Lamis deek biography for kids

Lamis Deek works at National Lawyers Guild. She is an Attorney & Human Rights Advocate, and lives in New York City. She is originally from Nablus.

Lamis Deek, Esq. is a Board Member of CAIR - New York.

Pro-Hamas Letter

In the wake of a terror attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023, Harvard University students signed an open letter blaming Israel. After the students received negative media coverage, the ANSWER Coalition jumped to their defense in an open letter titled: "Open letter against intimidation at Harvard: Defend the freedom to speak in support of Palestine!" Lamis Deek signed the letter. Excerpt:

We stand together against the racist harassment and demonization of Pro-Palestine student activists at Harvard and elsewhere across the country. These attacks are designed to intimidate, weaken, and silence people's right to speak out in support of the Palestinian people's struggle against occupation and apartheid. Their educational and professional futures are being threatened and right wing political operatives have even rented a TV truck to drive around campus displaying the students' faces. Some are even receiving death threats..."

Global Day of Action

More than 250 U.S. cities took part in the March 20, 2004 Global Day of Action protesting Pentagon wars and occupations. The biggest demonstration was in New York, where 100,000 people marched and rallied.

The event was initiated by the International ANSWER--Act Now to Stop War and End Racism--Coalition, and United for Peace and Justice.

During the ANSWER segment of the rallies, Brian Becker, a co-director of the International Action Center and member of the ANSWER Steering Committee, applauded the courage of the Muslim community in turning out for the march, given the current repression, surveillance and raids.

Palestinian flags flew, and speakers in this segment included Ihab Darwish, Free Palestine Alliance; Lamis Deek, Al-Awda, the Palestine Right

Lamis Deek is a Palestinian-American lawyer, activist for controversial Palestinian initiatives, and opponent of the State of Israel’s existence. She is a member of a number of anti-Israel and radical-left organizations, including Al-Awda NY: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, the Arab Muslim American Federation, and the National Lawyers Guild. She is a co-founder of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network. Among other roles, she has sat on the board of directors for the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Early Life

Lamis Deek was born in Nablus in the disputed Palestinian territories. Her family, including parents and 11 siblings, eventually immigrated to the United States. While in law school in the late 1990s and early 2000s, she participated in protests against Israel. She also founded the Brooklyn Law School Muslim Law Students Association.

It was around this time that Deek became involved with and co-chaired Al-Awda NY: the Palestinian Right to Return Coalition. Al-Awda NY considers Israel an illegitimate nation and advocates for the so-called “right of return” under which Palestinian Arab families who fled territory controlled by Israel after the Arab states’ defeat in the 1948 Israeli War of Independence would be able to return to that territory. Critics of the “right of return” note that allowing such migration would end Israel’s position as a Jewish and democratic state.

Legal Work

After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Deek became a lawyer for Arab-Americans and Muslims in the New York City area, including those accused of terrorist-related activities. One of her clients was arrested in 2011 for attempting to be a lone-wolf terrorist. Deek, however, defended her client as a mentally ill man who was previously institutionalized, and that it was anti-terrorism investigators who entrapped him.

In another case, an amusement park attempted to prevent women wearing headscarves from going on rides for rea