Pamela Gellar's Controversial 'Savage Jihad' Ad Hits New York City

A controversial advert equating jihad with savagery, promoted by a right-wing American organisation, appeared in 10 New York's subway stations today, as the Big Apple is hosting the UN General Assembly, featuring the world heads of states.

Already featured on San Francisco buses last month, the advert was originally barred by New York's transportation agency as it cited demeaning language.

"In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel Defeat Jihad," the ad reads.

However a federal court ruled in favour of the American Freedom Defense Initiative (FDI) that organised the potentially inflammatory campaign.

The provocative ad comes after the wave of unrest that sparked in the Muslim world over the anti-Islam movie Innocence of Muslims.

"The point is any war on civilians is savagery. The rockets going into Israel by Gaza is savagery, blowing up buses is savagery, targeting a bus of Jewish mothers and children, savagery. I'm just restating the obvious," FDI executive director and founder Pamela Gellar told ABC.

"I'm glad to see that the freedom of speech has finally prevailed."

The ad was condemned by the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

"It is a hate group paying for these advertisements; an avenue to promote hate speech," Muneer Awad, the executive director of the New York division of council, told the CNN.

However Awad did not called for the ads to be removed but just asked transportation authorities to devolve the related income to the city's Human Rights Commission.

"It's perfectly legal to be a bigot and to be a racist. We want to make sure there's a counter-voice," he told The New York Times.