bitching and moaning about how Xtianity is under attack. Islam is what’s under attack. They’re being hounded wherever they go.
I want to see if public ads showing rabbis sucking the blood from an infant’s genitals after circumcision would be allowed. Or a “Jews Kill Arabs” advert.
Christianity and Islam are both under attack. Only Judaism gets an absolute free pass.
Pam is certifiably mad.
Meanwhile, it seems that the more they screech, the more bad press they are getting. It seems that kvetching overtly draws the attention of the populace while the politicians quietly slip in pro Israel laws behind their backs.
This rotten creature serves more purposes than just adherence to Israel. You know, it really is strange that she doesn’t just pack up her bags and move there.
I can not put into words how angry and frustrated I am over this Islamophopbia campaign and the tards that have bought into /support it.
It seems Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer together with their clan think that ridiculing Muslims, Islam, the Koran, and Prophet Muhammad is a fair play under the freedom of speech clause. However, freedom of speech clause cannot be used to defend ads ridiculing Jews, their character, their religion, and the Holocaust. Is it because Jews are considered as “chosen people”? [Robert Spencer says she is Catholic, but Madeleine Albright also thought was Catholic until some people reminded her that she was a Jew.]
The best place for people like Pamela is Israel. She can express herself without any ambiguity and every now and then she can drink a cup of Palestinian blood to quench her thirst.