Liberty Counsel filed a reply brief to the California Court of Appeal on behalf of Jews for Jesus arguing for dismissal on anti-SLAPP grounds of a frivolous defamation lawsuit brought by an alleged Orthodox Jewish teacher. The defamation lawsuit, brought by aspiring rabbi Ariel Amitay, claims Jews for Jesus deliberately defamed him by using a blurred, stock photo on social media that he says associated him with their Christian outreach ministry.

Jews for Jesus seeks dismissal of the case under California’s anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) statute, where lawsuits cannot be used to intimidate or silence others from exercising their First Amendment rights, including religious outreach and expression. Jews for Jesus is appealing a lower court decision that partially sided with Amitay stating his claims had “minimal merit.”

Amitay’s lawsuit claims that Jews for Jesus intentionally associated him with its distribution of Bibles in the wake of the October 7 attacks. Jews for Jesus used a stock photo of an Israeli soldier from a popular website that provides millions of stock photographs under a worldwide copyright license to download, modify, and use for free. Even though Jews for Jesus deliberately used a facial blur, never used Amitay’s name, and even used the pseudonymous name “Nachman” in the photo’s caption, Amitay alleges he is the man in the photo, and that Jews for Jesus used the photo to personally defame him and cast him in a false light, and that this was “willful, malicious, and oppressive.”

Amitay, who describes himself as a “conservative follower of Judaism” with “starkly different views” than Jews for Jesus, stated the organization blatantly used the photo to “disgrace, defame, and injure” him by suggesting that he personally endorsed its Christian ministry. Despite the blurred face and never being named, Amitay maintains that the photo created such a false impression of him that it caused his employer to terminate him from his “dream” teaching job. 

However, Liberty Counsel argues the lawsuit should be dismissed in its entirety because Amitay fails to show libel. Jews for Jesus attests that it created the social media posts with no knowledge of Amitay’s existence. The brief asserts no reasonable viewer would interpret the blurred picture, which used another person’s name in the caption, to be false or defamatory toward Amitay.

According to the reply brief, Amitay's alleged harm results from his community's religiously motivated reaction over a misperception, not from any defamatory statement. The posts were benign, non-identifying, and non-accusatory expressions of gratitude linked to ministry work. Holding Jews for Jesus liable for a religious community’s misunderstanding of the facts, and for its “overreaction” and “theological hostility” to a Christian ministry would be an improper remedy for a “regrettable” situation, noted Liberty Counsel.

Amitay filed the lawsuit on Christmas Eve 2024 seeking no less than $5 million in punitive damages. Liberty Counsel’s motion to dismiss also requests attorney’s fees and costs against the plaintiff.

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “No reasonable interpretation of Jews for Jesus’ posts support a defamation claim because they have no assertions about Ariel Amitay and fail to convey any defamatory statement about him personally. The posts were a part of a larger religious expression about giving Bibles to Israeli soldiers that did not in any way portray or identify anyone in support of its religious views. Amitay cannot use the courts for a baseless defamation lawsuit to punish or suppress legitimate speech and religious expression. Jews for Jesus’ speech and religious expression is protected by the First Amendment. These baseless claims need to be dismissed.”

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