Pro-Israel lawyers investigated over alleged legal threats to suppress support for Palestine | Solicitors

An organisation of pro-Israel legal professionals within the UK is beneath investigation after a grievance that it threatened individuals with authorized motion to suppress help for Palestine.UK Attorneys for Israel (UKLFI) has been accused of sending eight letters to people and organisations between January 2022 and Could 2025 that “reveal a seeming sample of vexatious and legally baseless correspondence geared toward silencing and intimidating Palestine solidarity efforts”, in response to the complainants.The grievance was lodged with the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) by the Public Curiosity Regulation Centre (PILC) and the European Authorized Assist Middle. They allege “critical breaches” of the SRA’s ideas and code of conduct.A spokesperson for the SRA mentioned: “Now we have had a grievance and are investigating earlier than deciding on subsequent steps.”UKLFI was fashioned in 2011 to make use of its members’ authorized abilities “to fight BDS [Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions] and the delegitimisation of Israel”.Its web site says: “We make use of advocacy, authorized analysis and campaigning to help Israel, Israeli organisations, Israelis, and/or supporters of Israel in opposition to BDS and different makes an attempt to undermine, assault or delegitimise them.”The grievance says UKLFI makes use of “strategic lawsuits in opposition to public participation (Slapps), that are lawsuits meant to restrict freedom of expression on issues of public curiosity”.One of many letters included within the grievance was despatched by Caroline Turner, a director of UKLFI, to the Scottish Storytelling Centre, an arts centre in Edinburgh, that had introduced plans to host a Palestinian movie competition in Could in partnership with Conventional Arts and Tradition Scotland.In accordance with the grievance, UKLFI’s letter claimed the scheduled occasions had been “inherently antisemitic and anti-Zionist in nature” and will result in a referral to the Scottish charity regulator. UKLFI requested the competition’s cancellation.One other letter was despatched by Turner on behalf of UKLFI to the Cornelius Cardew Concert events Belief, which had organised a classical music live performance referred to as The World Stands With Palestine at a London school in November 2024.The live performance was to characteristic new music written “in response to the battle of the Palestinian individuals”. Flyers promoting the live performance included a picture of a placard studying: “Stand with Palestine!! Stand with the Resistance!!”.In accordance with the grievance, UKLFI’s letter mentioned the live performance was “siding with the point of view” of Hamas and was more likely to be in breach of the Terrorism Act 2000. It seemed to be “designed to fire up racial hatred in opposition to Jews and Israelis, and to sympathise with the goals of the Hamas terrorist organisation”.The live performance was cancelled by the school that was because of host the occasion.Paul Heron, the founding father of PILC, mentioned: “UKLFI are appearing in a way that chills public participation and intimidates those that stand in solidarity with Palestine … We won’t permit authorized threats to close down the general public’s proper to talk out on Palestine. The SRA has an obligation to step in, to uphold skilled requirements, and to guard civil society from intimidation dressed up as regulation.”The SRA’s web site describes Slapps as a “kind of abusive litigation” that may “undermine freedom of expression, the rule of regulation and quantity to a misuse of the authorized system”.In an announcement revealed on its web site, UKLFI mentioned the allegations in opposition to it had been unfounded.It mentioned: “We’re accused of writing vexatious and baseless letters, and the complainants say they’ve acquired eight examples from a interval of over three years.” It added that since October 2023 UKLFI had been referred to as on to handle “tons of of requests for assist yearly from Jewish members of the general public expressing real considerations in lots of areas of life together with medical companies, retailers, training and the humanities”.“Lots of the considerations relate to conduct creating an intimidating, hostile and offensive surroundings for Jewish sufferers, staff, clients or college students, and typically excluding them altogether.“If applicable, we write to the related organisation and level out what is occurring, the impact that this has had on the Jewish or Israeli buyer or affected person, and the way relevant legal guidelines or regulatory necessities are being breached. We additionally clarify how the issue could also be solved.”