L. Charm Tenenbaum, lollyenchante@gmail.comis an Alumnus of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, author of Please Don't Feed The President: A First Lady's Plea For Her Nation's Help.
If the National Bar Association and satellite Character and Fitness Committees were fully invested in ascertaining by investigation whether graduating Law student applicants for the Bar participated in and/or supported pro-Palestine Arab activism while on campus, surely, the organization would not squander their fiduciary duty to the Law, the Courts, the Clients. They would deny the privilege to those who promoted the hate and harassment of their Jewish classmates with the same fervor Gazans vote consistently for Hamas.
It is without question that there has been a dereliction of duty in this regard, granting entrance to practice law to those fully vested in hate. By extension, however, concerns mount as to violating the Civil Rights of their Jewish classmates.
Taking protests against The State of Israel to the American street instead of a genuine concern first and foremost re America is reprehensible. Interests here at home should have been concerning enough to the committees' investigators. Where is the committees' outrage that these wannabe lawyers protested on the side of murderers, hostage takers and sexual deviants violating human beings? The next stage was Israel becoming a thorn in the side of the global media and 'officials' living in a wanton world that has turned away from values and innocence.
During WWII, Dresden was reduced to rubble , due to a real genocide happening across Europe. While the aftermath of the October 7, 2023 massacre into Israel produced rubble around the rebellious, certainly there was no genocide. In fact, from the Gaza Envelope to Gaza proper, food and supplies were ushered in for citizens, even though many had willingly taken part in ransacking the kinbbutzim. To the outside world, it was as if Israel created its own havoc and grief.
The Students For Justice In Palestine groups held sway on the American campus erecting tent modules, caused damage to statuary and buildings in the name of a cause only pro-terror imbeciles embrace. American soil coast to coast was soiled as Indifferent administrators and instructors allowed these alien nation encampments within their gated communities devolving any semblance of sanity as a syllabus for humanity the way it once was.
When graduation day came, rabidly bitter convocations of hate went beyond the degree they hoped to receive. The speeches given were supposed to demean Jewish Pro-Israel life, yet the orators were clearly a diabolical mess. Nerdeen Kiswani (CUNY Law 2022) chose to disparage Israel and Zionism. Fatima Mousa Mohammed (CUNY Law 2023) demonized Israel and the NYPD. Melat Kivos, an Ethiopian grad of Notre Dame Law and a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, became a newbie attorney at Sidley Austin. She posted to Medium "criticizing law firms including her employer for opposing pro-Palestine protests where she continued about highlighting the chilling future lawyers employment prospects for critics of the Israeli governments actions and its legitimacy. When asked by her employer to remove the post, she refused and was fired".
She went to Notre Dame Law, which steadfastly adheres to a Judeo-Christian foundation. She chose to post against Israel, rather than write about her responsibilities at the law firm.
Melat and the others showcased above are prime examples of how the Bar Association's Character and Fitness Committees ignore what must not be ignored. You will note, I've chosen to concentrate on law grads, rather than undergrads, as the former hope to embark on a profession of advocacy for a clientele supposedly composed of 'a beautiful mosaic' requiring 'a learned hand'.
Since the brouhaha, thirteen Federal judges have made it plain they would not hire law clerks from Yale, Stanford and Columbia due to the indifference from the administrators during this appeasement to hate. The Federal government also took action against immigration judges seen as "sympathetic to the pro-Palestine activists blocking deportation of international students from Tufts and Columbia. Rep. Elise Stefanik took note of a retired pro BDS law professor at Columbia, Katherine Franke who is to have said: All Israeli students who served in the IDF are dangerous and should not be on campus. Those students are dangerous"
Excuse me, but the Pro- Hamas students are not dangerous?
While job offers have been rescinded, the question of why these activists pass muster from the committees investigating character and fitness, remains an open question.
Not only do I take issue with the American Bar Association, the National Lawyers Guild shows neither organ is interested in seeing a Court of Law and The Client, as important enough to eliminate provacateurs that go far beyond Free Speech from a license to practice.
The National Lawyers Guild has a Palestine subcommittee, is pro BDS, and opposes the international Holocaust remembrance alliance definition of Anti-Semitism. Its history includes defending El Sayyid Nosair, the man who assassinated Meir Kahane. They've defended the Blind Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman of Gama'a al-islamiyah who was behind the 1993 bombing of the WTC. The Guild has been accused of being a communist front for decades. They've opposed the Patriot Act, they were the biggest funding source for the domestic terrorist group the Weather Underground. They approved Japanese-American internment during WWII, yet would never make a case for Pro- Palestine activists' internment based on the activists' allegiance to Hamas. In fact, on Oct 8, 2023, the day after the massacre upon Israel, the Guild "reiterated the rightfulness of the Palestinian struggle-including armed struggle".
If a Court of Law is public domain, isn't 'discovery' from the Character and Fitness Committee investigations and Final Report regarding an applicant for admission to the Bar, a public matter? Concerns about who is fit and has the character to make these determinations and, who passed muster, should both be first and foremost on the minds of jurists, employers and the public.
As for those employers who rescinded job offers to those whose activism goes far and beyond the values of humanity and the safe space, have any firms felt 'hoodwinked' and contacted the Committee for answers?
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