Lawfare Project

The Lawfare Project is an American, nonprofit, think tank and litigation fund that works to protect the human and civil rights of Jewish and pro-Israel communities worldwide.[1] The Project funds legal actions to protect free speech and civil rights by challenging anti-Semitism and discrimination against Jews.[2]

The Lawfare Project
Formation2010
FounderBrooke Goldstein
HeadquartersNew York, New York, United States
Executive Director
Brooke Goldstein
Websitethelawfareproject.org

Overview

Human rights attorney Brooke Goldstein founded the Lawfare Project in 2010.[3][4] The Lawfare Project describes itself as "the world's only international pro-Israel litigation fund" and says it "has launched more than 70 lawsuits and legal actions in 16 jurisdictions across the globe."[5] The organization states it "maintains an international network of more than 350 attorneys" to support its work.[6]

The Project defines lawfare as the use of law as a weapon of war, or the wrongful manipulation of international and national law to pervert the original intent of the law.[7] The Project has expressed concern about the tendency of the International Criminal Court to use as a tool to attack Western democracies by making allegations human rights abuses that undermine public confidence in government.[8]

According to law professor Orde Kittrie, the Lawfare Project has developed innovative legal arguments demonstrating the inconsistency of New York State laws with boycotts of Israel.[9]

Lawsuits

The Lawfare Project has had a longstanding legal battle against Kuwait Airways for its refusal to fly Israeli passengers.[10] The organization represented "an Israeli traveller who booked a ticket with Kuwait Airways to fly from Frankfurt to Bangkok, only to be refused at the last minute when it emerged that he was an Israeli citizen."[11][12][13][14]

Through January 2018, the Lawfare Project's Spanish attorney, Ignacio Wenley Palacios, had secured 46 writs of injunction and court decisions against the Boycotts of Israel in Spain, forcing Barcelona, Castrillon and other cities to rescind anti-Israel laws. According to Palacios, the Lawfare Project had succeeded in establishing a legal doctrine that "boycotts of Israel infringe on human rights, violate free speech and are tantamount to discrimination on account of national origin and personal opinions."[1]

In June 2017, the Lawfare Project and the law firm Winston & Strawn filed a lawsuit against San Francisco State University (SFSU) on behalf of a group of SFSU students and members of the local Jewish community, alleging that the public school had fostered a climate of anti-Semitism "marked by violent threats to the safety of Jewish students on campus." The suit alleged "that the school has violated the plaintiffs' constitutional rights to free speech and equal protection, as well as a provision of the Civil Rights Act."[15][16][17] In addition to the federal lawsuit, the Lawfare Project and Winston & Strawn filed a second lawsuit in February 2018 against SFSU in the Superior Court of California for the County of San Francisco.[18] California Superior Court Judge Richard Ulmer Jr. scheduled the trial to take place on March 4, 2019.[19]

In November 2017, the Lawfare Project supported a lawsuit by the Belgian Federation of Jewish Organizations (CCOJB) against a ban on shechita, the Jewish ritual religious slaughter of animals, in Wallonia, Belgium.[20] In January 2018, the Lawfare Project supported a second lawsuit by CCOJB for restrictions on shechita in Flanders.[21][22]

As of 2018, the Lawfare Project is preparing a lawsuit against the Irish Occupied Territories Bill, which, if enacted, would criminalize trade with Israeli settlers. It argues that the bill violates European Union trade regulations.[23]

References
  1. Zieve, Tamara (8 January 2018). "Court suspends anti-Israel boycott in northern Spanish city - again". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  2. "Think tank to sue over anti-Semitic content". The Jewish Advocate. 2 March 2018. ProQuest 2013234497.
  3. "Lawfare Conference Takes Aim at Terrorists' Efforts to Wage 'Legal Jihad'". HuffPost. May 16, 2010.
  4. "Groundbreaking Lawfare Project Launched". Algemeiner. March 16, 2010.
  5. "Careers". The Lawfare Project.
  6. "Our Network". The Lawfare Project.
  7. Parks, Lisa; Kaplan, Caren (2017). Life in the Age of Drone Warfare; chapter by Lisa Hajjar on "Lawfare and Armed Conflicts". Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0822372813.
  8. Simons, Gregory; Chifu, Iulian (2017). The Changing Face of Warfare in the 21st Century; section on Lawfare and the International Criminal Court. Routledge. ISBN 978-1317039006.
  9. Kittrie, Orde (2016). Lawfare: Law as a Weapon of War. Oxford University Press. p. 91. ISBN 978-0190263577.
  10. "Kuwait Airways Halts Inter-European Flights After Complaint By Israelis". Jewish Business News. May 3, 2016.
  11. "German Ministry of Transport launches investigation into Kuwait Airways discrimination against Israeli travellers". The Jewish Chronicle. October 25, 2017.
  12. "German Court Allows Kuwait Airways to Refuse Israeli Passengers: 'A Shameful Verdict for Democracy'". Haaretz. DPA. 16 November 2017. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  13. "Appeal against Kuwait Airways' ban on Israelis submitted to German court". Jewish News. December 18, 2017.
  14. "Israeli challenges German court ruling on Kuwait air travel ban". Reuters. December 18, 2017.
  15. "'I felt afraid': Lawsuit claims public university fostered anti-Semitism on campus". The Washington Post. June 19, 2017.
  16. "NGO, students sue San Francisco State University for antisemitism". The Jerusalem Post. June 20, 2017.
  17. "Lawsuit Alleges SFSU Has Anti-Semitic Practices". Jewish Journal. March 30, 2018.
  18. "Lawsuit renews allegations of systematic anti-Semitism at S.F. State". J. The Jewish News of Northern California. February 2, 2018.
  19. "Trial Date Set for Lawsuit Alleging Anti-Semitism At SFSU". Jewish Journal. May 31, 2018.
  20. "Legal fight starts for Belgian kashrut". The Jewish Chronicle. November 30, 2017.
  21. "Second lawsuit lodged against Belgium's ban on non-stunned meat". Jewish News. January 17, 2018.
  22. "Belgian Jews files second lawsuit against ban on religious slaughter". The Jerusalem Post. January 16, 2018.
  23. "Lawfare Project taking legal action against aggressive anti-Israel boycott legislation in Ireland". The Lawfare Project. 11 July 2018. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
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