The Warped Mirror: The 'lawfare' pioneer

Reports last week that described efforts to obtain an arrest warrant against Defense Minister Ehud Barak during his visit in London named the British barrister who filed the application as Michel Massih QC. Chances are that, just like me, you have never heard of Mr. Massih, but it turns out he is actually Britain's foremost expert when it comes to trying to get Israeli officials arrested during their visits to Britain - indeed, Mr. Massih can rightly claim that he is a pioneer in this field.

I came to appreciate Mr. Massih's role when I read about him on the blog "Harry's Place", where a post explained some of the relevant intricacies of the British legal system and provided some choice quotes from a very interesting profile of Massih that was published in Abu Dhabi's The National last March. Entitled "The best defence", the rather long article opens with an intriguing summary:

Michel Massih has spent much of his 30-year career advocating for clients accused of terrorism and war crimes, but now the consummate defender is leading the charge to prosecute Israel."

Obviously there is nothing wrong with a lawyer who defends clients accused of serious crimes; moreover, without lawyers prepared to defend even those cases where the evidence seems overwhelming, the legal system wouldn't work. However, the fact that Mr. Massih is widely regarded as an expert in the defense of terrorists (his truly astonishing CV can be accessed here http://www.tooks.co.uk/people/michel_massih/ ) suggests that there is arguably a political dimension to his choice to specialize in this field.

And when it comes to his other field of specialization, namely his efforts to get Israeli officials arrested and prosecuted in Britain, the possible political dimension is clearer: Massih's family was reportedly from Jerusalem and, as the article that profiles him puts it,

There is no doubt that Massih's Palestinian roots have engendered a strong personal sense of justice - one inspired, until recently, more by concern for the accused than by zeal for prosecution."

Massih himself is quoted as saying that when he was young, he saw himself "as a defender of the weak against the oppressor." It seems that by now, at the age of 59, Massih has additional priorities: according to his profile, "he is advising the Syrian government and military officials who are being investigated by the United Nations Security Council over the murder of Rafik Hariri, the former prime minister of Lebanon; and he is advising the president of Sudan, Omar al Bashir, who has been accused of presiding over genocide in Darfur by the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague."

Given that Massih has embarked on an energetic campaign - including television appearances and lectures - to win support for his efforts to bring Israeli officials to trial, it is noteworthy that one of his objections to the indictment of the Sudanese president is reportedly based on the argument that inappropriate publicity was given to the charges against al-Bashir by the prosecutor, whom Massih accuses of having launched "media campaigns" against his client.

A similar double standard could be suspected when Massih justified his efforts to have Ehud Barak arrested by arguing that "the British government was obliged 'to actively pursue people who are alleged to be involved in war crimes.'" No doubt Mr. Massih would protest vigorously if the British government were to take steps "to actively pursue" his client al-Bashir.

Mr. Massih's quest to bring Israeli officials to trial is doubtless motivated by a principled concern for human rights and international law. However, Massih has also acknowledged that his goal is "to end the impunity that Israel has enjoyed. The field of freedom for Israel will narrow. More and more of these warrants will be applied for. And people will become much more aware of the difficulties of waging war in this unlawful way. Frankly, all you need is one case - one case which sticks."

The profile featured in the National suggests that "Massih may be just the figure to orchestrate such a plan," and he is described as "a pioneer in the field of serving warrants for violations of international law." Clearly, it would have been more accurate to point out that Massih's interest in this field is heavily focused on charging Israeli officials with violating international law.

Apparently, Massih first attempted to have an Israeli arrested in Britain back in the 1980s, when a group of veterans of the colonial British Palestine Police sought an arrest warrant against Yitzhak Shamir, who was visiting Britain as Israel's prime minister. The retired policemen argued that as one of the former leaders of the Stern Gang, Shamir should be held responsible for the assassination of Lord Moyne, a British minister who was shot in Cairo 1944 by the Stern Gang. While the application for an arrest warrant against Shamir failed, Massih reportedly "saw promise in the approach," and he was subsequently involved in seeking warrants against Ariel Sharon and Shaul Mofaz.

Massih's first successful application for an arrest warrant finally came in 2005 when a warrant was issued for the arrest of Maj.-Gen. (res.) Doron Almog, who was accused of being responsible for the destruction of 59 Palestinian homes in the Gaza Strip. Almog escaped arrest only because he was tipped off about the warrant on arrival at Heathrow airport and decided to remain on the plane. Proud of his achievements, Massih has reportedly declared: "I can claim to have opened the door. I looked at the Geneva Conventions Act as a green lawyer and thought there was an angle. Others are doing it in England and in many countries of Europe too."

Indeed, Massih is no longer a "lone warrior" pursuing an innovative lawfare campaign against Israeli officials - and only Israeli officials. Even if his work in the service of Sudan's president or Syria's regime took up all his time, he could doubtlessly count on many colleagues helping him out. Moreover, as NGO Monitor has documented, one of the organizations that support Massih's efforts is getting funds from a number of European governments.

How much more absurd can it get? Imagine the scenario: the man who does his professional best to help Sudan's president avoid being held responsible for the death and displacement of hundreds of thousands of his own citizens hauls Israel's defense minister before a British court to accuse him of conducting a limited military campaign that was necessitated by the fact that a terrorist group, hiding in a densely populated urban area among the civilians it rules, used this area as a launching pad for thousands of rockets endangering some one million Israeli civilians.

As Massih said himself: "Frankly, all you need is one case - one case which sticks." One case that establishes once and for all that Israel has no right to defend itself. Mr. Massih has ample reason to believe he is not far from achieving his objectives.