Liberty Counsel filed a petition for rehearing to the California Court of Appeal First Appellate District to stop a frivolous defamation case against the nonprofit outreach ministry Jews for Jesus. The petition asks the appeals court to reconsider its recent ruling that allowed the case to move forward.

In Amitay v. Jews for Jesus, alleged Orthodox Jewish teacher Ariel Amitay claims Jews for Jesus defamed him by posting a royalty free stock photo on its Facebook page even though the face was intentionally blurred and did not identify the person by using a pseudonymous caption. Amitay says the photo associated him with their Christian outreach ministry despite the caption making no such association.

Jews for Jesus argues the case should be dismissed and Amitay should be held liable for attorney’s fees and costs 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.”

Recently, a three-judge panel on the California Court of Appeal affirmed Amitay’s claims had “minimal merit.” However, Liberty Counsel argues that finding “minimal merit” is just one aspect of the appropriate SLAPP analysis in this case and urges the court to rehear it to consider the “totality of the circumstances.”

The court did not resolve, as a matter of law, whether Jews for Jesus’ social media posts “in their full context” assert or imply a false statement of fact about Amitay, the petition states. Nor did the court determine whether Amitay’s claims defeat the contrary defense and evidence from Jews for Jesus as required by the anti-SLAPP statute, which was enacted to prevent burdening individuals and organizations from protracted litigation over their protected speech.

“If this Court’s opinion stands, a California nonprofit will be dragged through the very burdens the anti-SLAPP statute was designed to prevent: deposing hostile witnesses across as ocean, in a foreign language, under Hague Convention procedures,” reads the petition. “The statue exists to stop precisely this kind of abuse, at precisely this stage.”

In rehearing the case, the appeals court can satisfy all the aspects of anti-SLAPP statute and correctly find that the case should be dismissed, concluded Liberty Counsel. 

Following the attacks on October 7, 2023, Jews for Jesus distributed Bibles to Israeli soldiers to provide comfort and support. On its Facebook page, 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. Jews for Jesus blurred the face, never used Amitay’s name, and even used the pseudonymous name “Nachman” in the photo’s caption. Jews for Jesus had no prior knowledge of Amitay.

Amitay now says that person in the blurred photo was him, although he has presented no proof of where he saw the photo. 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.  

Liberty Counsel has argued that 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. 

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, “The California Court of Appeal has plenty of grounds to rehear this case. No reasonable interpretation of Jews for Jesus’ posts supports a defamation claim because they do not 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 reconsidered, dismissed, and Ariel Amitay needs to be held responsible for bringing this frivolous lawsuit.”