Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News – 2013-03-12

 

A series of anti-Islamic billboards from the American Freedom Defence Initiative (AFDI) which began running on municipal buses (MUNI) across the city of San Francisco has ignited controversy.

The ads, paid for by the controversial American Freedom Defence Initiative, feature photos of Osama bin Laden, a victim of the Fort Hood mass shooting accompanied by incendiary quotes invoking weapons and warfare and linking them to Islam.

One quote attributed to "Hamas MTV," reads: "Killing Jews is worship that brings us closer to Allah." While others read:

• The first thing we are calling you to is to Islam." – Osama bin Ladin
• "The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers" – Recep Tayyip, Prime Minister of Turkey.

The ads closely mimic the style of a separate campaign run last September when Geller championed a campaign on New York subway linking jihad to savagery. District Attorney George Gascón told San Francisco Chronicle, “These offensive ads serve no purpose than to denigrate our city's Arab and Muslim communities."

City leaders including Mayor Ed Lee, Gascón and Supervisors David Chiu, John Avalos, London Breed, Malia Cohen, Jane Kim, Scott Wiener and Norman Yee immediately condemned the advertisements as racist and “Islamophobic.”

Theresa Sparks, executive director of the city’s Human Rights Commission, echoed a similar opinion. “Just think in terms of the young kids, the young Arab and Muslim kids who have to ride these buses with this message on the outside. Or the Muni bus drivers, who have to drive these buses with this message on the outside. Just think of what it has to do to them; their self-esteem, their families,” she said.

Paul Rose, spokesman for Muni, said that the agency doesn't support the content of the new ads, yet isn't about to let itself get sued by the American Freedom Defence Initiative. "We don't believe its right to use public money to litigate over the FDI's First Amendment rights," Rose said. "As a city agency the MTA's job is to provide safe and reliable transportation to the public."

After the widespread criticism, SFMTA donated all revenue generated from the ads to the city's Human Rights Commission and posted written apologies on the other side of buses that were running the ads.