Bus ads in NYC: "'Killing Jews is Worship that draws us close to Allah.' That�s His Jihad. What�s yours?"

"On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge John Koeltl ruled that New York�s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) cannot stop the controversial ad from running on scores of subway cars and buses."

The MTA has argued that the ad could incite violence against Jews, but Koeltl rejected that idea.

MTA officials �underestimate the tolerant quality of New Yorkers and overestimate the potential impact of these fleeting advertisements,� he ruled. �Moreover, there is no evidence that seeing one of these advertisements on the back of a bus would be sufficient to trigger a violent reaction. Therefore, these ads � offensive as they may be � are still entitled to First Amendment protection.�

The MTA's argument was premised on the idea that people would misunderstand the ad, which is intended to be pro-Israel. The ad comes from Pamela Geller's American Freedom Defense Initiative.

�What matters is not AFDI�s intent, but how the ad would be interpreted,� [said MTA Security Director Raymond Diaz]. The line �What is yours?� could be considered a �call to violence,� particularly because the CAIR posters it was mocking never appeared in New York....