The S.F.-based Jewish Community Relations Council has condemned a new round of ads on Muni buses in San Francisco “that promote an extreme and hateful anti-Muslim agenda.”
A press release from JCRC noted that the agency was “deeply offended” by the ads, which “imply that Islam itself is evil and that to be a devout follower of the faith is to be violent. This inflammatory message is not welcome on our buses, in our city or anywhere else.”
Abby Michelson Porth, associate executive director of the JCRC, joined with Michael Pappas, executive director of the San Francisco Interfaith Council, to write an op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle last week decrying the ads.
In the past, similar ad campaigns have been run by the American Freedom Defense Initiative, a group headed by conservative New York–based activist-blogger Pamela Geller.
On her blog, Geller notes that the new ads “are up on 100 buses in San Francisco,” and she has posted a picture of a Muni Metro car with an ad reading: “Yesterday’s moderate is today’s headline.” The ad contrasts two photos: In one, a headphone-wearing youth who seems to be a musician is captioned “Before becoming devout.” Next to it is a picture of a hooded man who appears to be a terrorist holding a pixelated-out severed head with the caption “After becoming devout.”