Another anti-Islam advertisement is ready to go live on New York City's subway system in what Arab-Americans are calling another attack on their faith. The ad, pushed by an ultra-conservative blogger who had led a campaign against the Islamic Cultural Center in the city won a court order to allow the ad to go up in 10 stations this coming Monday. The ad says, “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad.” Arab-Americans told Bikyamasr.com that the ad will undoubtedly spark anger and resentment among the community in New York and across the United States, especially after protests, some violent, erupted across the Islamic world over the past week and a half after a film clip was posted on YouTube insulting and defaming Muslims and Prophet Mohamed. “We are trying to deliver a message of hope and understanding in the US, but it is hard when the loudest voices are the most radical,” said Algerian-American Omar Said. The retail manager told Bikyamasr.com that “the time has come for Americans to stand for justice and end these attacks on a faith and a people.” Blogger Pamela Geller, the “brains” behind the ads, said she also filed a lawsuit on Thursday in the nation's capital to post the ad in Washington's transit system after officials declined to put up the ad in light of the anger over the anti-Islam film. She had earlier this summer posted an ad called “Islamorealism” that alleged there had been thousands of “jihadi” attacks since September 11, 2001. “The ad is just stating a fact. There have been well over 19,000 jihadi attacks since 9/11," Geller said in an earlier interview. “People need to know this. Obviously, everybody is surprised by this number and I think that's part of the reason why we need to run these ads. People need to know this is going on across the world." The Metropolitan Transpiration Authority in New York (MTA) said it doesn't support the advertisement's argument displayed in the ad, but wouldn't bar advertising based on content. WCBS also reported that the American Freedom Defense Initiative previously attempted to place another ad with the MTA that had a picture of a mosque next to a plane flying toward the World Trade towers with the words “Why There?" In a decision earlier this summer, the federal court declared that the MTA would be violating the American Freedom Defense Initiative's First Amendment rights if they blocked that ad. “If we decided to put ask for ads saying Israel and Jews were savages, we would be protested and the court would agree with them that they are hate speech so I don't see the difference here," said Muslim-American and CUNY student Omar Makram Radwan. The Pakistani-American, who has lived all his life in New York City, told Bikyamasr.com that “this sort of hate speech is now being tolerated by judges and as Ramadan hits it is very unfortunate. People are angry." The judge, however, said that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) was wrong in rejecting Geller's ads. Geller is the executive director of the American Freedom Defense Initiative. She publishes a blog called Atlas Shrugged that warns of growing “Islamization" in the United States and around the world.
