The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana is defending its incoming executive director, Nikkita Oliver, an activist who blamed Israel for Oct. 7. It did so after four of its five principal lawyers reportedly resigned.
The attorneys alleged that Oliver questioned if Jewish lawyers could be fair toward Palestinian clients.
Oliver, who is originally from Indiana, spent years as an activist in Seattle with the Black Lives Matter movement and has called for anti-Israel boycotts and divestment.
On Oct. 18, 2023, soon after the Oct. 7 attacks, Oliver wrote that “if we want the violence to stop, we must stop the root cause. This means ending the occupation of Palestine by Zionist Israel, supporting Palestinian liberation and ending the apartheid state.”
In the same social media post, Oliver called for violent resistance and said that Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. “began to see the limits of non-violent protest in the face of an immoral and violent oppressor, who does not see and does not want to see those they brutalize, oppress and occupy as human.”
In November 2023, Oliver wrote that “being pro-Palestinian liberation is not a phase or a fad. It’s not the cute progressive thing to do.”
“It is a commitment to the liberation of all oppressed peoples and stopping the genocide of Palestinians being funded by our U.S. tax dollars that matters right now,” Oliver wrote.
Oliver has accused the Jewish state of “perpetuating the same classist, racist, sexist, ableist system that brutalizes black, indigenous, brown peoples and workers in the United States and globally.”
ACLU of Indiana’s legal director Ken Falk, deputy legal director Gavin Rose and attorneys Stevie Pactor and Josh Bleisch reportedly plan to leave the organization, according to an Oct. 22 Indianapolis Star report, with at least two other employees also submitting resignations.
Neil Hudelson, the organization’s philanthropy director, complained about Oliver’s response to learning that the affiliate had declined to represent a Palestinian student.
“What I did experience was the chosen leader of this organization insinuating repeatedly that the Jewish legal director of this organization could not be trusted to treat Palestinian applicants fairly,” Hudelson wrote to board president Melinda Messineo, according to the Star.
Oliver denied suggesting that Jewish attorneys were biased and told the Star that “I did not intend or insinuate anything beyond providing an example of a meritorious case the affiliate did not take.”
In a statement, the board said it hired an outside human resources consultant to review conflicting accounts and that it postponed Oliver’s start date during the review.
“The board has received contradictory accounts from a few individuals on staff, and there have been anonymous online attacks, and rumors spread about the incoming executive director,” the board stated.
The board stated that Oliver participates “in pro-Palestinian advocacy” and had support from 79 Jewish community members, including 21 rabbis, who signed a letter backing the incoming director.
“It is the position of the ACLU that pro-Palestinian advocacy does not equate to antisemitic beliefs,” the board stated.
