Attorneys: Lawsuit is ‘meritless,’ ‘destined for dismissal’
Attorneys say a defamation lawsuit filed by an aspiring rabbi claiming a social media post with his image falsely identified him with the religious organization Jews for Jesus is “meritless” and “destined for dismissal.”
The controversy stems from a social media post by Jews for Jesus following the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, in which the group used a royalty-free stock image of an Israeli soldier to highlight their efforts to distribute Bibles. The case, originally filed in the Superior Court of San Francisco County, was recently moved to the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California, where Liberty Counsel, the legal group representing the defendants, intends to fight what they call a baseless claim rooted in a blurred stock photo.
The plaintiff, Ariel Amitay, an Orthodox Jewish teacher, alleges that he is the soldier in the photo and claims that its use by Jews for Jesus falsely implied his affiliation with the group.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know.
“He claims to be Orthodox and that the picture is of him to begin with and that it implied, even though it was blurred, that he was affiliated with Jews for Jesus, and he claims that that caused him harm among his community in Israel,” Liberty Counsel’s Daniel J. Schmid, associate vice president of legal affairs, told CP on Friday.
According to attorneys, Amitay asserts that this misrepresentation led to his termination from his “dream” teaching job, accusing Jews for Jesus of a “willful, malicious, and oppressive” act to “disgrace, defame, and injure” him.
The stock photo in question was sourced from a popular website offering millions of images under a worldwide copyright license, allowing free use, modification, and distribution without attribution, according to Liberty Counsel. Despite this, Amitay alleges defamation and false light portrayal, even though his face was blurred and his name was never mentioned.
“The question is whether they said anything about this individual at all, and they took steps to blur his face and then didn’t say that this particular individual is a member of our group or affiliated with us in any way, shape or form,” said Schmidt. “They used it in a social media post saying, hey, here’s what we have done after the atrocities of October 7, to support those who might desire comfort and peace during a turbulent time, and they didn’t say anything about this particular individual.”
While Amitay is an Israeli resident, the case falls under U.S. jurisdiction since it was filed in California. Schmidt says his team will file a motion to dismiss and expressed confidence in the case’s outcome. “I think we stand on very firm First Amendment grounds and other defenses that we will raise, and I think this suit is meritless, it’s destined for dismissal, as it should be.”
Jews for Jesus, a faith-based nonprofit organization affiliated with the Messianic Jewish movement, is an organization dedicated to helping Jewish people continue living out their faith while believing in Jesus as the Son of God. The organization engages in conversations about Jesus in public spaces like college campuses and parks and hosts events to create opportunities for dialogue.
The group states that it is devoted to demonstrating Christ-like behavior through charitable acts, such as soup kitchens and ministering to Holocaust survivors during their last days of life.
Jews for Jesus offers the New Testament for free to Israelis through its website and the sites of its ministry partners, One for Israel or Tree of Life Ministries. According to data provided to CP last June, the organization has seen 1,230 New Testament orders from Israelis since the war between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas began in October of 2023.
