Islamophobic Ads on Metrobusses compare Muslims to Hitler

On the 19th of May, large advertisements appeared on the sides of Metrobusses showing a picture of Adolf Hitler and claiming the Quran calls for such hatred. The ads are running on the sides of 20 Metrobusses, barring overlying graffiti or mechanical problems taking them off the road.

The so-called "American Freedom Defense Initiative," which paid for the ads, is exposing themselves to libel charges because there are references in the Quran to both Jews and Christians as "people of the book." These references stand in direct contradiction to the vulgar hate being peddled by this pro-Israel group.

The ad shows a meeting between Adolf Hitler and the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, a man widely condemned for anti-Semitism but who of course is not mentioned once in the Quran because it was written some 1,600 years before his time! This is raw guilt by association, condemning all Muslims and their book because of something done by a follower a milennium and a half later.

Apparently they were angered by an earlier round of Metrobus ads criticizing US funding for Israel and reading "We're sweating on April 15 so Israelis don't have to" and calling for an end to US financial aid to Israel's occupation of Palestine.

Metro tried to refuse an earlier round of Islamophobic ads, but a court ordered the ads to run on free speech grounds. Apparently running the ad program for a government agency creates a public forum. Under these rules, even the Westboro Baptist Church or the Ku Klux Klan could buy ad space on Metrobusses. A few years ago a county had to shut down their "adopt an intersection" campaign to get out of having to allow the KKK to participate and thus have their name on a county-posted sign. Metro could legally do the same, terminating their advertisement program in response to hate speech. The First Amendment does not require Metro to sell ads at all, only not to censor ads if they do sell ads.

The Washington Post is covering this story at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dr-gridlock/wp/2014/05/15/in-metrobu...