Anti-Mosque Bus Ad Approved by NYC Transit
New York City's transit agency has approved a bus advertisement that objects to a planned mosque near ground zero and that depicts a plane flying toward the World Trade Center towers.
The ad was paid for by the American Freedom Defense Initiative, an organization that opposes radical Islamic influence in the United States. The group's executive director says she doesn't find the advertisement offensive.
"This is a great victory for freedom of speech, and we are grateful to our attorneys David Yerushalmi and Robert Muise for mounting such an effective defense against politically correct censorship," said a statement posted on the group's website, "Stop Islamization of America."
The group sued the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to demand it accept the advertisement, which was approved Monday.
MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz says the agency doesn't endorse the advertisement's views.
The plan for a mosque just blocks from the World Trade Center site has ignited a national debate about the limits of tolerance and the symbolism of ground zero.
The ad in question:
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