Using our experience of dealing with the BDS movement on the streets of Brighton, UKLFI has been arranging and co-ordinating advice and assistance in support of Kedem, a small shop in Manchester which sells Israeli products in these troubled times.
A police-mandated section 14 order banning protests last week was only a temporary fix for a much more serious problem.
As the Jewish Chronicle reports today, the Kedem store has been the scene of daily protests by sometimes hundreds of anti-Israel campaigners, who block the entrance, harass shop staff and shoppers, and make it extremely difficult for the store to conduct its business. These protesters, encouraged and emboldened by the BDS movement’s victories over Ahava and Sodastream, have taken this kind of campaigning to a new level and are showing a degree of aggression and viciousness not previously encountered.We have no doubt that unless the shop owners take legal action to obtain an injunction the store will eventually close as a direct result of these protests – exactly as happened to Ahava in central London in 2011 and more recently to the Ecostream shop in Brighton. Regardless of what happens in Gaza, the BDS protesters won’t pack up and go home: they will continue protesting until another honest business is shut down.
Counter-protests may make everyone feel better, but they won’t affect the outcome and (we are sorry to say) may even hasten the outcome. Moreover, counter-demonstrations, especially if not conducted with full sensitivity to the legal and business interests of the retailer affected, can themselves cause serious legal and economic damage to those interests. If you are leading counter-demonstrations outside the Kedem shop, please liaise with UKLFI to minimise the chances of this happening.
Only legal action has any realistic chance of being effective. Retailers who are Israeli-owned or which sell Israeli products in the UK will be targeted by BDS protesters, and the protesters will win unless legal action is taken.
Legal action for an injunction is not guaranteed to succeed, but it has a good chance of succeeding. And if it succeeds once, there is a much better chance either that it won’t be needed again or that it will succeed again.
Litigation for an injunction needs real firepower which requires substantial funding. We estimate that around £30,000 (plus VAT) will be needed in this case: an amount which is way beyond the reach of a small company such as the Kedem franchise in Manchester. Jonathan Goldberg QC, in a letter in today’s JC, has appealed to community benefactors to find the necessary money; we hope they will respond with the generosity which has distinguished them in less critical communal endeavours.
Unless such action is taken we believe that it will become increasingly difficult to sell any Israeli products in shops in Britain.
If not now, when?
Kedem: threats
The report on page 3 of today’s Jewish Chronicle describes a number of serious threats which have been made against Kedem and its owner, including death threats.
Needless to say, a threat to kill is a specific and serious criminal offence and should be reported to the police as such.
The police must act on this – there is specific legislation dealing with criminal and malicious phone calls. A report should be made to the police – this can be done by phone, online and in person. The shop management, who have a duty of care over their staff, should have done this by now.
If you can do anything to further this, please do it.
Helping IDF lone soldiers
The Zionist Federation has issued an urgent appeal for money to purchase Care Packages for IDF soldiers in Israel who have no local family or friends to look after them. Please donate to these brave young men and women who are fighting for all of us.
Important article by Alan Baker
Ambassador (ret.) Alan Baker, Director of the Institute for Contemporary Affairs, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, and the International Action Division of the Legal Forum for Israel, has drawn my attention to his important article on The Latest Hamas-Israel Confrontation – Some Pertinent Legal Points. Mr Baker writes: “As jurists, and even those supporters of the Legal Forum for Israel that are not jurists, you are urged to use this paper in your interactions with politicians, media, legislators, the general public, and Jewish and non-Jewish community leaders, and where relevant to write appropriate op-ed pieces and to give media interviews.”
Alternative email addresses
Thank you to the many readers who’ve provided an alternate email address. If you haven’t done so (or if you did but have forgotten), please send me an alternative email address which we can use when and if we ever encounter delivery problems with your usual address. (I won’t normally send an acknowledgment, so thank you in advance.)
Tesco ban on West Bank products
We understand that Tesco intend to cease selling products from the West Bank (Judea, Samaria and “East” Jerusalem), or containing ingredients from the West Bank, from September. To the best of our knowledge Tesco does not apply a similar policy in relation to other disputed territories, such as Northern Cyprus, Western Sahara, Tibet, Crimea, Kashmir or Kurdistan.
We wrote to the Group General Counsel noting that products from the West Bank are in themselves lawful and objecting to discriminatory treatment. We received a prompt but unsatisfactory response, which we are following up.
We are grateful to Alan Aziz of the Zionist Federation for bringing this to our attention and providing relevant information.
A case of mistaken identity
Could I state for the record that I have no connection with the David Lewis (@xxtopbrickxxx) who recently tweeted us: “@UKLFI keep ur lies 4 the idiots on tv”.
News and views
Items requesting action are printed in red.
UKLFI does not necessarily endorse political, legal or other opinions expressed in these links.
HOW MANY CIVILIAN CASUALTIES IN GAZA?
24 July 2014
Jon Dyson
Arguments 4 Israel, Jon Dyson’s blog, is about to restart after a two-year absence.
STARVE HAMAS OF MONEY
25 July 2014
Nitsana Darshan-Leitner in Globes
WHY GAZA MAKES ME SAD
25 July 2014
Paul Estrin, Green Party of Canada
How unlike our own dear Green Party!
JOINT DECLARATION BY INTERNATIONAL LAW EXPERTS ON ISRAEL’S GAZA OFFENSIVE
28 July 2014
Does this latest effluent from Richard Falk’s blog need a response? I suggest a polemical approach which exposes the methodological flaws and lack of professionalism in this paper: maybe drafted by a writer or journalist in consultation with an international lawyer. Contact me if you can write an effective response, and I will put you in touch with the international lawyer.
URGENTLY INVESTIGATE SERIOUS VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW BY HAMAS IN GAZA
Petition by Eylon Aslan-Levy in change.org.
Thanks to José Arauz Canton for disseminating this.
CREATING FREEDOM WITHOUT ANARCHY, ORDER WITHOUT TYRANNY
28 July 2014
Jonathan Sacks
The former Chief Rabbi answers the Mario Balotelli question: why always us?
Thanks to Julian Hunt for the link.
PRIME MINISTER’S STATEMENT ON GAZA
29 July 2014
Email from Mike Freer MP (Con, Finchley and Golders Green)
INTERNATIONAL LAW APPLIES TO GAZA AS WELL
29 July 2014
Arne Willy Dahl, former Attorney General of the Norwegian Armed Forces and internationally respected authority on the laws of warfare
Translated from Norwegian
Mr Dahl spoke at the Legal Conference organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and UKLFI in June 2012.
ASYMMETRIES AND PROPORTIONALITIES
29 July 2014
Laurie R. Blank in The Hill
ROTHERHAM COUNCIL: REFUSE TO FLY THE PALESTINIAN FLAG AT THE TOWN HALL
29 July 2014
Sadly, the main verb in this headline is in the imperative and not the indicative mood. Please sign the petition (for what it’s worth).
HOW HAMAS WIELDS GAZA’S CASUALTIES AS PROPAGANDA
29 July 2014
Steven Stotsky of The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) in Time
ACTION PLEASE
HELP UKLFI BY SHOPPING ONLINE
www.easyfundraising.org.uk
Create account, choose UK Lawyers for Israel as your good cause, then shop online through Easyfundraising website: retailers will pay UKLFI a percentage of your spend – I’ve already raised over £75, through Expedia, Viking, Amazon, Marks and Spencer, and other retailers.
ACTION PLEASE
ANTI-ISRAEL MOTIONS
Local councillors sometimes ask their councils to pass resolutions demonising Israel or boycotting the Jewish state. If we are notified in sufficient time we can sometimes prevent these motions from being passed, so please tell us if you hear of any.
Councils in Scotland and Northern Ireland seem especially prone to manufacturing their own “ethical” foreign policy for Israel and the Palestinians, but I suspect that this trend will soon spread to England and Wales.
UKLFI AND TWITTER
Follow UKLFI’s Twitter feed @UKLFI, tweet and retweet
At least two of our Patrons also tweet: @BaronessDeech, @richardsusskind
So does one of our members: @davidberens
UKLFI BULLETINS
A full set of UKLFI Bulletins is available on the Members pages of our website. Members of UKLFI can register for access to these pages. We will also consider registration requests from bona fide supporters (whether or not lawyers)
Forthcoming events
If you would like us to list an event which has some connection with the use of law in support of Israel, please send us a web link or a flyer (preferably in PDF, but Word will do). This invitation is subject to our editorial discretion.
Inclusion does not, or not necessarily, mean that UKLFI are promoting the event or the organising body: especially where we describe it as hostile, semi-hostile, controversial, or in similar terms. Attendance by pro-Israel lawyers or activists at some such events could be beneficial.
Information about an event may be amended by the organisers from time to time, so please ask the organisers or visit their website for the latest information rather than relying on us.
Text in red is new or amended, or denotes a request for action.
New York City
Tuesday August 12
At 12:00
JUDEA AND SAMARIA IN ISRAELI LAW: A TALE OF TWO PARADIGMS
The Lawfare Project and Face of Israel
Speaker: Dr Harel Arnon, Attorney at Law
Eilat
Wednesday November 19 to Saturday November 22
15TH CONFERENCE OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF JEWISH LAWYERS AND JURISTS (IAJLJ)
INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND ISRAEL – POLITICIZATION OR A COMPLEX REALITY?
Online registration now open in English and Hebrew
This is a good opportunity to mention with appreciation IAJLJ’s role in co-organising our participation in the IBA conference in Eilat on 27 May, and Barry Shaw’s work in putting together our private meeting in Tel Aviv the following day.
Israel
From Tuesday December 2 to Monday December 8
MISSION TO ISRAEL
Organised by HonestReporting
JOINT UKLFI/ZF EVENT
Israel
LEGAL TOUR OF ISRAEL
2015 Thursday February 12 to Monday February 16
The programme for this important event is still being finalised, but we are expecting to be based for four nights at the magnificent King David Hotel in Jerusalem. We anticipate that the programme will include visits to the Knesset, Supreme Court, Ofer military court, and Israel Museum, with explanations by leading experts, as well as a day in Tel Aviv/Yafo. We estimate the cost will be £875 per person sharing a room, excluding flights, on a half board basis; single supplement £300. For further information contact ida@zfuk.org.
HOSTILE EVENT | ACTION REQUESTED
University of Southampton
2015 Friday April 17 to Sunday April 19
CONFERENCE: INTERNATIONAL LAW AND THE STATE OF ISRAEL – LEGITIMACY, RESPONSIBILITY AND EXCEPTIONALISM
Organised by University of Southampton – Southampton Law School
“… seeks to analyse the challenge posed to international law by the Jewish State of Israel and the whole of historic Palestine – the area … that includes both what is now the State of Israel and the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967”.
Southampton University is set to declare the Jewish state illegal. Please contact info@uklfi.com if you’d consider presenting a paper to this conference. I should mention that there is some debate as to whether it’s a good idea to do so.
Earlier Bulletins listed a similar conference set for 24-26 October 2014, which appears to have been replaced by the one on 17-19 April 2015. However, I’m not 100% sure that the October event has actually been cancelled.
Thanks to Professor Jeremy Phillips for notifying us.
Feedback
In this section of the Bulletin we print feedback received from our readers.
Readers are also invited to submit for publication in the Bulletin any suitable articles, news, information about forthcoming events, and other material; they should concern legal issues relating to Israel, though we do occasionally depart from that criterion, and publication is of course subject to my approval and editing.
“Can I congratulate you all on the amazing work you are doing. I hear many people refer to UKLFI in glowing terms … I am currently in Netanya, and instead of going to the beach I am fighting Israel’s case on social media. I am finding many of the articles you link to very useful.”
From Jonathan Engler
“Filled with very important information – thanks so much!”
Ben Thwaites, Forum for Jewish Leadership (JFL)
Please note that any email or other communication from you arising out of or in connection with or in response to the Bulletin may be published, in whole or in part, together with your name (and the fact that you are a UKLFI member or supporter): unless you request otherwise.
Volunteering for UKLFI
We include only new volunteering opportunities in this section (none this week), but we urge you to refer also to our standing list of volunteering opportunities.
Please contact us if you can help with any legal or non-legal tasks listed.
We welcome volunteers who get on with the project, keeping us informed as to progress and consulting us where necessary on difficult points, but otherwise releasing our time for other efforts.
Forwarding the Bulletin
We are happy for you to forward the Bulletin to trusted people. If you do so, please invite them to contact info@uklfi.com in order to join our email distribution list, or (if legal and practicable) simply send us their names, email addresses and any other relevant details. We also ask that the Bulletin be forwarded in its entirety and, if possible, in the same format in which you received it (preferably not in plain text, which will spoil its appearance); however, event listings may be copied and pasted into an email.
Shabbat shalom.
David Lewis
David Lewis
UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI Ltd)