Israel's Bar Association cancels appointment of lawyer who defends terrorists
The Bar Association decided on Monday to freeze the appointment of Lea Tsemel to head its Military Courts Committee, which it had approved the previous day.
By DEBORAH DAHANAdvocate, a joint Israeli, Canadian and Swiss production, will have its world premiere in the World Cinema documentary competition(photo credit: SUNDANCE INSTITUTE)
The Bar Association (BA) voted to reappoint controversial lawyer Leah Tsemel as the head of its Military Courts Committee on Sunday. However, following widespread outrage from bereaved families of terrorism, the BA decided to freeze her appointment on the following day.In the past few years, Tsemel has gained notoriety for defending terrorists. Her clients range from Abdel Aziz Salha, who took part in the 2000 lynching of two IDF soldiers in Ramallah, to – most recently – Arafat Arafiah, who murdered and raped 19-year-old Ori Ansbacher last year.The Bar Association canceled the appointment after receiving a letter from more than 100 bereaved families of terrorism, through the organization Choosing Life Forum. In the letter, they called the appointment “an unparalleled disgrace” and a “spit in the face of thousands of Israelis who have been murdered over the years.”The freeze was welcomed by the Choosing Life Forum and others, including Eran Ben-Ari, the legal counsel for Im Tirtzu and a member of the Bar Association’s national council.Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev also welcomed the decision to cancel the appointment of Tsemel, and called on the bar’s chairman to dismiss her from office. “Terrorists’ attorney Leah Tsemel was thrashed twice today,” Regev posted on Twitter. “First, her appointment to chair the Military Court Committee was frozen. The very tenure of those who represent despicable terrorists, whose sole purpose is to murder Israelis, is a spit in the faces of the bereaved families and IDF soldiers.“Secondly, the film that documents her actions and supports terrorists was not included in the Oscar finalists nomination,” she said, referring to the film Advocate, a controversial documentary on Tsemel that was originally shortlisted for an Oscar nomination but was ultimately not included in the list of finalists.
