Boston Transit Agency Wins Court Battle Over Anti-Islam Ad

Image by andrea palatnik

By JTA December 24, 2013

A federal judge ruled that the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority had the right to reject a pro-Israel subway advertisement.

U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel Gorton on Dec. 20 denied a request by the American Freedom Defense Initiative for an immediate injunction that would have forced the MBTA to put up the advertisements. ”In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat jihad.”

Transportation officials rejected the ad last month, saying it violated advertising guidelines prohibiting materials that are ”demeaning or disparaging.”

The ad was created in response to an ad put up in October that depicted what it called “Palestinian loss of land 1946-2010″ in four maps. Eighty of them were posted at Boston train stations. They were removed after complaints a week after they went up, but were replaced again after two days.

Attorneys for the American Freedom Defense Initiative told the Boston Globe it would immediately appeal the verdict.

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