On Monday, the American Freedom Defense Initiative installed a series of allegedly Islamophobic pro-Israel ads in the D.C. metro system. The ads read, “In Any War Between the Civilized Man and the Savage. Support the Civilized Man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad.” Attempts to establish a dichotomy between “civilization”—always code for the culture deploying this bigoted rhetoric—and a “savage” culture are nothing new. In particular, the juxtaposition recalls the awful legacy of European colonialism in Africa and Latin America. It was deplorable then, and it remains so now.
Washington Metro Transit Authority tried to block the ads from being installed, referencing recent protests in the Middle East surrounding the Innocence of Muslims trailer. The District Court ruled that the ads do not qualify as hate speech and are therefore protected under the First Amendment. This ruling is certainly in line with valuable principles of free speech, but the ads should not go unrebuked.
When these same ads debuted in New York City in September, they were met with varied public response. Egyptian-American activist Mona Eltahawy grafittied over the message. Two religious groups—Rabbis for Human Rights North America and the Christian group the Sojourners—installed an adjacent ad reading “In the choice between love and hate, CHOOSE LOVE. Help stop bigotry against our Muslim neighbors” and “Love your Muslim neighbors,” respectively.
This is an opportunity for local advocacy organizations to speak out against the ads and protest them by raising funds for competing ads to undermine their xenophobia. The sentiments expressed here should offend regardless of anyone’s opinions about Israel’s status in the Middle East. The problem is not the ad’s pro-Israel stance, but rather the manipulation of public sentiment that capitalizes on some of the most egregious prejudice in recent memory.
On campus, religiously affiliated groups of all faiths should publicly reject this depiction of Islam as an inferior or inherently violent religion. And make no mistake—this ad is invoking violent jihad to capitalize on post-9/11 Islamophobia. In defense of the ads, Pamela Geller, executive director of AFDI, denied that the ad denigrates all Muslims, insisting that they are specifically referring to radicals islamists practicing violent jihad, not the entire Islamic people. However, engaging on such emotional terrain, intending to provoke a response to a heavily stigmatized term, undermines any sort of religious acceptance, and the ads should not be tolerated as such.
I want to applaud this editorial, and to draw your attention to a recent around-campus flier campaign we initiated out the of the Georgetown Jewish Chaplaincy. The fliers read:
The Leadership of the Georgetown Jewish Student Association, the Georgetown Israel Alliance, and the Jewish Chaplaincy
STAND WITH
The Anti-Defamation League
The Jewish Council for Public Affairs
The President of the Union of Reform Judaism
Jews for Racial and Economic Justice
Rabbis for Human Rights North America
and hundreds of other Jewish leaders and communities in
CONDEMNING
the recent Anti-Muslim ads in the
NYC subway system
These ads are
Bigoted, Despicable, and Deceptive
We protest against these hateful
words being expressed in our name
as Jews and supporters of Israel
They do not speak for us