The creator of the controversial anti-jihad ads defends them against attacks from self-deluded Leftist clergy: “Choose Love: Defeat Jihad,” by Pamela Geller in the Jewish Voice, October 10:
There are now three separate ad campaigns devoted to opposing my pro-Israel ad in New York subways, and more are coming.
My ad reads: “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad.” Some Jewish and Christian groups have called this message hateful, and have decided to put up counter-ads that they say are more “loving.”
One of these ads says, “help stop bigotry against our Muslim neighbors.” Another: “love your Muslim neighbor.” And a third: “support peace in word and deed.” Rabbi Jill Jacobs of Rabbis for Human Rights explained: “We, as an organization of rabbis want to make it clear to New York and to the U.S. that neither rabbis nor the mainstream Jewish community support this dehumanization, but in fact we value partnership with our Muslim neighbors and Muslim organizations.”
These rabbis have good intentions. But is my ad really “bigoted” and “dehumanizing”? Or does it just state unpleasant facts? The jihad against Israel is a jihad against innocent civilians, and the targeting of civilians is indeed savage. The relentless 60-year campaign of terror against the Jewish people is savage. The torture of hostage Gilad Shalit was savage. The bloody hacking to death of the Fogel family was savage. The Munich Olympic massacre was savage. The unspeakable torture of Ehud Goldwasser was savage. The tens of thousands of rockets fired from Gaza into southern Israel (into schools, homes, etc.) Are savage. The vicious Jew-hatred behind this genocide is savage. The endless demonization of the Jewish people in the Palestinian and Arab media is savage. The refusal to recognize the state of Israel as a Jewish state is savage. The list is endless.
I am all for countering hate. The ad speaks to the defense of freedom and individual rights for all. There’s nothing hateful about it. 9/11 was hate. 3/11 in Madrid was hate. 7/7 in London was hate. The Fort Hood jihadi was hate. The Christmas underwear bomber was hate. The Fort Dix Six was hate. Pushing back against such hate is not hate.
I doubt that the rabbis in Rabbis for Human Rights know anything about the jihad doctrine that relentlessly seeks to violently impose islamic law and pursues jihad against non-muslims, or about the Islamic antisemitism that is deeply ingrained in the qur”an and sunnah, and that identifies the Jews as the worst enemies of the Muslims (qur”an 5:82) and under allah’s curse (qur”an 9:30). When have they spoken out against that hate, because of which Jews suffer daily? When have they called upon Muslim leaders to reform the qur”an and expunge its virulently antisemitic texts, which are routinely quoted on Palestinian Authority TV as justifying endless warfare against the state of Israel and Jews everywhere? What topsy-turvy moral compass have they employed to come to the conclusion that the “hater” is not the imams who routinely preach violence and antisemitism in mosques and on TV in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, but me when I try to call attention to the barbaric cruelty of the jihad against Israel?