Concurring with a similar ruling issued by a federal judge last February, US District Court Judge Richard Jones has ruled that King County was right to pull Metro bus ads purchased by the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign, which depicted children next to building rubble in Gaza along with the words, "Israeli war crimes—Your tax dollars at work."

via the Seattle Times:

In his ruling, Jones said the court recognized the need to protect free speech, "but in light of the totality of circumstances of this case, the court concludes that King County's decision to reject the (advertisement) was a viewpoint-neutral and reasonable restriction in a limited public forum."

The "totality of circumstances" included hundreds of complaints, repostings of the story on "known terrorist organization, Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades," according to court documents, and alleged threats of violence, also cited in court documents (.pdf):

·"If you want to see how tough Jews can be, then go ahead and run those despicable ads and we’ll see who has the last word on this. If you run these ads, we will work together with our Jewish friends and others to shut Metro down.”

·“I am a law-abiding citizen that would have no qualms defacing the message if given the opportunity. I will also be glad to form a peaceful, human blockade of buses that I help pay for that are promoting racist messages.”

·“I think I will organize a group to ‘riot’ at your bus stops."

·“AN ATTY WHO SAYS THE SIGNS ARE PERMITTED UNDER THE FIRST AMENDMENT IS FORCING ME TO CONDUCT VIOLENCE JUST TO PROVE THAT I AM REALLY UPSET AT THESE HORRIBLE WORLD WAR2 KINDS OF HATRED SIGNS"

·“YOU ARE TRULLY (sic) DISGUSTING AND DESPICABLE........AND JUST REMEMBER ‘KARMA’ what comes around goes around!!! Oh, and by the way, if you dumb asses at the King County Metro pull more shit!! We will be on you like stink on a monkey!!! CAUSE GUESS WHAT, WE JEWS ARE NOT THE SAME AS THE JEWS OF EUROPE DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR!! WE GET PISSED OFF, WE TAKE ACTION!!!”

Ed Mast, a spokesman for SeaMAC, is said to be considering appealing the decision to the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals.