by Our Foreign Desk

NEW YORK CITY’S Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) announced a ban yesterday on all political advertising on its subways and buses after a judge ruled in favour of a pro-Israel group’s provocative statement.

District Court Judge John Koeltl had invoked the constitutional right to free speech in ordering the MTA to display an American Freedom Defence Initiative (AFDI) ad containing the phrase “Hamas killing Jews on NYC buses.”

Political advertising accounts for less than $1 million (£646,000) of the authority’s annual ad revenue of $138m (£89.2m).

“Advertisements expressing viewpoint messages, regardless of the viewpoint being expressed, would no longer be accepted,” said MTA general counsel Jerome Page.

Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia have already banned political ads on public transport.

The lawsuit was filed last year after the MTA notified the AFDI that it would display three of four proposed advertisements but not an ad with the quote “Killing Jews is worship that draws us close to Allah” because it could incite violence.

In the ad, a covered face is shown next to the quote, attributed to “Hamas MTV,” and followed by the words: “That’s his jihad. What’s yours?”

Mr Page said that the decision to change MTA policy had been prompted by safety concerns.

“We drew the line when we thought our customers, our employees and the public were in danger. The judge gave short shrift to those concerns,” he said.

The judge stayed the effect of his decision for a month pending appeal.