An defense lawyer of Palestinian descent has demanded that an Atlanta judge step down or be removed after comments she made on social media about the war in Gaza.
DeKalb County Superior Court judge Stacey Hydrick posted last week about how devastated she was over graphic footage of the October 7 attacks carried out by Hamas on Israel in 2023.
Attorney Musa Ghanayem told WSB-TV 2 that her comments ‘show bias.’ He added that up until the post, he was an avid supporter of Hydrick and had even donated to her campaign.
‘I am a Palestinian Christian. My family has been consistently and consecutively living in the region and acting as Orthodox priests for nearly 1,600 years,’ Ghanayem said. ‘This is sad for me. I love Judge Hydrick.’
Hydrick’s February 20 post included pictures of Israeli woman Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The family was kidnapped on October 7, 2023, before they were later killed in Gaza. Their remains were transported back to Israel last week and on Wednesday, there was a large funeral procession for them in the central city of Rishon LeZion.
‘I am absolutely broken… On the heels of watching the IDF video footage of the aftermath of the Oct. 7th massacre, these beautiful innocent babies and their mothers were returned to Israel in coffins while Gazans rejoice in celebration,’ Hydrick wrote.
She went on to imply that she believes there are no innocent civilians living in the Gaza strip.
Her post continued: ‘Nothing else matters to me right now. Nothing. If anyone has “no issues” with Hamas, believes there are innocent civilians in Gaza, or thinks October 7th was about land, resistance, or somehow justified in any way, you *must* watch this footage and hear with your own ears how the jihadists and the people of Gaza were celebrating and gloating about their brutal murder of Jews… Not about the murder of Israelis– but their murder of Jews. Then tell me what you think it was about.’
On Monday, the Georgia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations released a statement condemning the judge’s remarks, arguing that she showed ‘a clear bias against Palestinians and Muslims.’
CAIR-Georgia also claimed that Hydrick ‘doubled down’ and argued in the comments with two Palestinian lawyers from Georgia who said they had family members in Gaza who were killed by the Israel Defense Forces.
The Muslim advocacy group called on Hydrick to resign as chair of the investigative panel for Georgia’s judicial watchdog agency, which is responsible for looking into judges who commit ethics violations.
‘CAIR-Georgia calls on Judge Stacey Hydrick to issue a public apology for her hateful anti-Palestinian remarks and resign from her position on the Georgia Judicial Qualifications Commission,’ the group said.
‘We further call upon Emory University to immediately sever ties with Judge Hydrick as an adjunct professor and upon the DeKalb and Atlanta Bar Associations to terminate their association with Judge Hydrick due to her racist and biased remarks.’
Ghanayem has also called on Hydrick to resign from the Judicial Qualifications Commission (JQC), adding that he’s filed a complaint about her with the agency.
Courtney Veal, the JQC’s director, said the body is aware of Hydrick’s activity on social media and ‘will follow the processes set forth in the JQC’s rules to see that any related complaints are properly considered.’
In a second statement addressing the controversy, Hydrick did not apologize for her earlier comments about Gazan civilians.
She did promise to recuse herself from any cases ‘where my impartiality can reasonably be questioned, or in any case where a party feels that based on my comments, I cannot be fair and impartial.’
‘I recently posted comments on social media after viewing the horrific video footage from the Oct. 7th attack on Israel,’ Hydrick said.
‘Judges are human beings. We see and hear things that cause us to feel emotion and to speak out. I am no different. I remain committed to reflection and recognizing how my words may be received by those who have a perspective different than my own.’
Defense attorney Gerald Griggs told WSBT-TV 2 that he has appeared in front of Hydrick many times and said that in his opinion, she’s always treated everyone fairly.
‘I understand that it’s a very complex issue. A lot of historical pain on both sides,’ Griggs said. ‘Everyone’s entitled to free speech, including jurists. I’ve known her to be a great jurist, fair, thoughtful and I think she continues to be fair and thoughtful as a jurist.’
Ghanayem said Hydrick messaged him on Facebook and promised to recuse herself from any of his cases going forward if that’s what he wants.
She also said that she believes she has always treated him kindly, which Ghanayem didn’t dispute.
Hydrick, a former state court judge, was appointed to the DeKalb Superior Court by Governor Brian Kemp in 2019 to replace Judge Jean-Paul Boulee, who was selected at that time by President Donald Trump to serve on a federal court.
After her appointment, Hydrick was formally elected in 2020 and re-elected in 2024, with her current term ending on January 1, 2029. She didn’t face a challenger in either race.
A ceasefire remains in place between Israel and Hamas, though Gaza’s health ministry claims at least 46,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed by Israel in the last 15 months.
Israel’s invasion of Gaza began after Hamas militants stormed into Israeli villages on October 7, 2023, and killed 1,200 people, with the majority of them being civilians.
Hamas took 251 hostages that day, and according to estimates, 63 of them remain in Gaza.
President Trump has weighed in on the ongoing conflict, threatening Hamas earlier this month to release all the hostages or else he would ‘let all hell break loose.’
He has also proposed a plan wherein the US takes ownership over the largely-destroyed Gaza strip and refashions it into a series of idyllic beachside resorts.
Trump said he believes Egypt and Jordan – plus several other countries in the region he didn’t name – would be willing to take in the estimated 2 million Palestinians that have been displaced from their homes amid the war.