Philadelphia's transit system will allow a number of pro-Israel ads to appear on its buses, as per a judge's order, the Associated Press reported. Deciding against an appeal, the Southern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) said Thursday that a group requested the advertising space before a policy change allowed the authority to reject ads it deems offensive. The ads are sponsored by the American Freedom Defense Initiative, also known as Stop Islamization of American, which was founded in 2010. One features a 1941 photograph of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler with "staunch ally" Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and known anti-Semite, Haj Amin al-Husseini. Carrying the tagline, "Jew Hatred: It's in the Quran," the ads call on the United States government to "stop the hate" and "end all aid to Islamic countries." That same ad was first created in 2014 as a response to an ad by the American Muslims for Palestine that AFDI called "Jew-hating." It has previously run on buses in Washington D.C. The ads are slated to appear on the side of 84 buses in the greater Philadelphia area. Any attempts to vandalize the ads will not be tolerated, SEPTA added. AFDI has seen its fair share of legal battles for its pro-Israel and anti-Islam ads on public transportation in cities across the US. In October the AFDI filed a lawsuit against New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) for refusing to run a "Hamas Killing Jews" advertisement on city buses. The group was behind a similar ad campaign in 2012 on the city's transport system that the MTA originally rejected, before a federal judge determined the state agency's rule against ads that demeaned race, gender, religion or several other categories was unconstitutional.
