tary aggression, is exemplified by the full law gives local courts the power to try for- planned trip
d trip to meet with top British mil-
DFM Ayalon:
Lawfare Is The
Fourth Front
BY SAMUEL SOKOL
ISRAEL CORRESPONDENT
In a speech entitled “Challenges for
Israeli Foreign Policy” at the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, Deputy Foreign Minister
Danny Ayalon asserted that the Arab-
Israeli conflict has entered into its
fourth phase, that of a political and legal
campaign to delegitimize Israel, known
colloquially as lawfare. Lawfare
includes such tactics as boycotts and
sanctions as well as legal actions meant
to erode the international standing and
legitimacy of Israel.
Ayalon blamed such attacks, which he
believes emanate from the Palestinian
Authority, as “directly damage[ing] our
relations with the Palestinians and any
possibility of a smooth and viable politi-
cal process.” Speaking before assembled
diplomats and the foreign press corps, he
said that Israel’s foreign policy is under
attack from both internal and external
forces. “There were different tactics that
were used by our enemies… in order to
get rid of us,” Ayalon explained.
Elaborating, he detailed four distinct
phases through which he believes the
conflict has passed. The first phase, mili-
18 January 15, 2010 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES
scale wars leading up to the 1973 Yom
Kippur invasion of Israel. The Arabs could
not take on the IDF militarily so they
next tried to take Israel on economically,
he continued, detailing the boycott
efforts of the 1970s. The third phase of the
conflict was terrorism, which Israel still
experiences. Ayalon said that Israel has
“found some good defense measures” and
that in the future Israel should be more
concerned about “long-term incoming
ballistic missiles” from Lebanon and
Gaza. According to the DFM, deterrence is
the solution to this problem.
However, Ayalon did not explain how
attacks against Israeli civilians in the
aftermath of the removal of roadblocks
do not constitute a continuation of tradi-
tional terrorism. In the end of 2009, two
suicide bombers were apprehended trav-
eling from the Palestinian Authority to
carry out attacks in Ashkelon and
Jerusalem.
When asked by the Five Towns Jewish
Times if Israel intends to take steps to
limit European intervention in its inter-
nal political discourse through the fund-
ing of indigenous radical NGOs, Ayalon
enigmatically responded, “We are work-
ing on it.”
Israel’s latest challenge is lawfare, he
said, where the trenches “are in Geneva in
the Council of Human Rights, or in New
York in the General Assembly, or in the
Security Council, or in the Hague, the ICJ
[International Court of Justice].” The
recent difficulties that Israeli soldiers and
officials have encountered in the United
Kingdom are examples of the new type of
warfare. The UK’s universal jurisdiction
eign nationals and leaders for crimes
against humanity committed outside of
Britain’s borders. Private individuals have
brought suit against members of Israeli
delegations.
The Times Online reported that Diya al-
Din Madhoun, a Hamas apparatchik, has
taken responsibility for much of this new
activity with the statement that “this has
absolutely become our policy.”
The trenches “are in
Geneva in the Council
of Human Rights, or in
New York in the
General Assembly, or
in the Security
Council, or in the
Hague, the ICJ.”
An arrest warrant was issued in
December against opposition leader
and former foreign minister Tzippi
Livni which she described as “an abuse
of the British legal system.” Foreign
Office Minister Ivan Lewis has said
that the British government will work
to amend the laws applicable in the
Livni case.
An IDF delegation recently cancelled a
itary officials after they were informed
that they could not be guaranteed that
arrest warrants would not be issued
against them.
Baroness Patricia Scotland, the British
Attorney General, expressed disgust at the
practice of using British courts to attack
Israelis and stated in a speech at the
Hebrew University in Jerusalem that she
would attempt to reform the law, making
an emendation that she be given approval
over the issuance of warrants against peo-
ple suspected of crimes against humanity.
British premier Gordon Brown has also
condemned these legal attacks.
Ayalon said that he believes that
Britain “understand[s] the severity, the
scope of the problem, because it is not
just directed against Israel, it’s directed
against any and all democracies which
defend themselves against terrorism” and
that Israel is in “very intense talks with
our friends in London.”
Calls for a boycott of Israel have
increased in recent years, as part of what
the Israel-based NGO Monitor organiza-
tion terms the Durban Strategy. The strat-
egy is named after the controversial 2001
Durban Conference on Racism and its
2009 review conference, termed a “racist
hate fest against the Jewish people and
the Jewish state” by Alan Deshowitz. The
DFM advanced the idea of providing eco-
nomic assistance to poorer nations as a
way of gaining support in international
bodies such as the United Nations. ❖
Samuel Sokol can be reached at
samuelsokol5tjt@gmail.com and can be followed
online at twitter.com/samuelsokol and at
torahfromzion.blogspot.com.