Photo: She should be clutching a child -- another missed oportunity for Fermino.
Jennifer Fermino, who covers transit issues for the New York Post, is still smarting over the article I wrote exposing her collusion with the MTA. In it, I revealed e-mails that showed that she was very cozy with MTA brass, reassuring them in September 2011 that a story about our pro-Israel ads that had been set to be on the front page had been moved off the front page and reduced: "Now its only 7 inch story, very short."
After I exposed her, she has for the most part refused to write about my pro-freedom ads. You’ll notice that with all this brouhaha, and coverage in the international press, AP and Reuters, CNN, and papers all over the country, there has been no coverage in the New York Post. The Post has allowed Jennifer Fermino's petty, personal, bloated ego to stand in the way in the news.
Mind you, I have been sending Jennifer Fermino information about these ads every step of the way. Everything was sent to her first. She got information about my lawsuit against the MTA, and wrote nothing. She got information about our victory in that lawsuit -- again, nothing. She never covered the story. But then she called me on Monday, and we had a particularly vicious conversation, marked by her hostile, adversarial, prosecutorial manner. She only wanted to discuss the defacing of the ads. All right -- I sent her evidence of Hamas-CAIR on Facebook calling for defacement of ads. She didn’t put it in her story. It wouldn't have fit her pro-sharia paradigm.
Fermino seems to relish the defacing of the ads, but I think it’s nothing more than criminal activity. In a rational society, it would be looked down upon, but more importantly, the defacement is a metaphor for this entire conversation. Hundreds and hundreds of anti-Israel posters ran all over the country. Not one was defaced. One anti-jihad poster goes up, and it's defaced within an hour, while its creator faces defamation, smears and libel. Islamic supremacists and leftist thugs criminally defaced these ads within an hour. This is a physical manifestation of the entire conversation, or lack thereof. Anyone who speaks about jihad and sharia is attacked, defamed, destroyed -- just like these ads. This is exactly what’s happening in the media regarding jihad coverage in general. Anti-American, anti-Israel, pro-sharia hate is all over the airwaves, but anyone who dares to speak the truth about Islam and jihad in the media is immediately smeared and defamed. You can't have this conversation in the media, any more than I can present these pro-Israel ads, and receive any semblance of fair treatment.
And now, Jennifer Fermino has abandoned all pretense of journalistic accuracy and integrity. She set out to write a vicious attack piece, and in doing so, writes falsehood after falsehood.
Even the headline is a lie. There are no fears, except on the part of the leftists and Islamic supremacists for whom Jennifer Fermino is carrying water. I have been down in the subways and stood by the ad for considerable periods. For the most part, people are just walking by ad -- looking at it and walking.
Anti-Muslim posters spark subway fears by Jennifer Fermino, Amber Sutherland and Larry Celona, New York Post, September 25, 2012
The NYPD ramped up security at 10 subway stations yesterday after the MTA was forced to install a controversial ad campaign branding enemies of Israel “savages,” sources told The Post.
This is a lie also. There is no increased presence of police. This whole story is like William Randolph Hearst’s creation of the Spanish-American War: the Post is reporting a lie in order to create a fauxtroversy. This isn’t just bad journalism, this is the spreading of the Big Lie, Goebbels-like hate propaganda against anyone who dares speak about jihad.
The 46- by 30-inch ads — which the MTA unsuccessfully tried to block — were pasted into subway walls throughout the day in heavily trafficked areas such as Grand Central Station and Times Square.
The American Freedom Defense Initiative, a pro-Israel group spearheaded by activist Pamela Geller, paid $36,000 for 30 days of ad space.
The ads actually cost $6,000. Fermino's contempt for accuracy is relentless, as she gets wrong the most minute details, such as how much the ads cost, and deliberately looks for anyone who would denounce the ad.
Straphangers of all religious backgrounds blasted the ads.
Natan DvirOUTRAGED: Javerea Khan, at the Times Square station yesterday, called this advertisement and others like it “a slap in the face to all Muslims. It’s disheartening something like this would actually go up.”
No pictures of leftist or Islamic supremacist thugs defacing the ad. That wouldn't fit the Post's agenda. And where does my ad mention "all Muslims"? Moderate Muslims should be joining me in denouncing the savagery of jihad violence against innocent civilians.
“I’m appalled at the fact they can use the term ‘savage’ so easily, categorize the whole Muslim world under the word ‘savage,’ ” said Javerea Khan, 22, a Bronx Muslim.
She called the ads a “slap in the face to all Muslims.”
“It’s disheartening something like this would actually go up.”
NY1 devoted an entire hour to the ads, and took numerous calls. The show was skewed, to be sure, but a good number of people thought the ad was just fine. Yet Jennifer Fermino can't find a single one.
And Rebecca Klinger, who is Jewish and has lived in Israel, called the ads “contrary to Jewish teachings and Jewish philosophies.”
“I find it appalling that anyone claim[ing] to be pro-Israel would suggest some human beings are savage and less than human. The Nazis tried to do the same thing to the Jews, to make them seem less than human,” she said.
How "Islamophobic" it is of all these people to assume that my ad speaks about all Muslims, when it never mentions them. Why do they assume that all Muslims approve of the jihadis' violence against innocent civilians? And yes, that violence is savage. The war on Israel is a war on innocent civilians. 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. And it's not just Israel. There have been 19, 644 deadly Islamic attacks since 911. The beheadings, homicide bombings and targeting of innocent civilians is savage.
Riders also said the ads make them fear for their safety, because the subways have long been pegged as a terrorism target and because of the violent protests in the Middle East over a low-budget anti-Muslim movie.
“I think it’s dangerous. There are people who will take it to the next level,” said Joanne Behan, a regular subway rider from Brooklyn.
“Some people believe that Americans are against Muslims and this can add to that. I don’t think they should be up.”
If anyone commits violence because of these ads, the responsibility will be theirs, not mine. These people -- and Jennifer Fermino -- are saying, Let's be quiet and walk on eggshells and never say anything that might offend murderous Muslim thugs. And if they do go wild and start killing people and blowing things up, it will be our fault. As for me, I will never cower before violent intimidation.
The NYPD quietly increased its presence at the stations with the ads — which include 28th Street on the 6 line and 34th Street on the 1 line, sources said.
Those stations will undergo extra scrutiny from transit police and beat cops alike, both underground and on street level, the sources said.
But NYPD spokesman Paul Browne insisted there would be no change “in security, posture or staffing because of the ads.”
So Browne contradicts Fermino's claim that the NYPD has ramped up security because of these ads.
Vandals already tore down one ad at the 72nd Street 1 train station just hours after it was hung.
While some riders found the ads offensive, they conceded it’s protected speech.
“It’s the language of war. Ads like this are divisive and propaganda,” said Cyrus McGoldrick, a Muslim and director of the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
She doesn't mention, of course, that CAIR is a Hamas-linked Muslim Brotherhood hate group.
But he did say he believed Geller’s group is protected under the First Amendment.
Geller was adamant there was nothing wrong with the ads. “Anyone who kills innocent civilians, it’s savagery,” she said.
The MTA initially refused to run the ads, citing “demeaning language.”
Geller sued in federal court and won on First Amendment grounds.
She added she might make one change if she had to do it again.
“I might change ‘support Israel’ to ‘defend America,’ ” she said.
Savagery: The Fogel family massacred in their beds while they slept:
Three-year-old Jewish boy
Father and 3-month-old infant, Hadas
