Ilhan Omar and Shmuley Boteach Image by Getty/Forward Montage

By Ari Feldman May 3, 2019

A photographer is suing Rabbi Shmuley Boteach’s World Values Network for using his photograph of Rep. Ilhan Omar without authorization, the Jerusalem Post reported.

Jason Grow is suing for $150,000 after Boteach’s organization used the photograph in an advertisement in the Washington Post, and also on the GoFundMe page raising money to support the full-page print ad. (The campaign earned $598 dollars.)

OUR FULL PAGE AD in today’s Washington Post – https://t.co/xf548LppAK pic.twitter.com/x1tBl19sS5

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis of the crisis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

— Rabbi Shmuley (@RabbiShmuley) March 24, 2019

The Post reported that Boteach said the picture was taken from Omar’s Facebook page, following Facebook’s rules.

“We first heard of this issue when somebody called our office and shouted at an employee, ‘Who’s the [expletive] I need to sue?’” Boteach reportedly said.

“We wish to make it clear we will not be silenced about Ilhan Omar and her personal war against the Jewish people,” Boteach added. “Those threatening legal action for the proper use of this photo want to stifle the First Amendment rights of a Jewish organization that battles anti-Semitism.”

Boteach then invoked the deaths of Jews in synagogue shootings in talking about the photograph.

Facebook’s copyright policy says that intellectual property shared on Facebook remains the property of the person who created it.

Ari Feldman is a staff writer at the Forward. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @aefeldman

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount