A lawsuit filed in San Franciso is an obvious attempt to shut down a Christian ministry. Claiming “defamation” over a social media post about distributing Bibles, this case is motivated by no other reason than a blatant attempt TO crush religious freedom and free speech.

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Shortly after the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre, the Christian ministry Jews for Jesus began delivering copies of the New Testament to soldiers and civilians in Israel.

On October 30, the group posted on social media a quote from an IDF soldier saying, “Thank you for leaving at my home a copy of the New Testament. I look forward to reading it when I return home from the war.”

Beneath the quote was a picture of an Israeli soldier with his face blurred for privacy. The soldier's only discernable characteristics in the photo are short cropped dark hair and a mid-length beard, features common among any number of male IDF soldiers, and both had been blurred.

Furthermore, the Jews for Jesus social media post identified the quote as being attributed to “Nachman, a young Haredi soldier.”

But some people don’t like the fact that Jews for Jesus is spreading the gospel.

To protect Nachman’s privacy, Jews for Jesus used a royalty-free stock photo of an anonymous Israel Defense Forces officer in the ministry’s social media post. The photo was obtained and published by Jews for Jesus from a popular website that provides millions of stock photographs under a worldwide copyright license to download, use, modify and distribute for free, without permission from or attributing its source. Jews for Jesus then carefully blurred out all facial features in the photo so that no one in the post could be identified.

Ariel Amitay, who claims to be an Orthodox Jewish teacher and aspiring rabbi, alleges he is the man in the blurred stock photo that was widely available for free download and use worldwide. Even though Jews for Jesus deliberately used a facial blur, never used Amitay’s name, had no knowledge of Amitay, and even used someone else’s name in the photo’s caption, Amitay alleges that Jews for Jesus used the photo to 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 that 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, Amitay’s lawsuit fails to provide concrete facts to support his claims. The lawsuit is rife with legal deficiencies. Amitay cannot use the courts to punish or suppress the legitimate speech and religious expression of Jews for Jesus.

Simply put, no reasonable reader would interpret the social media post as factual assertions about Ariel Amitay. The social posts were a part of a larger religious expression about giving Bibles to Israeli soldiers, and the posts did not in any way portray or identify Amitay in support of its religious views. Jews for Jesus’ speech and religious advocacy is protected by the First Amendment, and this lawsuit must be dismissed.

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Liberty Counsel filed a motion in U.S. District Court to remove this case from the Superior Court of San Francisco County to federal court, where we will ask the court to dismiss this frivolous lawsuit.

Sadly, this isn’t the first time we have had to defend Jews for Jesus from people trying to stop the spread of the Good News.

In 2004, we defended Jews for Jesus against a lawsuit that sought an injunction to prevent Jews for Jesus from witnessing or evangelizing about Jesus. The court dismissed that case, but that didn't stop the plaintiff’s attorney — who was also a rabbi — from filing yet more complaints over the next eight years. The cases all sought to silence and bankrupt Jews for Jesus. The court finally became so disgusted by the frivolous lawsuits that it sanctioned the attorney for over 100,000 dollars.

America’s courtrooms cannot be used to publicize philosophical vendettas against people of faith. Nor can those courtrooms be used to silence any person’s or group’s deeply held religious convictions.

Liberty Counsel has fought this animus before and won, and I am confident we will win this case as well, but we cannot do this important work without YOU. Please consider making a generous single donation or a recurring monthly donation to ensure we can continue to provide top-notch legal representation to clients like Jews for Jesus who simply want to share the Good News of Christ. Every donation made today will be DOUBLED in impact by a special Challenge Grant.

Mat Staver
Founder and Chairman
Liberty Counsel

P.S. Join us for our 2025 Gala on April 5 with keynote speaker Congressman Byron Donalds, along with his wife, Erika. The theme is “A New Birth of Freedom.” Register now!

Sources:

“Attorney Who Filed Baseless Suit against Jews for Jesus Is Sanctioned Again by Court.” Liberty Counsel, October 5, 2012. LC.org/newsroom/details/attorney-who-filed-baseless-suit-against-jews-for-jesus-is-sanctioned-again-by-court-1.

“Defamation Case against Jews for Jesus Is Baseless.” Liberty Counsel, March 5, 2025. LC.org/newsroom/details/030525-defamation-case-against-jews-for-jesus-is-baseless.

“Judge Dismisses Case against Jews for Jesus.” Liberty Counsel, May 5, 2004. LC.org/newsroom/details/judge-dismisses-case-against-jews-for-jesus.

“Lawyer Ordered to Pay Liberty Counsel for Bad Faith Litigation against Jews for Jesus.” Liberty Counsel, November 5, 2009. LC.org/newsroom/details/lawyer-ordered-to-pay-liberty-counsel-for-bad-faith-litigation-against-jews-for-jesus.

“Rabbi Sues ‘Jews for Jesus’ for Using His Image in Promotion Materials.” Jewish Breaking News, March 9, 2025. Jewishbreakingnews.com/rabbi-sues-jews-for-jesus-over-using-image-in-promotion-materials/.