{"id":44276,"date":"2014-07-07T12:00:50","date_gmt":"2014-07-07T11:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=44276"},"modified":"2015-05-05T21:33:41","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T20:33:41","slug":"what-is-israels-shurat-hadin-and-why-is-it-suing-a-sydney-university-academic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2014\/07\/what-is-israels-shurat-hadin-and-why-is-it-suing-a-sydney-university-academic\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is Israel\u2019s Shurat Hadin and Why Is It Suing a Sydney University Academic?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shurat HaDin, a pro-Israel law centre, is taking legal action over an Australian academic\u2019s support for the boycott, divestment, sanctions movement against Israel. Juris doctor student Michael Brull takes a look at the case.<\/em><\/p>\n

Pro-Israel NGO Shurat HaDin has launched a lawsuit against University of Sydney academic Jake Lynch for his refusal to support a visiting fellowship for an Israeli professor on political grounds. The judge has thrown out much of Shurat HaDin\u2019s case, but the organisation is about to go back to court with a narrower focus. We take a look at the background of the case.<\/p>\n

What is Shurat HaDin\u2019s agenda?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Shurat HaDin (in English, the Israeli Law Centre) is based in Israel and describes itself as a \u201cworld leader in combating the terrorist organizations and the regimes that support them through lawsuits litigated in courtrooms around the world\u201d. If you visit its website, it describes its fight<\/a> against \u201cPalestinian and Islamic terrorist organisations in the courtroom\u201d.<\/p>\n

American diplomats, as revealed by a cable published by WikiLeaks<\/a>, note that the lawyers of Shurat HaDin are \u201cextremely aggressive\u201d and \u201cboast that they \u2018will sue anybody\u201d\u2019. The cable notes further that \u201c[w]hile the ILC\u2019s mission dovetails with GOI objectives of putting financial pressure on Israel\u2019s adversaries, the often uncompromising approach of ILC\u2019s attorneys seems to overreach official GOI policy goals\u201d.<\/p>\n

The cable notes that Shurat HaDin \u201cclaims to work closely with Israeli intelligence in selecting cases and collecting evidence\u201d. The founder of Shurat HaDin has admitted that \u201cin many of her cases\u201d she received evidence from Israeli government officials, and \u201cin its early years\u201d Shurat HaDin \u201ctook direction\u201d from the government of Israel. She said in 2007 though her organisation \u201cnow decides its cases independently\u201d, it \u201ccontinues to receive evidence and witnesses from Israeli intelligence\u201d.<\/p>\n

What is the case against Associate Professor Jake Lynch?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Shurat HaDin is currently suing Sydney University Associate Professor Jake Lynch for his adherence to the boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement. Israel\u2019s legislation in relation to boycotts came into effect on<\/a>\u00a0on July 13, 2011, and anyone who calls for a boycott can be subject to a civil lawsuit; that is, they can face economic, rather than criminal, sanctions.<\/p>\n

Lynch supports the principles of the BDS campaign, which calls for an end to Israel\u2019s occupation of the Palestinian territories it occupied in 1967, a right of return for Palestinian refugees, and full equality for Palestinians in Israel. Because of this, Lynch refused to support an application from Israeli academic Professor Dan Avnon from the Hebrew University. Avnon was seeking a visiting fellowship at Sydney University.<\/p>\n

Shurat HaDin filed a case against Lynch arguing that his actions breached the Racial Discrimination Act<\/em> and the Human Rights Act.<\/em> The original complaint argued that the entire BDS movement was anti-Semitic and should be found to be in breach of the\u00a0RDA, <\/em>with\u00a0Shurat HaDin seeking an apology, which would have set a worrying precedent.<\/p>\n

How is the case going so far?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Justice Alan Robertson, hearing the case in the Federal Court, has so far been unimpressed by the case against Lynch. Ean Higgins reported<\/a>\u00a0in The Australian<\/em> of his complaint that the case \u201coften lacked clear facts\u201d.\u00a0Much of Shurat HaDin\u2019s case has been struck out<\/a>, and the case has moved from Shurat HaDin\u2019s attempt to have BDS banned to only the question whether or not Lynch\u2019s actions in relation to Avnon were in breach of the RDA<\/em>. Shurat HaDin have also been ordered to put up $100,000 in costs. In response to having its assertions struck out, Shurat HaDin has claimed its case has merely been \u201cstreamlined\u201d.<\/p>\n

After rejecting much of the complaint out of hand on April 24, Shurat HaDin was given another 28 days to file its new \u201cstreamlined\u201d case. The case looks like it will be a disaster for the plaintiffs, and the general fight against BDS. A Ha\u2019aretz<\/em> article<\/a> on the matter registers the attitude of Jewish leaders from embarrassment to outrage at Shurat HaDin\u2019s behaviour. Colin Rubenstein of the Australia\/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council\u00a0pointedly said he had not been consulted on the case and refused to comment. ECAJ\u2019s Peter Wertheim said the case could be a \u201cshot in the arm\u201d for BDS.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s not entirely wrong. Since the launch of the legal action, the Sydney University Branch of the NTEU has come out in support<\/a> of Professor\u2019s Lynch\u2019s right to support BDS. Jewish academic Peter Slezak has moved from ambivalence on BDS, to becoming one of its most vocal supporters. The NTEU is currently<\/a> debating whether to debate supporting BDS<\/a>. Whilst they will not debate BDS at this time, the vote was close, and this is clearly becoming an issue on the horizon for consideration. Furthermore, a group of Sydney University academics have formed in support of BDS.<\/p>\n

Is there Israeli opposition to this law?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018There has been a wave of similar repressive legislation passed in recent years in Israel. However, Israeli progressives and human rights organisations\u00a0have widely condemned the Israeli law against boycotts. A member of the centrist Zionist party Kadima, founded by Ariel Sharon,\u00a0declared<\/a>:\u00a0\u201dYou\u2019re sending people to the gulag for their opinions.\u201d New Israel Fund Australia board member\u00a0Mandi Katz wrote<\/a>\u00a0in the\u00a0Australian Jewish News<\/em>\u00a0of her opposition to using \u201cthe power of the state to silence dissenting political expression. This is indisputably undemocratic, as will be clear to anyone who values democracy, however strongly opposed they may be to boycotts as a means for political change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, the peak communal representative body,\u00a0distanced itself<\/a>\u00a0from Shurat HaDin\u2019s case against Lynch, saying it had \u201cno involvement\u201d in Shurat HaDin\u2019s action, and regarded attempts to suppress BDS through litigation as \u201cinappropriate\u201d. Instead, ECAJ wants to \u201cfight the boycott campaign through public discourse\u201d.<\/p>\n

Does Shurat HaDin have other enemies?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Shurat HaDin\u00a0has accused Oxfam<\/a>\u00a0of funding terrorists because Oxfam has given some funding to a couple of union committees in Gaza.\u00a0Other highlights include<\/a>\u00a0Shurat HaDin suing Jimmy Carter and threatening to sue Twitter. When Stephen Hawking boycotted an Israeli conference,\u00a0Shurat HaDin responded<\/a>\u00a0with characteristic respect for human dignity, saying: \u201cHis whole computer-based communications system runs on a chip designed by Israel\u2019s Intel team. I suggest if he truly wants to pull out of Israel he should also pull out his Intel Core i7 from his tablet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Astonishingly, Shurat HaDin has also launched<\/a> a sharp attack on Australian Jewish leaders, complaining that they hadn\u2019t done anything to protest Lynch\u2019s behaviour and even accusing them of refusing to \u201cstand up for Jewish rights\u201d.<\/p>\n

_______________________________<\/p>\n

Michael Brull is studying a juris doctor at UNSW. He has written commentary for various outlets, including <\/em>The Drum, Overland, Guardian, Independent Australian Jewish Voices\u00a0and elsewhere.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 crikey.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Join the BDS-BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT, SANCTIONS <\/em>campaign<\/em><\/strong><\/span> to protest the Israeli barbaric siege of Gaza, illegal occupation of the Palestine nation\u2019s territory, the apartheid wall, its inhuman and degrading treatment of the Palestinian people, and the more than 7,000 Palestinian men, women, elderly and children arbitrarily locked up in Israeli prisons.<\/p>\n

DON’T BUY<\/strong> PRODUCTS WHOSE<\/strong> BARCODE<\/strong> STARTS WITH<\/strong> 729<\/strong>, which indicates that it is produced in Israel.\u00a0\u00a0 DO YOUR PART! MAKE A DIFFERENCE!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

7 2 9: BOYCOTT FOR JUSTICE!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shurat HaDin, a pro-Israel law centre, is taking legal action over an Australian academic\u2019s support for the boycott, divestment, sanctions movement against Israel. Juris doctor student Michael Brull takes a look at the case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-palestine-israel-gaza-genocide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44276\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}