"Emails to Pamela Geller, the head of the American Freedom Defense Initiative, were not returned Tuesday."
Actually, here is the email I sent to Will Reisman on Tuesday, at 9:20PM Pacific Time, answering his questions:
1.) How do you respond to critics who say your advertising campaigns constitute hate speech?
There is nothing hateful in opposing a war on innocent civilians. As long as the Palestinian Authority continues its savage policy of fomenting violence, promoting hatred, and teaching Palestinian children to hate, the number of young Muslims willing to blow themselves up or to slit Israeli throats will continue to increase. That is savage. The Palestinian Authority propaganda of Holocaust-denial, calls for the killing of the Jews, and glorification of bloodthirsty jihadis is savage. To oppose this is not hate. It is a defense of humane values.
2.) Do you consider these campaigns a form of protected political speech under the 1st Amendment? If so, why?
Of course. Because the First Amendment is designed to protect speech that dissents from the mainstream view and that others would like to suppress. It protects all ideas, not just the ideas that we like but particularly those that we don't like. If not, who decides what's good and what is forbidden? The government?
3.) Did you ever consider omitting the word “savages” from your campaigns—many critics have particularly cited that kind of language as offensive.
Tell me again why the word "savage" is inaccurate. The targeting of civilians is 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.
4.) What is the goal of the advertising campaign?
To defend the truth and awaken people to reality. Fallacious anti-Israel propaganda must be challenged.
5.) Are these advertisements being used in cities other than New York and San Francisco?
Yes, we plan to roll the campaign out nationwide.
‘Savage’ ads on Muni stir debate By Will Reisman, San Francisco Examiner, August 14
Speaking out: An advertising campaign by the American Freedom Defense Initiative has inspired a letter-writing effort seeking the removal of the ads from Muni buses.
A series of controversial advertisements on Muni buses has spurred a signature-gathering effort to remove the signs and forced the agency to reconsider its position on advertisements moving forward.
The ads, paid for by the American Freedom Defense Initiative — an organization deemed a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center — say, “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat jihad.”
Reisman doesn't tell you that the SPLC is not a neutral observer, but a notoriously leftist hate organization. The Southern Poverty Law Center fraudulently parades around as a civil rights group (like Hamas-CAIR), when in fact it is an uber-left communist organization that is bent on destroying those who are fighting for freedom, such as vets, tea parties and counter jihadists. The SPLC was designated one of the gravest threats to freedom in the United States on the AFDI Threats to Freedom Index. See the revealing video about the SPLC's defamation of me here.
Muni, in a statement Tuesday, affirmed that the ads, which began running Aug. 7 are protected by the First Amendment. But the tone of the message has drawn criticism.
Change.org, a grass-roots advocacy group, has asked its members to write to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, which operates Muni, and request that the advertisements be removed.
“Declaring a whole people “savages” belongs in the dustbin of 19th century colonial racism, not on a city bus in the 21st Century of a progressive city like San Francisco,” the Change.org petition effort claims.
It's a staple of enemedia coverage that these ads are "anti-Muslim," but actually the words Islam and Muslim never appear in the ads. Nor does the ad say that all Muslims are savages -- again, contrary to media myth. The premise of my ad was that a war on innocent civilians is savage. And that is a fact.
Of course Reisman goes to the Jewicidals for a quote:
Sydney Levy, director of advocacy for Jewish Voice For Peace, said the SFMTA should at least insert a large disclaimer near the ads indicating that the agency doesn’t support the message of the campaign.
“This is very offensive, particularly at a time when anti-Islam incidents are rising in California,” Levy said. “The message is certainly out of tune with the values of San Francisco.”
In reality, Jews are eight times more likely than Muslims to be the victims of hate attacks. What is Levy doing about that? Pandering to the annihilationists.
Emails to Pamela Geller, the head of the American Freedom Defense Initiative, were not returned Tuesday.
Paul Rose, spokesman for the SFMTA, said the signs were approved by Titan Outdoor, the private company that is contracted by the agency to run its advertising campaigns on vehicles. Officials with the company reviewed the SFMTA’s advertising policy before authorizing the signs, Rose said.
The agency’s policy bans ads that are clearly defamatory, pornographic, advocate imminent violence or are false and misleading. There are also restrictions against political campaigns and ads promoting alcohol and cigarettes.
“While this ad is protected under the First Amendment, our ad policy and our contractual obligations, we condemn the use of any language that belittles, demeans or disparages others. Going forward, we will review our policies with regards to ads on the Muni system,” the SFMTA said in a statement from board of directors Chairman Tom Nolan and Ed Reiskin, director of transportation for the SFMTA.
Remember that ads that "belittle," "demean" and "disparage" Israel are just fine. Only some groups cannot be "demeaned" -- i.e., the truth cannot be told about them.
The New York Metropolitan Transportation Agency attempted to bar Geller’s group from using the same advertising campaign on its buses. However, a federal judge ruled against the agency last month, deeming the ads protected speech.
Evan Lee, a professor of law at UC Hastings, said SFMTA officials would likely be violating the First Amendment if they removed the sign, since the decision would be based on the content of the message.
“These are expressed political opinions that are protected speech,” Lee said. “If the signs said ‘Support the Civilized Man.
Support Israel. Kill a Muslim’, that would be over the line, as it would be likely to incite people. But clearly these signs haven’t reached that limit.”
But the enemedia is doing all it can to make you think they have reached that limit.
Muni said it will donate the $3,800 from the four-week campaign for educational activities of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission.
Watch for more anti-Israel leftist indoctrination and propaganda, courtesy of Muni.
