Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
News

New York Transit Ordered to Run Pro-Israel Ad

New York City’s Metropolitan Transit Authority said it is considering its options after a U.S. District Court ordered the authority to run an advertisement that reads “Support Israel. Defeat Jihad.”

The MTA’s quandary comes in the wake of recent protests in Arab countries and in Arab communities around the world over an anti-Muslim film that resulted in the deaths of American diplomats in Libya and violence at American embassies.

MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan told The New York Times on Tuesday that the authority will consider changing its ad policy at a board meeting next week – the same week that the ad is scheduled to run in 10 New York City subway stations as a result of the court order issued in August. The ad also reads, “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man.”

The ad is sponsored by the American Freedom Defense Initiative, or AFDI, whose executive director, conservative blogger Pamela Geller, is a fiery critic of Muslims, liberals and mainstream Jewish organizations.

In 2011, the Southern Poverty Law Center branded the organization a hate group, while the Anti-Defamation League said in March that Geller “fuels and fosters anti-Muslim bigotry in society.”

The New York Times reported that ad space purchased by AFDI in Washington has been “deferred,” its transportation authority said Tuesday, “out of a concern for public safety, given current world events.” According to the Times, the New York MTA does not have the option to defer because of the court order.

In June, the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles abruptly canceled an event at which Geller was scheduled to speak. While the federation did not comment publicly on its decision, the event’s sponsor, the Zionist Organization of America, said the federation cited security concerns for the cancellation.

In September 2011, the MTA ran ads calling for an end to U.S. aid for Israel.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.