The Blogs: Nitsana Darshan Leitner, Founder of Shurat HaDin hosts 3rd Annual NYC Conference

Yesterday I had the honor of attending the third annual conference of ‘Rage Against the Hate’ hosted by my dear friend and Israel advocate Nitsan Darshan Leitner and her Organization Shurat HaDin. The Organization gathers lawyers, security experts, Jewish leaders, and opinion leaders from around the world for one goal: to fight anti-Semitism and hatred against Israel. The conference brought together many great leaders and defenders of the Jewish people that included opening remarks by Rachel May Weiser (CDO & Senior Attorney for Shurat HaDin Israel Law Center), a speech by Ofer Akunis (Consul General of Israel in New York), a panel Discussion led by Kenneth L. Marcus (of the Brandeis Center) that included panelists Sandra Hagee Parker (of CUFI), Liora Rez (President and Founder of StopAntisemitism) and Jonathan Tobin (Editor in Chief of the Jewish News Syndicate). Additional speeches were given by Sid Rosenberg (of Nationally Syndicated Radio Broadcaster, Host and Author), Yaakov Zada-Daniel (Actor, Star of Fauda), Dr Adi Vaxman (Founder and President of Operation Israel) and many more great speakers and Advocates.

As Nitsan eloquently stated at the Conference that was hosted at the Jewish Heritage Museum, “The war for the future of Israel and the Jewish people has long been not only fought on the battlefield. It is fought in courts, on campuses, on social networks, and on the international stage. Faced with billions invested in incitement, delegitimization, and hatred, we cannot settle for condemnations and statements. We need to act, expose the financiers, prosecute those responsible and exact a price from those who act against us. Because in the war against anti-Semitism in 2026, defense alone is no longer enough.”

This is exactly why”Shurat HaDin” (Line of Justice) was established and is exactly the reason why Nitsan and her amazing Organization brought together people who can turn words into actions and hosted the Event for the third year in a row in NYC. Based in Tel-Aviv , and led by attorney and Israel advocate Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, the Shurat HaDin Law Center utilizes legal actions and civil litigation to safeguard Israel, combat terrorism, and defend Jewish communities worldwide. The Organization protects Israel against Lawfare proceedings, combats antisemitism, fights academic and economic boycotts, and challenges those who seek to delegitimize the Jewish State. They work along intelligence and law enforcement agencies with a volunteer global network of lawyers fighting on behalf of terror victims and those harmed by Jewish hate.

I have had the distinct honor of both meeting and befriending Nitsana Darshan-Leitner multiple times in the past and have seen firsthand the incredible work that she does on behalf of the Nation of Israel and the Jewish people. Nitsana is the founder and President of Shurat HaDin (Israel Law Center). She is widely recognized for pioneering “legal warfare” (lawfare) strategies aimed at bankrupting terrorist organizations, disrupting their financing, and holding their backers legally accountable. She has secured billions of dollars in judgments against terror organizations , state sponsors of terror and banks that support terrorism, most of which resulted in compensation for the victims of terror. Her goal is to track the assets of terror groups and choke off the sources of their funds. Mrs. Darshan-Leitner assisted in blocking the second Gaza Flotilla, halted efforts to indict IDF soldiers for bogus war crimes, fought the incitement of terrorism and antisemitism on social media, and has taken legal action against those who illegally boycott Israeli academics and companies.

She is the co-author of the bestseller ‘Harpoon’ which recounts Shurat HaDin’s work with the Israeli Mossad to wage financial warfare against Israel’s terrorist enemies. SHe was named by the Jerusalem Post as one of the 50 most influential Jews in the world for 5 years in a row. She is a graduate of the Bar-Ilan University Law Faculty and holds an MBA from Manchester University. She is regularly quoted in the international media as an authority on terror financing. She is the mother of six including triplets.

As she spoke at yesterday’s Event, she stated “On October 7th, the terrorists of Hamas crossed our borders, they invaded our communities and they entered our homes and murdered, mutilated and beheaded, raped and burned people alive. This wasn’t a regular War, it was an attempt to break the Jewish State, to destroy our sense of security. To convince Israelis that no matter how strong our Army is, no matter how advanced our technology, no matter how powerful our Country is Jews would never truly feel safe in their own Homeland. Then on October 8th, a second war against Israel began and it wasn’t just from Gaza, Lebanon or Iran, but from London, Paris and New York.”

“On University campuses, in the Media and in the streets, while Israeli families were still identifying their dead and Israeli soldiers were still fighting terrorists inside Israeli communities, demonstrations against Israel were already taking place across the World. Photographs of kidnapped Israeli children were torn down from walls all across the globe. People were chanting ‘from the river to the sea’, this wasn’t simply an opposition to a military operation, it was something much older and deeper. It was antisemitism and October 7th had given it permission to come out into the open. People decided to challenge Israel’s right to exist.”

“There is a difference between demanding accountability and celebrating the murder of Jews. There is a difference between concern for palestinian citizens and tearing down photographs of kidnapped Israeli children. That was a second that was launched against Israel, against our legitimacy, against our history and against our right to exist. Then came the third War when Israel finally entered Gaza to dismantle Hamas and prevent another October 7th a third war was launched against us, a war fought not with rockets but with accusations of genocide, starvation, apartheid, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and eventually sanctions against Israel, it’s leaders and it’s citizens. International courts were mobilized, arrest warrants were issued against our officals and the message was unmistakable and it was that Israel could be attacked, Israel could be massacred, Israel could have it’s citizens kidnapped but when Israel fights back it could be treated as a criminal. Here lies the danger, and that is that a terror organization does not need to beat Israel’s Army on the battlefield but only needs to survive long enough for international pressure to stop Israel from defeating it.”

As I heard Nitsana Darshan Leitner speak these words of truth so eloquently, I thanked her after she spoke for all that she does for the Nation of Israel on a daily basis as she fights for truth and justice on multiple fronts. .