Victoria Ruiz New York County public defender keeps her job despite viral video showing her tearing down posters of kidnapped children by Hamas as litigator offers vague justification for her actions amid petition for her dismissal.
A NYC public defender who was caught on video tearing down posters of kidnapped Israeli children at the hands of Hamas is set to keep her job despite wide protestations for her ouster.
Attorney, Victoria Ruiz was filmed last week ripping down one of many posters plastered across NYC following Hamas’ ’surprise’ attack on Oct. 7, which led to over 1400 civilians killed. The conflict has since led to over 10,000 Palestinians being killed as Israel launches ‘controversial’ bombing raids in Gaza in the aftermath.
Viral video shared by StopAntisemitism shows Ruiz continuing to rip down the posters, while the individual filming her repeatedly asks her, ‘Why are you taking down pictures of missing children?’
NYC – New York County public defender Victoria Ruiz caught removing posters of Israeli children kidnapped by Hamas terrorists.
It is absolutely unacceptable for someone with such bias and hate to serve in your office @nyc_defenders pic.twitter.com/mOwajkuArt
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) November 5, 2023
Promise ‘to do better’
Ruiz was later identified as a lawyer for non profit legal advocates, New York County Defender Services. The outlet condemned the public defender’s actions as ‘highly insensitive,’ while noting that Ruiz had ‘profusely’ apologised for her actions.
‘It has come to our attention that one of our attorneys, Victoria Ruiz, recently attended a public vigil solely in her capacity as a private citizen,’ Lupe Todd-Medina, spokesperson for New York County Defender Services, said in a statement to the nypost.
‘Some of her actions at the event have drawn sharp criticism and we strongly condemn them as highly insensitive.’
Following an internal investigation into the incident, NYCDS accepted Ruiz’s apology and her promise to ‘do better.’
‘Ms. Ruiz has apologized to those who were hurt or confused by her actions. 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,’ Todd-Medina said.
Responding to NYC Defenders, Stop Antisemitism wrote on social media, ‘It is absolutely unacceptable for someone with such bias and hate to serve in your office.’
Commentators on social media were left troubled by the lawyer’s actions, with one social media commentator writing, ‘Some of those posters display Americans kidnapped by Hamas. If she can’t defend American kids, how can she serve as a public defender in America?’
Public defender justifies her actions
Wrote another, ‘You will need to throughly audit every case she ever worked on or touched. Victoria Ruiz is full of hatred, racism, arrogance, and lacking sound judgement or integrity. There is absolutely no way her/your clients were given anything close to the best possible legal defense they are entitled to.’
Addressing the incident, Ruiz in an internal work email justified her actions.
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.
The posters contained pictures of the faces of children, with the word ‘kidnapped’ above them. It remained unclear what necessarily confused the public defender and what necessarily led to her about turn.
Ruiz has decried the suffering ‘on all sides’ of the conflict.
A change org petition demanding Ruiz be dismissed by her employer for ‘unprofessional conduct’ has to date garnered 183 out of a necessary 200 signatures.
