Pictured in Pamela Geller, whose American Freedom Defense Initiative is suing New York City's transit authority for rejecting an anti-Hamas bus advertisement. Photo: Pamela Geller via Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – The American Freedom Defense Initiative, a pro-Israel organization run by conservative blogger Pamela Geller, has sued New York City’s Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) for refusing to place a bus advertisement that used the phrase “Hamas Killing Jews.”

The lawsuit, which was filed Wednesday, states that the advertisement is particularly timely because of “ongoing terrorism conducted by Hamas operatives against Israeli civilians in the name of Islamic jihad.” The transit authority, however, said last month that it refused to run the ad because it “would imminently incite or provoke violence.”

MTA Director of Safety and Security Raymond Diaz also said such an advertisement “would lead reasonable observers to interpret it as urging direct, violent attacks on Jews, given turmoil in Gaza, Syria, and Iraq, and New York City’s heightened security concerns.”

But according to the lawsuit, the advertisement was intended to express a message on current events, including on “issues such as Islam’s hatred of Jews.”