Tracking Lawfare

What is “lawfare”?

"Lawfare" refers to a variety of practices and policies that seek to exploit U.S. laws and courts to quash political free speech and activism. Over the past decade or so, organizations involved in criticizing Israeli actions/policies or defending Palestinian rights have become key targets of a broad, well-financed, and politically-connected ecosystem of lawfare actors. These actors include non-governmental organizations, individuals and private sector groups, and elected officials (city, state, and federal). These lawfare actors have been systematically developing and testing new tactics, honing new strategies, and seeking to shape laws and regulatory precedents that advance their (often explicitly-declared) goals of delegitimizing, suppressing, chilling, and even criminalizing free speech and protest of Israeli policies and actions. Notably, the threat posed by these new tactics, strategies, and legal/regulatory precedents is not limited to the Israel/Palestine sector. Israel/Palestine-focused lawfare represents a threat to all civil society work that faces politically and/or ideologically-motivated opposition.