Hitler and Husseini star on U.S. buses

A new attraction is awaiting masses of tourists coming to Washington, DC: they will be able to write not only on the Washington Monument ("The needle"), south of the White House, which was newly re-opened to visitors, but also on huge ads on the sides of city buses that star, one next to the other, Adolf Hitler and Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who joined the Nazi enemy in World War II.

No, these are not anti-Semitic ads imposed on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority under the First Amendment which protects freedom of expression. These ads are supposed to be pro- Israeli, courtesy of a right-wing Jewish organization, "an initiative for the protection of American freedom (AFDI), designed to protest a pro-Palestinian organization's ads against U.S. aid to Israel.

Washington is already used to ads of a political or social nature on the sides of its buses. We have already seen ads that compel passers-by to watch them again because of their blatant nature: for example, an ad against health care reform which was smeared with an inscription: "Go to hell , Barack (Obama)". But the photo of the Fuhrer's profile, in posters three meters long on buses travelling in Pennsylvania Avenue, is undoubtedly a step up.

Next to the photo of the Fuhrer and Mufti in a friendly dialogue, the following text appears: "Jew hatred of Islam: it's in the Koran. Two-thirds of all U.S. foreign aid flows to the Muslim countries. Curb racism. Put an end to all aid to Muslim countries." In smaller letters it says, "Sponsored by the Initiative for the Protection of American Freedom."

Behind this organization, which is based in New York, is a colorful character, Pam Geller, a veteran soldier in the wars against Islam, Arabs and the current president in the White House. She came out against plans to build a mosque near Ground Zero, the site where the Twin Towers once stood, and against mosques in the U.S. in general.

She claimed that Obama is the illegitimate son of Malcolm X, an American Muslim activist who condemned the white majority for crimes against the black minority in the U.S. She warns of the danger of penetration of Shariah, Islamic law, into the American legal system, and she has experience in poster wars on buses, especially in Washington.

In October 2012, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in the capital tried to oppose another anti-Muslim banner which Geller asked to place on cars and stations of the Metro in Washington DC, which read: "In any war between the civilized man and the wild barbarians, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad." The authority claimed that these announcements may ignite violent reactions in stations or trains themselves and therefore are a danger to the public. The Court thought otherwise and subsequently forced the authority to publish the ads.
In light of this precedent, the Washington Transport Authority agreed to publish the posters with a photo of Hitler without any resistance.

AFDI's website states: "Our ads are a response to malicious ads that express hatred against Jews."

The intention is to large posters against aid to Israel, which appeared on the sides of buses in Washington in mid-March to mid-April. On one side of the poster is a picture of Uncle Sam holding a flag of Israel. On the other, against the background of the 1040 form of reporting to the IRS of the USA, the following text appears: "We are sweating on 15 April (the deadline for sending reports to the IRS), so the Israelis will not have to sweat. Stop U.S. aid to Israeli occupation". This ad was initiated by the American Muslims for Palestine organization, located in the State of Illinois.

Geller said to Petula Devozak, a columnist for the Washington Post municipal that she received hundreds of emails supporting the ad with a photo of Hitler. "Photographs of Hitler and the leader of the most influential Muslim world prove in the most tangible way how to wash history. I used this photo just because people are not aware of the facts, and they need to be aware of these facts."

Such posters are planned for other buses across the U.S. The columnist writes: "Hitler should be displayed prominently in history books and the Holocaust Museum in Washington, not on bus No. 6 with which I travel every day."

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