Helmann, Ronen v. CODEPINK, et al.

[CDCA] On June 23, 2024, more than 200 anti-Israel protesters marched into the Pico-Robertson neighborhood of Los Angeles and blocked access to the Adas Torah synagogue, where a real-estate event was being held. On July 7, 2024, Ronen Helmann, a Pico-Robertson resident and "religious Jew," sued CODEPINK and the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), alleging that they organized the protest. The suit claimed the groups conspired "to use force, the threat of force, and physical obstruction to injure, oppress, threaten, and intimidate Jewish people" seeking to worship, in violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which protects places of religious worship. An amended complaint filed in August 2024 added two plaintiffs who said they were bear-sprayed outside the synagogue. It also added four defendants: PYM's fiscal sponsor Honor the Earth, the CodePink Action Fund, and PYM organizers Courtney Schirf and Remo Ibrahim. Helmann later pursued the case as a proposed class action.

In an order issued June 13, 2025, U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson allowed the FACE Act claim against CODEPINK to proceed. He found that its social media posts, which placed the synagogue's address inside an inverted red triangle, a symbol the plaintiffs said Hamas uses to mark Jewish targets, could plausibly be read as true threats. He dismissed the claims against PYM, holding that its posts calling for the protest were "political speech" protected by the First Amendment. He also dismissed the claims against PYM's fiscal sponsors, Honor the Earth and the WESPAC Foundation, finding that fiscal sponsorship was "not enough to establish their liability or support personal jurisdiction over them."

On August 13, 2025, the court dismissed the claims against PYM, Ibrahim and Schirf with prejudice. On July 22, 2026, it dismissed the claims against the two CodePink entities with prejudice. On July 30, 2026, Judge Wilson entered final judgment: Helmann "shall take nothing," and the action was "dismissed with prejudice in its entirety," with each side bearing its own fees and costs. On August 6, 2026, Helmann appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He is challenging both the judgment and the August 2025 order dismissing the claims against PYM, Ibrahim and Schirf.