A New York-based legal aid organization, which is funded through tax, has been ordered to issue an apology and pay a $170,000 settlement for alleged antisemitic discrimination against a Jewish staff member, according to the New York Post.
The same legal aid organization came under blast in 2014 for releasing a rap video entitled "Hands Up" or "kill the NYPD." The video is said to be an encouragement for African-Americans to kill police officers.
Alleged antisemitism
Debbie Jonas, the Jewish former-staff member alleging the antisemitism, is a dual Israeli-US citizen. She claims that while working for the group, she was called a racist, a colonizer and a Karen.
“You may remember that I was called a racist, a colonizer and a Karen, and I was told that I was worse than the dirt under your feet and that my children were murderers,” Debbie Jonas said in an email to the legal aid group's employees.
Despite the organization not admitting to any illegal behavior, the executive assistant Justine Olderman issued an apology and promised to provide antisemitism training to employees.
As part of the apology email, Olderman told Jonas “I feel a special kind of shame for not speaking up in the face of internal emails containing hateful personal attacks on you and your family,”
Jonas has committed to donating $40,000 to the Israeli charities Shurst Hadin, Tobeja, Yad L'isha, Technoda and Bet Izzy Shapiro.
“Of course, this represents a great victory in the effort to combat Jew-hatred," said Jonas' legal aid Dov Hikind, who founded Americans Against Antisemitism. "But this saga also serves as a vital example of just how pervasive antisemitism is in every sector of society and as a lesson on the necessity for Jewish victims to fight for justice if there are ever to be meaningful consequences.”