The following article was reprinted with permission from the Jewish Tribune.

TORONTO – The David Horowitz Freedom Center will run an educational ad in Pennsylvania newspapers following a local judge’s refusal to prosecute a Muslim man who allegedly assaulted someone for insulting Islam.

According to news reports, Ernest Perce V was dressed as “Zombie Mohammed” in a Halloween parade in Pennsylvania last October when he was allegedly attacked by Talaag Elbayomy.

Perce posted on the Internet a video of the alleged attack and an audio recording purported to be of the resulting court case. In the audio recording, after testimony is heard, Judge Mark Martin gives Perce a four-minute lecture about Islam, in which he states, “It’s unfortunate that some people use the First Amendment to deliberately provoke others…. I think our forefathers intended that we use the First Amendment so we can speak what’s on our mind, not to piss off other people, other cultures, which is what you did.”

The judge concedes that Perce has the right to offend Muslims but, nevertheless, “you are way outside your First Amendment rights.”

He then dismisses the charge of harassment against the alleged assailant.

The judge has set “a horrible precedent,” according to David Horowitz, president of the Freedom Center. Martin’s finding has “opened the door for Muslims to legally attack Americans who they feel offend them on religious grounds.” In effect, the judge’s statements make American constitutional rights subservient to Sharia (Islamic) law, which forbids blasphemy against Islam or its prophet, Horowitz said.

“To adopt blasphemy laws would be to obliterate our freedom and democracy,” warned Horowitz.

Sharia law should not be legalized in the West because “it’s misogynistic, it’s totalitarian, it controls every aspect of your life, it’s religious law and it forbids blasphemy. Blasphemy laws would be the end of free speech.”

The newspaper ad, which will run in Pennsylvania, is part of the Freedom Center’s ongoing educational campaign, which includes information about the dangers of Sharia, Horowitz said.

“This is an educational and political mission…. The main battle is for people’s minds.”

The campaign aims to combat what he called “a movement to subvert American institutions and to suppress any criticism of the subversion of those institutions.”

This movement to advance Sharia law is being conducted by “an armada of organizations such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Muslim American Society and the Muslim Student Association, which are part of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is advancing this agenda,” Horowitz said. (Copyright © 2012 FrontPageMagazine.com 03/23/12)