SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Liberty Counsel filed a reply brief in the Superior Court of California on behalf of Jews for Jesus which responds to legal objections to the Christian ministry’s request to dismiss a baseless defamation lawsuit on anti-SLAPP grounds. The defamation lawsuit, brought by an alleged Orthodox Jewish teacher and aspiring rabbi, alleges Jews for Jesus deliberately defamed him by associating him with their Christian outreach ministry on social media. 

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. The case will be heard in the Superior Court of California for San Francisco County on June 20.

The lawsuit claims that Jews for Jesus intentionally associated Jewish teacher, Ariel Amitay, 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 someone else’s name 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, as Liberty Counsel’s response shows, Amitay has failed to supply admissible evidence to prove his claim. Amitay supplied “inadmissible declarations from friends,” documents in Hebrew with uncertified translations, and “speculative assumptions” about Jews for Jesus’ motives.

Amitay has not supplied “a shred of authentic evidence,” such as notarized affidavits, comparative photographs, nor any admissible evidence proving that he is in fact the “man with a beard” or has personally suffered harm from the published photo, wrote Liberty Counsel.

Amitay also contended that there is no functional relationship between the stock photo and Jews for Jesus’ broader social media campaign about its charitable efforts meaning the photo singles him out personally. Yet, Liberty Counsel notes that if it wasn’t for those social media posts, the image would never have been published.

“[E]ven if Amitay’s myopic theory about the stock photo had merit, his argument would still run headlong into the anti-SLAPP statute’s explicit protection of…the constitutional right of free speech in connection with a public issue or an issue of public interest,” wrote Liberty Counsel.

Liberty Counsel’s original motion to dismiss the baseless case states that Amitay’s lawsuit is rather an attempt to “weaponize defamation law” to hinder the Christian outreach mission of Jews for Jesus. This type of lawsuit, known as SLAPP, is prohibited under California law.

Amitay filed the lawsuit on Christmas Eve 2024 seeking no less than $5 million in punitive damages. Liberty Counsel seeks to dismiss the case because Jews for Jesus did not act with actual malice and because the lawsuit is “impermissible” under the state’s anti-SLAPP law. Liberty Counsel’s motion also requests attorney’s fees and costs against the plaintiff.

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “It is clearly evident that Jews for Jesus’ posts are not factual assertions about Ariel Amitay. Jews for Jesus’ social media posts were a part of a larger religious expression about giving Bibles to Israeli soldiers that did not in any way portray or identify Amitay in support of its religious views. Amitay cannot use the courts through a baseless defamation lawsuit to punish or suppress legitimate speech and religious expression. Jews for Jesus’ speech and religious advocacy is protected by the First Amendment and this lawsuit must be dismissed.”

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