By:  Ilana Siyance

A group of Bronx lawyers came together to blast a scathing anti-Israel proclamation made by a taxpayer-financed legal aid union named the Bronx Defenders.

As reported by the NY Post, a newly formed group of at least 45 private attorneys, named The Bronx Independent Lawyers for Justice, spoke out saying it was “outraged” by the Local 2325 union of the United Auto Workers for their “anti-Semitic and historically inaccurate position” which it expressed in a controversial proclamation approved in 2023.  “We were collectively outraged by the bigoted and antithetical position based on revisionist history,” longtime Bronx criminal lawyer Marvin Raskin said Sunday.  “We were concerned that there is a consensus that the defense bar in Bronx county is part of this biased rant by the union,” Raskin said. “We were concerned that that may permeate the public’s mindset.”

The new lawyers group, which is just two weeks old, has also already raised over $8,000 to support the American Friends of Magen David Adom, Israel’s nonprofit national emergency medical, disaster, ambulance and blood bank service.  On Sunday, the group released a statement calling the union’s declaration “Hamas propaganda.”  “Our state and city representatives should not award taxpayer money to fund defense organizations that outwardly discriminate against and disparage those of any region or nationality,” the statement said.  “These organizations are trying to enlist the wider Bronx population, which uses their legal services to condemn Israel and the American Jewish community,” it said. “We categorically reject the anti-Semitism and revisionist history propaganda disseminated by the representatives of city and state-funded public defenders.”

Per the Post, on October 20, the Bronx Defenders Union, United Auto Workers Local 2325 had released a statement on social media condemning Israel’s actions in Gaza. The pro-Palestinian statement accused the Jewish State of being “genocidal” and supporting “ethnic cleansing”, while not making any mention of Hamas’ savage Oct. 7 surprise attack, which left 1,200 Israelis murdered and kidnapped hundreds more. We “vehemently oppose the decades-long Israeli occupation and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people,” the proclamation said. “We condemn any attempts to create false equivalencies between the oppressed and the oppressor,” UAW Local 2325 representing attorneys with Bronx Defenders wrote.

Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind, founder of the group Americans Against Anti-Semitism, had been quick to respond by calling on Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams to “Defund the Bronx Defenders”, and starting an online petition to halt funding for the group.  “There is no place for antisemites in our workplace,” the petition said. “DE-FUND THE BRONX DEFENDERS NOW.”

The union went on to vote on the proclamation, after a group of Legal Aid attorneys filed a lawsuit to block the statement.  The proclamation was ultimately approved by the union, with the vote deciding in favor of, with 1,067 members voting for and 570 against, the union said on Dec. 19.

After that, some of the private attorneys who are now part of the Bronx Independent Lawyers for Justice said they decided to form their own group so they could speak up and denounce the union’s hateful proclamation.  “We feel what they did was really outrageous and out of line as professionals,” veteran criminal attorney Michael Dailey said Sunday.  “We could debate the long-term conflict between the Palestinians and Israel,” he said. “But even if we were to say, ‘Yes, Israel is an apartheid state, they have oppressed the Palestinians — all of that. Would that justify what Hamas did on Oct. 7?  I think the answer is a resounding no, it does not justify it.”