‘Vital role’ for lawyers in fighting Jew-hatred, StandWithUs says

“When there is a legal remedy, lawyers can play a vital role in ensuring that there is a strong response from our Jewish community to antisemitic activity,” Deedee Bitran told JNS.

Jewish News Syndicate | May 9, 2025

Even attorneys with tight schedules can help fight Jew-hatred by pitching in as little as an hour or two annually. That’s according to Deedee Bitran, senior counsel and director of pro bono at StandWithUs.

“Lawyers can play a vital role in fighting antisemitism,” Bitran, a full-time lawyer, told JNS. “Many lawyers partner with us behind the scenes by conducting legal research and drafting legal letters or court filings.”

Bitran shared that advice with some 120 attorneys at an April 28 event organized in Florida by Gary Lesser, a lawyer and president of the Jewish Lawyers Association of Palm Beach County, which formed after Oct. 7, 2023.

An example that Bitran cited is Ari Hoffman, a media personality in Seattle, whom a local anti-Israel attorney took to court for harassment, doxxing, defamation and causing her emotional distress in September 2024, per StandWithUs.

After Diala Abed-Rabbo attended an anti-Israel protest, she posted on the neighborhood online network Nextdoor, directed at “Zionists” in the area, that “we had an amazing festival today in the community for a free Palestine. I hope you feel good about wasting your money on private security. We do not care about you or your stuff. That’s your thing: stealing things that aren’t yours—not ours.”

She also posted a photo of a home with Israeli and American flags, and shared the cross streets, according to StandWithUs. “Later that evening, the Israeli flag was stolen from the Jewish family’s flagpole.”

Hoffman posted screenshots of the lawyer’s public social-media pages, contacted her employer and filed a complaint with the state bar association—all to which Abed-Rabbo filed suit, per StandWithUs.

The pro bono lawyer Jeff Admon partnered with StandWithUs and helped Hoffman win his case.

“We commend Moshe (Jeff) Admon, Ari Hoffman’s attorney, for his partnership with StandWithUs Legal and exceptional pro bono representation that led to this important legal victory,” stated Yael Lerman, director of StandWithUs Saidoff Legal, in mid-April. “We thank Ari Hoffman for his bravery in standing up to hate and harassment, for reaching out to StandWithUs for legal help and for refusing to be silenced.”

“This ruling affirms the fundamental right to free speech and represents a meaningful step toward justice,” she added.

“Not every wrongdoing is unlawful. Unfortunately, there are some horrible things that happen that do not have a legal remedy,” Bitran told JNS. “However, when there is a legal remedy, lawyers can play a vital role in ensuring that there is a strong response from our Jewish community to antisemitic activity.”

Non-lawyers can also help by spreading the word about Jew-hatred, so people know where to go for help, according to Bitran.

“Lawyers can help by suing for various claims depending on the unique facts of every situation, including but not limited to defamation, discrimination, harassment, breach of contract and tortious interference,” she said. “Lawyers can also help by sending demand letters or interfacing with employers, and sometimes that resolves the issue before ever needing to go to court.”

At the event in South Florida, “multiple” attorneys signed up on the spot to join the StandWithUs pro bono legal network, she told JNS.

“The energy in the room was not just supportive. It was mobilizing,” she said. “The event was a testament to what can happen when the legal community stands up together for good.”

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