"'Any war on innocent civilians is savagery': What's controversial here?"

Truth is controversial in these insane times. Here is the latest on the battle for free speech on the home front, which my colleague Pamela Geller is leading: "Controversial 'Defeat Jihad' ad to appear in NYC subways," by Erinn Cawthon for CNN, September 19 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

New York (CNN) -- A controversial advertisement that critics say is hateful toward Muslims will appear in New York City subway stations starting next week, despite the city's attempts to halt the campaign.
New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority initially rejected the ad, which reads: "In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad."

The authority's decision was overturned last month when a federal judge ruled that the ad is protected speech under the First Amendment.

Jihad -- Arabic for "struggle" -- is considered a religious duty for Muslims, although there are peaceful and violent interpretations of what it means.

The American Freedom Defense Initiative, which produced the ad, has been fighting to place the message in New York's subway system since last year after the authority refused to display it.

"We don't think it's controversial," said Pamela Geller, the executive director of the American Freedom Defense Initiative. "It's truth. The MTA has run anti-Israel ads before and no one had an issue about it. 'Any war on innocent civilians is savagery': What's controversial here?"

Starting next week, the ads will be displayed in 10 of the city's more than 400 subway stations. The exact locations have not been selected by the transportation authority.

Geller said she had no qualms about releasing the message amid ongoing protests against an American-made anti-Islam film clip that led to the death of the U.S. ambassador to Libya last week.

"If it's not a film, it's a cartoon, it's always some event," Geller said. "I will not sacrifice my freedom."

She noted that other places such as San Francisco have had these ads appear on buses with disclaimers next to them.

It's the latest controversy fueling the debate over free speech versus hate speech. In addition to protests over the film clip, a French satirical magazine published cartoons on Wednesday featuring a figure resembling Islam's Prophet Mohammed, triggering security concerns.

"These hate ads are part of a larger problem," said Muneer Awad, executive director of the [Hamas-linked] Council of American-Islamic Relations. "We're trying to make sure MTA has policies to discourage hate speech."...

I.e., to forbid honest and truthful reporting about jihad and Islamic supremacism.

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14 Comments

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Meryl Petkoff | September 19, 2012 4:47 PM | Reply

"Truth and facts are hate speech": Pedohammedans and their western comrades.

gravenimage | September 19, 2012 4:51 PM | Reply

"'Any war on innocent civilians is savagery': What's controversial here?"

Truth is controversial in these insane times.
..................................

Thank God for brave freedom fighters like Pam Geller, who cut through the bs every time.

ala sux | September 19, 2012 5:22 PM | Reply

Did anyone else notice that in the past it was CAIR that denied these muslim riots and murders were done by actual muslims, BUT, today we see CAIR excusing away the quranimals as being muslims incited and now want blasphemy laws to stop the savages.

I guess the taqqiyah in the West failed and now they can only admit the Jihad savagaes ARE muslims but have to blame it on infidels inciting it since muslims are so prone to riots and killings.

Pretty sad that 6'000'000'000 non-muslims now must presuppose(as the Cops do)that muslims will be violent and murder for allah and force non-muslims to conform to shariah law.

Wellington | September 19, 2012 5:42 PM | Reply

It's Islam or freedom. Can't have both.

blangwort | September 19, 2012 5:45 PM | Reply

The sophistry is that those who stand idly by while others do wrong are not innocent.

Yet, many do not agree with the Fundamentalist Islamists. We stand by and ignore them because it is easier to let them learn on their own than to actively pummel common sense in to them.

The problem is that they're not learning from this mistake.

I hate to say this, but they need to learn from hard experience why you shouldn't prohibit blasphemy. Let the Sunni, Shia, and Salafi fight each other over whose religion is the real Islam. I propose we encourage them to fight each other until they realize that there really is one God and that he doesn't care what religion you pray in.

PRCS | September 19, 2012 5:48 PM | Reply

"a French satirical magazine published cartoons on Wednesday featuring a figure resembling Islam's Prophet Mohammed, triggering security concerns."

Huh? Really?

A figure resembling a guy who bit the dust more than 1300 years ago?

Which one? The guy with a star on his butt? The one holding a pig's head?

Based upon what? A drawing? The author's imagination?

There weren't any cameras back then.

C'mon!

danny | September 19, 2012 5:51 PM | Reply

"'Any war on innocent civilians is savagery':

Remembering 1400+ murdered Gazan men, women and children.

salah | September 19, 2012 5:51 PM | Reply

Islamic savagery vs Judeo-Christian beauty:

http://crossmuslims.blogspot.com/2011/09/us-and-them-nous-et-eux.html

traeh | September 19, 2012 9:06 PM | Reply

Erinn Cawthon for CNN writes,

Jihad -- Arabic for "struggle" -- is considered a religious duty for Muslims, although there are peaceful and violent interpretations of what it means.

Bernard Lewis, eminent historian of Islam and the Middle East, says that in Islam's core texts, uses of the word "jihad" are military in meaning in the overwhelming majority of cases

He writes on page 72 of his book The Political Language of Islam, that

...the overwhelming majority of classical theologians, jurists, and traditionalists [Muslim specialists in the Qur'an, hadiths, life of Muhammad, and Islamic law] ... understood the obligation of jihad in a military sense.

Lewis also writes, on page 31 of his book The Crisis of Islam, that

For most of the fourteen centuries of recorded Muslim history, jihad was most commonly interpreted to mean armed struggle for the defense or advancement of Muslim power.

-- Quoting Islam

danny | September 19, 2012 9:56 PM | Reply

Can someone put the following on every New York bus and Subway System as small banner,ad to educate our young about histort of violence and where the religion violence started?

It should read:-

" Remembering Amalekites, victim of humanity's first holocaust "

Buraq replied to comment from danny | September 20, 2012 12:16 AM | Reply

You wrote, in your usual misleading way: 'Remembering 1400+ murdered Gazan men, women and children.'

First, the number you quote came from Hamas. So, it's a lie to begin with. Second, the vast majority of those killed were Hamas jihadists. Third, you failed to mention the 8,000 rockets fired at Israeli civilians by Hamas that prompted the IDF to go into Gaza to solve the problem militarily.

You're a clown!

Jan replied to comment from Wellington | September 20, 2012 8:33 AM | Reply

Succinctly put.

crusader7 | September 20, 2012 1:57 PM | Reply

A Case For Insanity

In the brief history of this country there has never been a time when such blatant
and demonstrative hypocrisy has gone un-scrutinized by the educated professionals
charged with bringing the people the truth each day. The very people who hold the
position of public trust, once proudly known as journalists, don’t have the
intestinal fortitude to tell the American people that the liberal horse that they have
been riding is a miserable proven failure and that the politicians whose careers they
have been advancing through the use of half truths, undeserving but glowing editorials
and yes, hypocrisy run amok, will soon destroy this country from within and take with
it countless innocent lives while turning anyone who survives into mindless, cruel
and totally self serving socialists with a penchant for anarchy.

I leave but two glaring and un-challenged examples of the pernicious and outrageous
hypocritical elitism for the reader to consider.

The entire left wing mindset known as “Hollywood” and all their like minded minions
would gladly gouge out the eyes of a three week old animal before they would allow
anyone to even suggest that there should be the slightest infringement on someone’s
Constitutional right to print or broadcast the most destructive and demeaning sexual
material known to exist, even when they know that this material will be easily viewed
by very young and innocent minds. To suggest that words and pictures have no effect on
young minds is to believe that TV commercials for toys and breakfast cereal are a
gargantuan waste of money and that toy manufacturers are stupid. There would
be absolutely no restrictions on this behavior, that sometimes includes scenes of bestiality,
if they had their way about it. They would riot in the streets and promote chaos and total
bedlam if you tried to take away their sacred right to pollute the minds of our youth.
BUT……. When a wanna-be Hollywood film maker makes a goofy film that some say
insults Muslims, and talk begins about censoring speech that insults Mohammed, these
very same demented elitists go deafeningly silent.

They will hale the work of an “ARTIST” who places a crucifix upside down in a jar of
his own urine as a great piece of art but when an “Artist” makes a $12.53 film that
insults Mohammed they throw him to the wolves. Make that fanatics, who have already
said that he is a dead man walking.

And you walk around stupefied as to why we hang on to our guns and our religion.

Crusader7

gravenimage replied to comment from ala sux | September 21, 2012 12:42 PM | Reply

ala sux wrote:

Important point you make here, ala sux.

I guess the taqqiyah in the West failed and now they can only admit the Jihad savagaes ARE muslims but have to blame it on infidels inciting it since muslims are so prone to riots and killings.
........................................

ala sux, Taqiyya—as loathsome and harmful as it it is—is only used by Muslims when they feel that the Infidels are strong and must be lied to. When Muslims believe Islam is in full ascendancy, the mask comes off, and they openly attempt to impose Shari'ah.

Terrifyingly, *that* is exactly what we are seeing now.

And that is why it is more important than ever that we stand firm for our values.

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