I attended the MTA hearing this morning over whether they were going to change their policy to refuse all political ads (background here). The people who attended were for the most part OWS thugs, anarchists, and Jew-haters. They spoke as one
violent and hateful voice, attacking the board members, attacking the
system, attacking me, attacking everything they could.
OWS had sent out a notice earlier calling Eltahawy's anti-free speech fascist vandalism a "righteous act" and saying: "If it wasn't clear before, it is now obvious that the MTA is incapable of operating public transportation for the 99%." At the hearing, one OWS brownshirt said to the MTA Board: "You all would be shivering if you knew what's coming! Your days are numbered!"
In this poisonous atmosphere, I was grateful to be given the opportunity to speak. I explained the context of the ad, how it was a response to the anti-Israel ads that ran in the subways with no complaints. Of course, these free speech crushers did everything they could to shout me down. They were escorted out quickly.
I asked why this meeting had not taken place when not one, but numerous anti-Israel ads were up. That in itself shows an institutionalized, systemic anti-Israel bias. This is New York. They're worried about provoking jihadis? In 1993 there were no ads up, or cartoons or movies about Muhammad, but the World Trade Center got hit just the same. Nor were there any ads "offensive to Muslims" before 9/11.
They worried that the ads are "racist"? Jihad is not a race. I asked them to consider their decision very carefully -- I understand the pressure of the critical media and the howl of the mob. But the world is watching. As messy as this conversation is, this is the price of the freedom of speech. I asked them to stand for the freedom of speech, make the tough decision and do the right thing.
Protest Breaks Out at NY MTA Meeting Over Ad Policy Transportation Nation September 27
Pamela Geller defending her anti-jihad subway ads during the public session of the MTA meeting (photo by Jim O'Grady)
The monthly MTA board meeting got a bit rowdy during the public comment period this morning, thanks to a controversial ad in the New York City subway that equates the word ‘jihad’ with ‘savages.’ WNYC’s Jim O’Grady was there.
“Several Occupy Wall Street protestors got up to the mic and called these so-called anti-Jihad ads, in their words, ‘racist, anti-Muslim, and vile to the core.’ And then the woman that took out those ads, Pamela Geller, defended them on free-speech grounds. She said that she took them out in the first place in response to what she called anti-Israel ads that had appeared in the subway. These were ads that called for an end to US aid to Israel.”
Geller previously said the ads cost about $6,000. The MTA says they will be up for a month in 10 subway stations.
