FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Law Offices of David Yerushalmi, P.C. Win Victory
for the First Amendment
New York’s MTA Forced to Run Bus Advertisement
Tying Ground Zero Mosque to 9-11
For
more information:
David Yerushalmi, Esq.
Law Offices of David Yerushalmi,
P.C.
ContactYerushalmiLaw@verizon.net
646.262.0500
www.davidyerushalmilaw.com
August 9, 2010 – New York, New York: When the American Freedom
Defense Initiative sought to run a bus banner advertisement on New York Metropolitan
Transit Authority buses (available here), the MTA decided it was “not appropriate.”
Our client, Pamela Geller, director of AFDI, asked MTA through the MTA advertising
agency, CBS Outdoor, what was the problem with the advertisement as proposed.
The answer: the plane shown flying in the Twin Towers improperly suggested a link
between the proposed Ground Zero Mosque at the heart of a heated national public
debate to the Islamic terrorists who attacked America, and specifically New York.
Ms. Geller attempted to revise the ad to satisfy the P.C. police at the MTA, but
to no avail.
The Law Offices of David Yerushalmi, P.C., joined by Robert
Muise, senior trial counsel to the Thomas More Law Center, filed suit against the
MTA in federal court in New York on Friday, August 6, 2010, for violating AFDI’s
and Ms. Geller’s Free Speech rights. That same day, David Yerushalmi issued this
statement:
The complaint against
the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority has now been filed. It alleges
violation of the American Freedom Defense Initiative’s (and Pamela Geller’s and Robert Spencer’s) Free Speech rights under
the First & Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
In essence, and it is
laid out clearly in the complaint (available
here) with clear illustrations in the exhibits, the MTA decided that it was
going to accept the “viewpoint” of Imam Rauf and his Islamist co-conspirators
who have proposed the mosque – to wit, that their plan to develop the Ground Zero
Mosque has nothing to do with marking the “victory” of the destruction of human
life and property on 9-11. Literally, the MTA made it its business to decide which
of many viewpoints it would deem politically correct speech for advertisements
on its buses. In so doing, the MTA refused to run a bus ad critical of the Ground
Zero Mosque literally because the ad did not accept Rauf’s deceit that this obscenity
is “brotherly” and “interfaith outreach.” The only outreach our clients see is
a slap in the face of the 9-11 families and those New Yorkers whose memories remained
charred.
What
makes this jihad against free speech so egregious is that the MTA has run any number
of controversial religious and political ads without batting an eyelid. But as
soon as the Shariah-faithful cowed Mayor Bloomberg and the MTA into dhimmi-like
submission, the First Amendment to the Constitution gave way to Shariah’s blasphemy
laws. How long before the Mayor’s office begins issuing fatwas against those who
dare counter the “noble and peaceful outreach” narrative?
Mr. Mayor and your colleagues at the MTA
and the Landmark Commission: New Yorkers will not forget 9-11 and we will not be cowed
into submission or silence. You might not want to hear our voices, but the federal
courts will require you to listen. You claim the mantle of the Constitution as
a basis for supporting a Shariah-Islamist mosque at Ground Zero, yet the MTA—a
government agency of the City—cavalierly denies “infidels” freedom of speech.
Enough is enough.
By Monday, the complaint and summons was served
on the MTA, together with a proposed Order to Show Cause requiring the MTA to stand
before a federal judge to explain how the MTA decision was not a violation of the
First Amendment. By mid-afternoon, the MTA and CBS Outdoor had thrown in the towel:
the original Ground Zero ad would run.
While the MTA claimed that they had never
nixed our clients’ advertisement, blaming it on CBS Outdoor, the emails and evidence
suggest otherwise. Indeed, the email from CBS Outdoor’s general counsel, David
Posy, evidences who in fact determines which advertisements run on MTA buses:
From: Posy, David
H
Sent: Monday, August 09, 2010 5:03 PM
To: david.yerushalmi@verizon.net
Cc: jhenly@mtahq.org
Subject: American Freedom Defense Initiative
I understand that our business people
have spoken to your client who asked that I communicate directly with you. I would
like to confirm that we have been directed by the MTA to take the ad that was the
subject of the suit filed by AFDI against the MTA in accordance with the terms
of the Agreement dated 7/20/10, subject, to placing an appropriate legend on it
that says; “Paid for by the American Freedom Defense initiative.”
David H. Posy
Senior Vice President/General Counsel
North American
Operations
CBS Outdoor
405 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY 10174
Tel: (212) 297-6508
Fax: (212) 297-6552
Mr. Yerushalmi noted: “This is a victory
not just as a defense of the First Amendment. But also a victory against the Bloomberg-style
bullying meant to shut down full-throated public debate over the connection between
the existential jihad threat this country faces and Islamic terrorists who engage
in both violent and stealth jihad to impose Shariah on the infidel.
The
legal documents filed in the federal lawsuit are all available
here.
About David Yerushalmi, Esq.
David
Yerushalmi has been practicing law for more than 26 years. He is a litigator specializing
in securities law, public policy relating to national security, and public interest
law. Mr. Yerushalmi is licensed and practices in Washington D.C., New York, California,
and Arizona and serves as General Counsel to the Center for Security Policy in
Washington, D.C., one of the nation’s leading national security think tanks founded
by former Reagan administration official Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.
For a very good news broadcast, click
on the
video here or here.
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