On March 1-3, 2010, a group of anti-Israel activists and NGO officials participated in the Russell Tribunal on Palestine. The Tribunal, with roots in Marxist and anti-Western ideology, is a mock court putting Israel and its allies “on trial”. The framework, in keeping with the “Durban strategy,” calls for “existing legal actions [“lawfare”] and campaigns in the context of BDS to be stepped up and widened within the EU and globally” against Israel.

The Tribunal’s “Support Committee” includes anti-Israel activists Jean Ziegler, John Dugard, and Richard Falk; representatives from the NGOs PCHR and ICAHD; and Goldstone Mission member Hila Jilani. Tribunal “witnesses” included Goldstone Mission member Desmond Travers; Phil Shiner, attorney for Al Haq in its lawfare cases against the UK government; and Michael Sfard, legal advisor for NIF- and EU-funded grantees Yesh Din and Breaking the Silence.

The tribunal was supported by a €56,000 grant from the Barcelona municipality. Its next session in London later this year is to “focus on corporations profiting from the occupation but also on labour rights in Palestine-Israel and the role third party States play in letting those violations take place.”