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A public defender with Brooklyn Defender Services (BDS) was fired over a social media post in which he appeared to call for violence against Israelis. Despite sharing the same acronym as the anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, Brooklyn Defender Services is a New York City public defense organization with no affiliation to it.
Lucas Gomez, a public defender, recently responded to a post in which someone asked, “What everyone needs to start asking is ‘who will take 7 million Israelis in?’” Gomez wrote in response ,”No one needs to ask this question when firing squads exist,” according to screenshots posted on X by the watchdog group StopAntisemitism.
“An employee from Gomez’s own office alerted us to his vile post calling for ‘firing squads,’” a spokesperson for StopAntisemitism told Fox News Digital, adding that “it is beyond alarming that an attorney entrusted with upholding the law would engage in such violent rhetoric.”
The organization argued that Gomez’s law license should be revoked.
In response to Fox News Digital’s request for comment, Gomez apologized for the post and said the “indefensible” comment came from “misplaced emotions” about the war in Gaza.
“I want to sincerely apologize for my post. It was not only inappropriate but distasteful and offensive. The post came from misplaced emotions related to the ongoing genocide in Palestine and seeing footage of that every day,” Gomez told Fox News Digital. “The post was awful, indefensible, and a lapse of judgment. It was not a representation of my character or who I am as a person. It was also not a representation of Brooklyn Defender [Services].”
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BDS condemned Gomez’s online comment as “hateful,” and announced his termination in a public statement.
“In his recent post on X, Lucas Gomez made a hateful statement that is antithetical to everything BDS stands for and what we unequivocally expect from our employees,” BDS Executive Director Lisa Schreibersdorf said. “In addition to advocating violence and antisemitism, Lucas Gomez tarnished the reputation of Brooklyn Defender [Services] and of each of our dedicated public defenders.”
Schreibersdorf also said that BDS works to “uplift the humanity of all people and to seek kindness, justice and mercy in our courts and in our society,” adding that Gomez’s post was “an affront” to the organization’s work.
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The StopAntisemitism spokesperson noted that since Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre, antisemitism has been “rampant” online.
“What we are seeing now is not new, but it has become shockingly open and normalized in ways we can no longer ignore. That is why it’s more critical than ever to call it out and expose Jew-hatred that is simmering in our society,” the spokesperson said.
StopAntisemitism noted in a thread following the screenshots of Gomez’s post, that it had previously featured another New York City public defender on its platform.
In November 2023, Victoria Ruiz, who was affiliated with New York County Defender Services (NYCDS), was caught tearing down hostage posters. A representative confirmed Ruiz’s identity to Fox News Digital at the time. In a statement to Fox News Digital, NYCDS said Ruiz resigned “effective immediately.” NYCDS condemned Ruiz’s “highly insensitive actions.”
Fox News Digital’s Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.
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