'Liberal' Media Talking Head Arrested in NYC For Defacing Anti-Jihad Ads

Whenever CNN and MSNBC want to drag out a self-proclaimed moderate Muslim to try and disguise what the Arab Spring actually is, a frequent choice is Mona Eltahawy, 45, an Egyptian-born Muslim columnist and pundit who now lives here in America.

 She made the news today by getting arrested for defacing what she referred to as an 'anti-Muslim' ad now posted in New York City subways, thanks to the legal efforts of Pam Geller of the blog Atlas Shrugs. Here's the ad:



Ms. Eltahawy took exception to the ad,( which, you'll notice, does not mention Islam at all) She tweeted as follows, grabbed some paint and went out to find a sign to deface.

 

You can see for yourself what occurred next.As she began defacing the ad, one Pamela Hall, who apparently supports the ads tried to stop her.

“Do you have a right to do this?” demanded Hall. “I do actually,” replied Eltahawy. “I think this is freedom of expression, just as this [the ad] is freedom of expression.”

Hall tried to physically block Eltahawy, who shot bursts of paint around her. “If you don’t want paint, you should get out of my way,” Eltahawy said and then sprayed Hall. Eltahawy was then arrested by a NYPD officer and an MTA cop, who put the cuffs on her and led her away. She's been charged with criminal mischief, making graffiti and possession of a graffiti instrument, all misdemeanor crimes in New York City. Ms. Hall has also said she's going to press assault charges against Eltahawy.

 This is pitiable on a number of levels.

 Mona Eltahawy is no jihadist or Islamist.She could best be described by as a fairly clueless left winger. Yet, she's doing exactly what the Islamists want...trying to demonize anything that could be construed as criticism of Islam, and no other faith.I don't recall seeing her protesting the show 'The Book of Mormon' or defacing those ads, and believe me, that show is equally offensive to a lot of members of the Latter Day Saints.They just aren't murdering people or bombing buildings over it.

Mona Eltahawy's bread and butter for the last two years or so has been to be the U.S. apologist for an idealized version of the Arab Spring, particularly in Egypt,  when liberty, liberalism and democracy were supposed to triumph.Unfortunately, as we now know, Islam, which doesn't  have much if any regard for  these characteristics won out instead. I can recall when Ms. Eltahawy was on CNN telling America and the world that the Egyptian people weren't going to allow the Muslim Brotherhood to 'steal their revolution'. Unfortunately, she still appears to remain clueless that not only did the majority of Egyptians allow it, they really, really liked the idea.

It's an amazing bit of cognitive dissonance for someone like Mona Eltahawy  to refer to herself as a 'proud savage' and take a pro-jihad stance, but that's exactly what she's done.

As for the free expression argument she used as her excuse for toeing the Islamist line, I wonder - if defacing an anti-Jihad ad as 'hate speech' is her idea of free expression, what would she think about someone  spray painting a number of pages in the Qu'ran that are a lot more explicit  than the ad she attacked when it comes to expressing out and out hatred. misogyny  and racism?

I have a feeling she might have different rules of what free expression is allowed  in that particular instance.