The American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) has placed hundreds of ads on buses in San Francisco showing real images of Palestinian youth in jihadi uniforms and violent poses, taken from media in Palestinian Authority media. The ads read: “The Palestinian Authority Teaches Children to Hate,” and ” End All U.S. Aid to the P.A.”
The ads are an attempt to counter the “Boycott Israel” campaign, a left-wing effort that seeks to delegitimize the Jewish State of Israel through economic isolation, among other methods.
The AFDI ads feature real images taken of Palestinian children dressed as radical Islamic terrorists. One child has a bomb strapped around his stomach and is surrounded by adult men wearing the same. Another shows a child wearing a black-and-white keffiyeh (scarf), which was the late Yasser Arafat’s iconic symbol, and brandishing a knife in a stabbing motion. A third image shows little boys lined up and dressed in camouflage uniforms, holding up machine guns and wearing headbands with Islamist slogans written on them. The boys look like they are no older than eight years old.
https://twitter.com/PamelaGeller/status/774274625299685376
“We are calling for an end to aid to what is a terrorist organization [the Palestinian Authority] until the hate stops,” Geller told Breitbart News on Friday.
Geller emphasized that the AFDI ads are in direct response to ads placed on buses in San Francisco by the anti-Israel group known as the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign (SEAMAC) on August 9. SEAMAC has placed ads on buses calling to “Boycott Israel Until Palestinians Have Equal Rights.”
August 9, Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign (SeaMAC) launched an ad on buses in San Francisco
Boycott #Israel #BDS pic.twitter.com/hyJaKiDePU
— DJ Rubiconski (@Rubiconski) August 11, 2016
Muslims living in Israel have equal rights, as opposed to elsewhere in the Middle East, where they have no political rights and where women in particular live under Sharia- compliant regimes. Israeli Muslims are members of Israel’s Knesset (parliament), and gay and lesbian Muslims living in Israel are able to live freely without fear of being hung or executed for their sexuality. (Such is not the case in other Muslim countries.)
Geller said the ads have been rolling out over the past three days and that they are on the road now, “highlighting the truth about this ideology that calls for the genocide of the Jews. What better way than to use their own photos to show how they indoctrinate and inculcate their own children into this unfathomable and genocidal ideology.”
The AFDI was co-founded by Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer in 2010.
Beyond San Francisco, the AFDI plans to roll out its campaign in other bus and train stations throughout the nations where Geller says freedom of speech is not banned.
Geller said cities that have banned political ads altogether, in the wake of a legal battle to force Denver to allow the ads, include New York City; Boston; Washington, D.C.; Chicago; and Miami. Geller called San Francisco “the last city.”
“San Francisco really is the last city where the ‘Geller ban’ is not in affect. We’ve seen this where we tried to run ads in response to some fallacious ads that the Jew-haters are running, whether it’s SEAMAC or American Muslims for Palestine or some other nefarious group that is running blood libel against Israel.” She explained the anti-Israel message as being “the same template that the Nazis used; Kristallnacht, an economic boycott agains the Jews.”
She added that the bans on her ads are “a ban on the truth, in accordance with Sharia. They say it’s hate speech but that’s the euphemistic narrative. It’s like putting a pretty white bow on a steaming pile of dung.”
In Michigan, which is home to a large Muslim community, Geller wanted to run an ad offering help for people who have tried to run from the faith and Sharia law in 2010. The bus ads read: “Leaving Islam? Fatwa on your head? Is your family threatening you?” The ads were banned in several cities.
Geller, who is still in the midst of an ongoing lawsuit against the bans, told Breitbart News “They denied the ads in Detroit and in Dearborn. We sued, we won. They appealed. Detroit is going out of business. It’s bankrupt and they are not only refusing my revenue but spending money to sue me. They did not accept Judge Denise Page Hood’s ruling and appealed to the Sixth Circuit and they ruled in their favor. It’s ongoing.”
She added that the life of Jessica Mokdad might have been spared if her ads had been allowed to remain up. Mokdad, 20, was murdered in an “honor killing” by her stepfather, Rahim Alfetlawi, because she was not following Islam. “If she had seen the ads, maybe she would have come to us and could have been saved,” Geller said.
Of the San Francisco ads, Geller said: “Wherever they run their ads we will be.”
She added: “The beauty of the ‘Geller Ban’ is that they can’t run their ads [either].” However, she said, she would prefer to have the argument than see all controversial political ads banned.
“It’s not what I believe in. I believe in free speech and that even the worst speech is protected … because my ideas are better and I will win.”
Follow Adelle Nazarian on Twitter and Periscope @AdelleNaz
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