US Lawyers Group Settles Suit for Boycotting an Israeli Organization

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Marcy Oster, JTA

May 21, 2020

BLACKTOWN, AUSTRALIA – FEBRUARY 14: An auctioneer’s gavel is seen prior to the home auction for a four-bedroom house at 230 Blacktown Road on February 14, 2015 in Blacktown, Australia. The Blacktown home sold for AUD$565,000 at auction today, smashing the reserve set at AUD$1. The Sydney home auction clearance rate is expected to remain high following the Reserve Bank’s interest rate cut to 2.25 per cent last week. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

(JTA) — The National Lawyers Guild has settled a lawsuit with an Israeli organization for refusing its ad in the annual dinner journal.

The guild, a public interest association of legal professionals, based its refusal on an official “resolution barring us from accepting funds from Israeli organizations,” according to The Lawfare Project, citing an email from the guild to the Bibliotechnical Athenaeum, which is based in the West Bank.

Through the New York-based Lawfare Project, the organization sued the guild under that state’s Human Rights Law, which has an anti-boycott clause. At least 28 U.S. states have passed legislation against attempts to boycott Israel.

The settlement, which was approved by the New York State Supreme Court, requires the guild to publish a new advertisement from the Israeli company, as well as to refrain from discrimination in the future.

According to its website, The Lawfare Project defends “the civil and human rights of the Jewish people and pro-Israel community.”