Leah Tsemel, or Lea Tsemel ( he, לאה צמל, born 19 June 1945) is an

Israeli Israeli may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel * Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel * Modern Hebrew, a language * ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008 * Guni Israeli ...

lawyer known for her work in support of

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

rights.Ciotti, Paul (April 27, 1988)
"Israeli roots, Palestinian clients: Taking the Arab cause to court has earned Jewish lawyer Lea Tsemel the wrath of her countrymen"
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' Retrieved on February 2, 2014.American Friends Service Committee (March 30, 2010)
''Leah Tsemel''
Retrieved on February 2, 2014. She defines her career as one involving “everything hat occursbetween the Palestinians and the authorities". Her five decades of representing Palestinian defendants in the Israeli court system is the subject of the documentary film ''Advocate'', which came out in 2019, and won the 2021

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for Best Documentary.

Biography

Tsemel was born in

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

Mandate Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 i ...

in 1945. Her parents, who made

aliyah Aliyah (, ; he, עֲלִיָּה ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel, which is in the modern era chiefly represented by the Israel, State of Israel ...

in the 1930s, came from

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, and her father was an engineer.Ravit Hech
'The Israeli Lawyer Who Defends the Most Violent Fighters Against the Occupation ,'

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner f ...

25 May 2019 She studied law at

Hebrew University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

in the late 1960s.Hajjar, Lisa (2005). ''Courting conflict: The Israeli military court system in the West Bank and Gaza'', pp. 168-69. University of California Press, Berkeley. She is married to

anti-Zionist Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the modern State of Israel, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the region of Palestine ...

activist Michel Warschawski, and they have two children, Nissan and Talila and seven grandchildren.

Legal work

In 1971, Tsemel became an apprentice to human rights lawyer

Felicia Langer Felicia Langer (9 December 1930 – 21 June 2018) was a German-Israeli attorney and human rights activist known for her defence of Palestinian political prisoners in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. She authored several books alleging human rights ...

. Tsemel represented activist

Ezra Nawi Ezra Yitzhak Nawi ( he, עזרא יצחק נאווי; 1951 – 9 January 2021) was an Israeli Mizrahi Jew, left-wing, human rights activist and pacifist. He was particularly active among the Bedouin herders and farmers of the South Hebron Hills ...

.Haaretz (22 December 2005)
''A humble house in the hills''
''

'' Retrieved on February 2, 2014. An Israeli settler claimed Nawi hindered the settler from filming Nawi's assistance of Palestinians, and Nawi was convicted and fined. On appeal, Tsemel successfully argued that the area the Palestinians were farming did not belong to the settler. Nawi's conviction was overturned. Tsemel represented student Salah Hamouri after he was indicted on two counts: for planning to assassinate rabbi

Ovadia Yosef Ovadia Yosef ( he, , Ovadya Yosef, ; September 24, 1920 – October 7, 2013) was an Iraqi-born Talmudic scholar, a posek, the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel from 1973 to 1983, and a founder and long-time spiritual leader of Israel's ultra-Orthodo ...

and for being a member of the

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine ( ar, الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين, translit=al-Jabhah al-Sha`biyyah li-Taḥrīr Filasṭīn, PFLP) is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist and revolutionary soci ...

.Ben-Ami, Nina (December 23, 2008)
''Affaire Salah Hamouri: la réponse de l'ambassade d'Israël''
''

Le Nouvel Observateur (), previously known as (1964–2014), is a weekly French news magazine. Based in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris, it is the most prominent French general information magazine in terms of audience and circulation. Its current editor is Cécil ...

''. Retrieved on February 2, 2014. She advised Hamouri to

plead guilty In legal terms, a plea is simply an answer to a claim made by someone in a criminal case under common law using the adversarial system. Colloquially, a plea has come to mean the assertion by a defendant at arraignment, or otherwise in response ...

to the latter in exchange for a lighter sentence. Tsemel is "nondiscriminating about her clientele...whoever they might be and whatever charges they might face" and is known for defending suicide bombers.

Activism

Tsemel criticized Camp 1391, an

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

prison camp for high-risk prisoners in northern

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

,BBC News (December 2, 2003)
Israel court lifts prison secrecy

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

Retrieved on February 2, 2014 stating, "anyone entering the prison can be made to disappear, potentially forever, it's no different from the jails run by tinpot South American dictators." Tsemel was a participant in the Russell Tribunal on Palestine. She was a candidate for the

Joint List The Joint List ( ar, القائمة المشتركة, ''al-Qa'imah al-Mushtarakah'', he, הָרְשִׁימָה הַמְּשֻׁתֶּפֶת, ''HaReshima HaMeshutefet'') was a political alliance of four of the Arab-Israeli, Arab-majority politi ...

in the 2015 general election. Tsemel’s career as an Israeli human-rights lawyer defending Palestinians is the subject of the 2019 documentary, ''

Advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. Different countries' legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a barrister or a solicitor. However, ...

'', directed by Rachel Leah Jones and Philippe Bellaïche.

Awards

Tsemel, together with Palestinian lawyer Raji Sourani, received the 1996 "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" award, the highest human rights award granted by the government of France. Tsemel, together with Palestinian advocate Mohammad Na'amneh, received the 2004

Hans Litten Hans Achim Litten (19 June 1903 – 5 February 1938) was a German lawyer who represented opponents of the Nazis at important political trials between 1929 and 1932, defending the rights of workers during the Weimar Republic. During one trial i ...

prize from the European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights.European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights (February 5, 2005)
''European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights awards HANS-LITTEN-PRICE to Lea Tsemel and Mohammad Na'amneh''
Retrieved on February 2, 2014.

References

External links

“Advocate”: Israeli Attorney Lea Tsemel Reflects on Defending Palestinians Who Resist Occupation
''Democracy Now'', June 14, 2019 {{DEFAULTSORT:Tsemel, Leah Lawyers from Haifa 1945 births Hebrew University of Jerusalem Faculty of Law alumni Living people Israeli women lawyers Balad (political party) politicians