Israel Matzav

"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers"

I'll bet that that's what the Israeli government is saying this morning: "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers". Just like William Shakespeare wrote in Act IV, Scene II of Henry VI (Part 2). If the latest plague comes down on Israel it sounds like it's going to come from the lawyers. Don't laugh too hard: Hezbullah wants to go to court.

Hezbollah is planning to file a host of lawsuits against Israel over the damages it caused during the Second Lebanon War. Lebanese individuals with dual citizenship will file the suits in the countries where they hold citizenship.

Attorney Ibrahim Awada, who heads Hezbollah's legal department, revealed the plan last week on a Syrian television program devoted to "Zionist crimes against Lebanon." He said that each plaintiff will hire a lawyer in the country where he files suit, and Hezbollah will pay the lawyers' fees.

The Lebanese government began mulling lawsuits against Israel immediately after the war ended last summer, but was stymied by the fact that United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the war, blamed Hezbollah, rather than Israel, for its outbreak. The government therefore set up a legal committee to explore more limited options, such as suits specifically over Israel's use of cluster bombs and destruction of infrastructure.

However, Hezbollah was furious that the government has so far done nothing, and therefore decided to launch its own lawsuit blitz, using private individuals.

Unfortunately, this is likely to play really well in Eurabia, and the Israeli government is likely to have to spend some money defending these nuisance suits (or at least sending lawyers to appear and say that Israel doesn't submit to jurisdiction - maybe there's some work for me there :-). In the US, it's less likely to succeed, because they would have to find plaintiffs with standing, and because it's much more difficult to sue a sovereign government without its consent.

Update 3:45 PM

Even Lebanese are unhappy about this:

So, let me get this straight, HizbAllah kidnaps Israeli soldiers yet HizbAllah is the victim. Instead of playing silly games the party should apologize to its fellow citizens that it brought war upon Lebanon. Shame on them!

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:59 AM