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Lawfare Against Israel

[Wall Street Journal Europe] Anne Herzberg - The detractors of the Jewish state are increasingly using civil lawsuits and criminal investigations around the world to tie Israel's hands against Palestinian terror by accusing Jerusalem of "war crimes" and "crimes against humanity." In the process, the NGOs also subvert and interfere with the diplomatic relations of Western countries with Israel. Anti-Israeli cases have been filed in Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, New Zealand, the UK, Denmark, the Netherlands, Canada and the U.S. by exploiting "universal jurisdiction" statutes. These laws allow courts to rule on cases even though the parties and events at issue are wholly foreign. The honorable intent was to provide relief to victims of real mass murderers in countries that don't respect the rule of law. Instead, these statutes have been co-opted by NGOs to advance an anti-Israel agenda. NGO superpowers with budgets in the tens of millions of dollars have supported these efforts by providing publicity, organizing demonstrations and issuing reports crafted as legal briefs to coincide with court hearings. The writer is the legal adviser of NGO Monitor.
2008-11-06 01:00:00
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