A group that wants to run anti-Hamas advertisements on New York City buses argued to a federal appellate court that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's decision to ban ads blasting Hamas for its stated desire to kill Jews should be undone as a violation of the First Amendment.

Attorney David Yerushalmi, appearing before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, said a new MTA policy that prohibits all political ads is flawed because it contains language that allows the authority to ban ads that are a direct incitement to violence.

Yerushalmi was appearing on behalf of the American Freedom Defense Initiative, which wanted to run ads on the tail end of buses showing a menacing looking man wearing a head scarf along with the quotation “Hamas MTV: 'Killing Jews is Worship that draws us close to Allah.'”