COMMENTARY: Georgia Tech Newspaper Rejects Ad on Terrorism Project, Video

By  Sara Dogan

Special to DavidKinchen.com

In a decision that reveals the state of denial on American campuses, the editorial board of the Georgica Tech student paper – The Georgia Tech Technique — has rejected an ad from the Terrorism Awareness Project, warning students about the threat that radical Islam poses to America.

 

 The Terrorism Awareness Project (TAP) is a new national program of the David Horowitz Freedom Center. It was launched last week to alert the American public—and particularly American college students—to the threat posed by radical Islam.

 

Titled “What Americans Need To Know About Jihad,” the TAP ad warns students that “the goal of jihad is world domination” and “Jihad’s battle cry is ‘Death to America.’” The ad includes quotes from several radical Islamic leaders such as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah who has declared “Our hostility to the Great Satan [America] is absolute. Death to America. I encourage Palestinians to take suicide bombings worldwide.”

 

The Technique ad department initially accepted the ad and processed payment for it. But then the editors got   hold of it and killed the deal.

 

When asked to explain why the ad was rejected, an editor at the Technique declared that it was “hateful,” “offensive,” and “misleading.” In particular, the editor was upset that the ad draws a connection between Islamic radicals and the Nazis. This complaint refers to a pamphlet titled The Nazi Roots of Palestinian Nationalism and Islamic Jihad which is advertised in the ad. The pamphlet describes the role that the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, the universally recognized father of Palestinian Nationalism, played as a follower of Hitler during WWII.

 

When a representative from TAP offered to alter the ad, the Technique replied that everything in it was offensive and no alteration would help.

 

“The Technique’s rejection of this ad reveals exactly why the Terrorism Awareness Project is needed on America’s campuses,” commented TAP National Coordinator Stephen Miller, who is currently a senior at Duke University. “Universities and Middle East Studies Departments turn a blind eye to the threat of radical Islam, resulting in ignorance and denial. The editors of the Technique claimed that our ad was ‘hateful’ and ‘misleading,’ and refused to print it even if it were limited to actual quotes from radical Islamic leaders. In other words, the Tech editors are simply trying to suppress the truth about the radical Islamic threat.”

 

“The Technique may be in violation of the First Amendment in rejecting this ad,” observed David Horowitz. As a publicly funded journal, the Technique has the right to reject all political ads if it wants to, but it cannot be selective about which point of view it chooses to allow to buy space in its paper.”

 

The Technique is one of 15 college newspapers which have so far been approached about running the TAP ad. Three others universities—Purdue, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Michigan—have rejected the ad, though none have provided reasons for its rejection. The ad has been accepted for publication at six universities, including San Francisco State, Berkeley and Duke.

 

TAP has also produced a short flash video titled The Islamic Mein Kampf which documents the genocidal agendas of Islamic radicals like Iranian president Mahmoud Achmadinejdad and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The video was distributed to more than 850,000 individuals across America this week including the entire liberal arts faculties of several universities.

 

The TAP ad and the video clip can be found at http://www.terrorismawareness.org.

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Sara Dogan is National Campus Director of Students for Academic Freedom based in Ballwin, MO (outside St. Louis).