Public Defender Tears Down Hamas Hostage Posters, Says They Justify Murder

By Matis Glenn

A Manhattan public defender tore down a poster in New York City depicting children held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, and later said that it contained words “justifying the killing of children.”

The organization Stop Antisemitism posted a video which quickly went viral, showing Victoria Ruiz, a public defender who works for New York County Defender Services, tearing down the poster.

New York County Defenders is a legal aid society which provides attorneys to people who cannot afford counsel.

As of Sunday morning, the video, which features an activist repeatedly asking the woman “Why are you taking down pictures of missing children?” has been seen over 2.6 million times on social media. Ruiz ignored the activist’s questions and kept walking while smirking.

Addressing NYC Defenders, Stop Antisemitism wrote on social media “It is absolutely unacceptable for someone with such bias and hate to serve in your office.”

NYC Defenders responded Sunday evening that the organization condemns Ruiz’s actions as “highly insensitive,” but will accept an apology she made.

“Ms. Ruiz has apologized to those who were hurt or confused by her actions” a statement from NYC Defenders read. “After an internal review, and a pledge by all involved to do better, we accept this apology and now refocus on the vigorous pursuit of our mission: achieving justice and dignity for every individual we represent.”

However Ruiz’s apology consisted of an email she sent to her colleagues, and was not sent out to the public. NYC Defenders later publicized the apology. In the email, Ruiz claimed that the poster, which was a call to free Hamas’ hostages, contained “egregious depictions and words justifying killing children.”

“I apologize to anyone who was hurt or confused by my actions at a vigil last week that were depicted in a video that went viral over the weekend,” Ruiz wrote. “This viral video misrepresented my actions and has led to false accusations.”

Ruiz did not elaborate on how the video misrepresented her actions. She also did not explain what in the poster, calling for the release of hostages, justified the killing of children.

When asked by Hamodia what the poster contained that had words “justifying the killing of children” and if Ruiz meant that highlighting Israeli captives gives credence to the Israeli army supposedly targeting civilians, or if Ruiz misunderstood the poster, a spokesperson for NYC Defenders responded “I did not say that the poster called for the release of hostages. Ms. Ruiz addressed that issue in her statement.”

When asked further how the posters could have been interpreted to mean a justification of murder, the spokesperson responded: “As you know, with this issue, emotions run high. I was not at the vigil and did not see the posters. The jarring, graphic nature of the posters was triggering.”

The posters contained pictures of the faces of children, with the word “kidnapped” above them.

Later in her email, Ruiz continued to decry the suffering “on all sides” of the conflict.

mglenn@hamodia.com