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Powerful Union Browbeat and Retaliated Against Jewish Members, New Lawsuit Says
A view of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Photo: Chip East via Reuters Connect
A powerful union for New York public defenders became a “cornucopia of classic modern antisemitism” in the months following the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre in southern Israel, according to a lawsuit filed by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law.
Filed on Monday in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, the complaint accuses the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys (UAW 2325) — reportedly the oldest such organization in the country — of passing a virulently anti-Israel resolution following Oct. 7 which made only a passing reference to Hamas’ atrocities and launched a smear campaign against Jewish members who opposed it. Since then, the union has filed “formal charges” against Jewish and Zionist members and is attempting to expel them from its ranks.
Antisemitic conduct in the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys (ALAA) took various forms, the complaint alleges. Members commended Hamas’ violence, chanted “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” and denied that the terrorist group had murdered women and children. In one incident, someone allegedly asserted that Zionist beliefs would prevent Jewish attorneys from “zealously” defending Muslims, Palestinians, and Arabs and lead them to conspire against them and sabotage their cases.
“If they support Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people, why would they not have a reason to collude with prosecutors and other adversaries to deprive our clients of justice in the courts,” ALAA member Marlen Bodden wrote in an “officewide” email on Nov. 16.
“It is a legitimate question,” Monica Dula responded.
A ranking official attempted to stop the conversation from descending into a pitch and catch of antisemitic tropes, but the idea that Jews would work against their clients had been planted weeks earlier. On Oct. 13, Saara Ashid suggested that a Jewish attorney does not “stand up for Black and Brown folk in the same way,” according to the lawsuit. She added, “I’m starting to worry about all of your clients.”
By Nov. 17, ALAA was scheduled to vote on a resolution that the complaint describes as a “1,147 word diatribe against the existence of the Jewish state, replete with deceitful blood libels designed to arouse the most ancient antisemitic hatreds.” Resolved to stop it from taking place, several Jewish members, accusing the union of breach of contract and fostering a professional culture that would discourage Jews from seeking legal counsel from ALAA affiliated attorneys, sought and were granted a temporary restraining order which delayed the proceeding.
Angered by the ruling, their colleagues allegedly sought to expel them from the union entirely, with one member accusing them “of snitching behavior.” A volley of similar comments were launched in an email thread over the next several days, the lawsuit notes, with Emmanuel Garcia writing “if you are a snitch please do us a favor and kill yourself” and David Tobias commenting “careful, snitches are in this thread, they might snitch on you and air strike your home with your family in it.”
ALAA then moved to file charges against its Jewish members, accusing them of attempting to “interrupt a democratic process on an internal union matter” and violating the union’s “core” mission. The anti-Israel resolution has since been passed and a trial of the members is forthcoming.
“Antisemitism in a union isn’t any less objectionable than antisemitism on a college campus, in a public school, or at a workplace,” Brandeis Center chairman Kenneth Marcus said in a statement. “The Brandeis Center will hold accountable everyone responsible for trying to expel Jewish and non-Jewish members alike whose Zionism, sense of professional obligation to their clients, and basic decency compelled them to oppose the ALAA’s discriminatory and antisemitic practices, especially the ALAA’s profoundly antisemitic and destructive anti-Israel resolution that over a third of its members ultimately rejected.”
Andrew Lieb, managing partner of Lieb at Law — a firm partnering with the Brandeis Center to litigate the case — added, “No American should be retaliated against for fighting against what they sincerely believe is antisemitism and its consequences, which is why federal and local law clearly prohibit unions from conditioning union membership upon acquiescing to discrimination. We fight for all employees, of all religious faiths, who all have a right to be both true to their identity while also benefiting from unionization in leveraging concerted activity in negotiating optimal terms of employment.”
The plaintiffs in the case are seeking injunctive relief to prevent their expulsion from ALAA as well as unspecified damages resulting from emotional distress.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Iran’s Khamenei Dismisses US Nuclear Proposal, Vows to Keep Enriching Uranium
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 20, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that abandoning uranium enrichment was “100 percent” against the country’s interests, rejecting a central US demand in talks to resolve a decades-long dispute over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
The US proposal for a new nuclear deal was presented to Iran on Saturday by Oman, which has mediated talks between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff.
After five rounds of talks, several hard-to-bridge issues remain, including Iran’s insistence on maintaining uranium enrichment on its soil and Tehran’s refusal to ship abroad its entire existing stockpile of highly enriched uranium – possible raw material for nuclear bombs.
Khamenei, who has the final say on all matters of state, said nothing about halting the talks, but said the US proposal “contradicts our nation’s belief in self-reliance and the principle of ‘We Can.’”
“Uranium enrichment is the key to our nuclear program and the enemies have focused on the enrichment,” Khamenei said during a televised speech marking the anniversary of the death of the Islamic Republic’s founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
“The proposal that the Americans have presented is 100 percent against our interests … The rude and arrogant leaders of America repeatedly demand that we should not have a nuclear program. Who are you to decide whether Iran should have enrichment?” he added.
Tehran says it wants to master nuclear technology for peaceful purposes and has long denied accusations by Western powers that it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons.
‘MAXIMUM PRESSURE’
Reuters reported on Monday that Tehran was poised to reject the US proposal as a “non-starter” that failed to soften Washington’s stance on uranium enrichment or to address Tehran’s interests.
Trump has revived his “maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran since his return to the White House in January, which included tightening sanctions and threatening to bomb Iran if the negotiations yield no deal.
Trump wants to curtail Tehran’s potential to produce a nuclear weapon that could trigger a regional nuclear arms race and threaten Israel. Iran’s clerical establishment, for its part, wants to be rid of devastating sanctions.
During his first term, Trump ditched Tehran’s 2015 nuclear pact with six powers and reimposed sanctions that have crippled Iran’s economy. Iran responded by escalating enrichment far beyond the pact’s limits.
Iran’s clerical establishment is grappling with multiple crises — energy and water shortages, a plunging currency, losses among regional militia proxies in conflicts with Israel, and rising fears of an Israeli strike on its nuclear sites — all intensified by Trump’s hardline stance.
Iran’s arch-foe Israel, which sees Tehran’s nuclear program as an existential threat, has repeatedly threatened to bomb the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Tehran has vowed a harsh response.
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Arabs Are Not Our Enemies
Israeli model May Tager, holding an Israeli flag, poses with Dubai-resident model Anastasia Bandarenka, holding an Emirati flag, during a photo shoot for FIX’s Princess Collection, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Sept. 8, 2020. Photo: Reuters / Christopher Pike.
Baruch Hashem, Arabs are not our enemies. Forget the headlines, look in the Torah. And the Torah, our eternal blueprint for life, compels us to see beyond the politics of fear and into the eyes of Divine image-bearers. In fact, the Talmud (Sotah 10a) teaches that the very first Jews — Sarah and Abraham — chose to leave behind comfort and status not to isolate themselves from the world, but to embrace it.They pitched their tents at the crossroads of the desert, not to avoid Arabs, but to welcome them. Day after day, they prepared meals, washed the feet of dusty travelers, and shared their spiritual table with people of all backgrounds, including the Arab tribes that roamed the region. These were not theoretical gestures — they were daily acts of hospitality and human connection.
The midrash (Bereishis Rabbah 49:4) paints a vivid picture: when guests would eat in Abraham’s tent and begin to thank him, he would gently stop them and say, “Don’t thank me — bless the Creator of the world.” Thus, Arabs and others joined Abraham in not just eating bread but elevating it — blessing G-d together with him. This is not just a charming anecdote from ancient times. It is a blueprint for our time. As Dr. King taught us, our ultimate measure is not where we stand in moments of comfort and convenience, but where we stand at times of challenge and controversy.
Our sages teach us that all human beings are created b’tzelem Elokim — in the image of G-d (Bereishis 1:27). This Divine imprint doesn’t discriminate based on ethnicity, nationality, or religion. It’s universal. So much so that when the Torah was given at Sinai, G-d also reaffirmed His covenant with all of humanity through the Sheva Mitzvot Bnei Noach — the Seven Noahide Laws — laws of basic morality, justice, and recognition of a Higher Power that were given not just to Jews but to the entire human collective (Sanhedrin 56a).
This means that even though Jews and Arabs may differ in covenantal obligations, our destinies are intertwined. We share the mission of revealing G-dliness in the world. Our unity is not uniformity. It is based on our shared capacity to bring light into dark places, to elevate the mundane, and to serve as ambassadors of Heaven on Earth.
But today, many struggle to see this vision. The brutality of terrorism, the images of war, the pain of loss — these are very real, and we must never minimize the suffering. We are commanded to defend ourselves (Haba l’hargecha hashkem l’hargo – Sanhedrin 72a), and those who commit acts of evil must be brought to justice. But we must also remember this: terrorists are not synonymous with Arabs. Just as extremists who twist our own religion do not represent Torah, terrorists do not represent the totality of our Arab friends and brethren.
We must not let the terrorists win by poisoning our hearts against each other. They win when we begin to view entire groups as subhuman. They win when we let fear erase faith. They win when we forget, as my mother taught me, that seeing the good is seeing the G-d in our fellow human being. As George Deek, a proud Arab who is Israel’s ambassador to Azerbaijan, once told me, “A Middle East that has no room for a Jewish state has no room for humanity.”
The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, once told the Sadigura Rebbe, Rabbi Avraham Yaakov Freidman, that our Arab brethren should be blessed — to be fruitful and multiply, and to join with the Jewish people in building a better world. This is a Torah vision — a redemptive one. Not based on naive utopianism, but on the prophetic promise of true peace. The prophet Isaiah (2:2–4) speaks of a time when “nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” This isn’t just messianic poetry. It’s a mandate. The Torah demands we yearn for that day, work toward that day, and speak as if it can come today. As Maimonides taught us, we are obligated to await the Messiah’s coming “every day.”
Too often, we speak only of our enemies. But our sages teach, Aizehu gibor? Hakovesh et yitzro — Who is mighty? One who conquers their own negative inclinations (Pirkei Avot 4:1). Today, that yetzer hara is the voice that whispers, “They are all evil. Give up on hope.” But hope is a mitzvah. Faith in humanity is part of being a chiluk Elokai mimaal — a portion of G-d above. Let us distinguish, as Beruriah taught her husband Rabbi Meir, between evil actions and people, especially entire nations of people. Let us affirm the holiness of life while condemning those who seek to destroy it. And let us dare to dream, as Avraham once did, of a tent large enough to welcome all the children of G-d.
I pray for peace — not just the silence of gunshots and violence, but the song of genuine sisterhood and brotherhood. I pray that my Arab friends and brethren be blessed with prosperity, health, happiness, and holiness. And I pray that we, the Jewish people, never forget who we are: a nation charged with bringing blessing to kol mishpachot ha’adamah — all the families of the Earth (Bereishis 12:3) so we can “serve Him with one accord” (Zephaniah 3:9) in the Holy Temple which is the “…house of prayer for all peoples (Isaiah 56:7).”
And, to that, I say Amen.
Levi Y. Welton is a rabbi, stand-up comedian, and Lubavitcher Chossid. He can be reached at rabbiwelton@gmail.com
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Antisemitic Incidents in Germany Almost Double in 2024, Report Shows
People protest outside Berlin’s Humboldt University in support of Israel and against antisemitism, in Berlin, Germany, Oct. 5, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Christian Mang
The number of antisemitic incidents in Germany almost doubled last year, at a time of continued war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, the semi-official German body that tracks antisemitism reported on Wednesday.
The Federal Research and Information Point for Antisemitism (RIAS) said it had registered 8,627 incidents of violence, vandalism, and threats against Jews in Germany last year, almost twice the 4,886 recorded in 2023, and far ahead of 2020’s 1,957.
“Objectively, the risk of being persecuted as a Jew in Germany has increased since Oct. 7, 2023,” Benjamin Steinitz, head of RIAS, told a news briefing on the report, referring to the start of the Gaza war.
“But debates about what counts as an expression of antisemitism seem to take up more space than empathy for the victims.”
The largest category of incidents reported by RIAS – about 25 percent of the total – fell within the category of “anti-Israeli antisemitism.”
In a report published last month, Jewish activist group Diaspora Alliance questioned what it said was RIAS methodology equating opposition to Israel with antisemitism.
Alliance activist Jossi Bartal said RIAS’ approach “delegitimizes criticism of the Israeli state, marking every expression of Palestinian identity as suspect,” alluding to Israeli policy toward Palestinians.
Steinitz told the briefing in response to questions that the Diaspora Alliance report distorted RIAS’ work. “I think the aim of publishing the report now was to present our work as somehow controversial and discredit the experiences of victims.”
Antisemitic violence, vandalism and threats have surged in recent years, with far-right Germans responsible for around three times as many incidents as Islamists, RIAS reported.
For Germany, tracking such incidents and countering antisemitism is central to its post-war project of atoning for the Nazi-era Holocaust of Europe’s Jews.
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