A political firebrand in her home country, Israeli lawyer Lea Tsemel is known by her opponents as "the devil's advocate," for her decades-long defense of Palestinians who have been accused of resisting the occupation, both violently and non-violently. Tsemel, who pushes the praxis of a human rights defender to its limits, takes on two contentious court cases in her tireless quest for justice.

This guide is an invitation to dialogue. It is based on a belief in the power of human connection and designed for people who want to use Advocate to engage family, friends, classmates, colleagues, and communities. In contrast to initiatives that foster debates in which participants try to convince others that they are right, this document envisions conversations undertaken in a spirit of openness in which people try to understand one another and expand their thinking by sharing viewpoints and listening actively.

The discussion prompts are intentionally crafted to help a wide range of audiences think more deeply about the issues in the film. Rather than attempting to address them all, choose one or two that best meet your needs and interests. And be sure to leave time to consider taking action. Planning next steps can help people leave the room feeling energized and optimistic, even in instances when conversations have been difficult.

For more detailed event planning and facilitation tips, visit communitynetwork.amdoc.org.

We first met Lea many years ago. By then, the once anonymous firebrand law student who, following the 1967 war fearlessly distributed flyers on campus warning her fellow Israelis to end the occupation or risk a vicious cycle of violence, was already a household name. For us, socially and politically engaged filmmakers, her rebellious spirit and radical zeal were an inspiration. Lea spoke truth to power before the term became trendy and she’ll continue to do so after fear makes it fashionable. As such, she’s a model we’re hard-pressed to preserve, in Israel/Palestine and elsewhere. And yet Lea, who has spent a lifetime going against the grain of Israeli society, is as much a product of it as she is an exception to it. Through her, we tell another kind of Israeli history, without a capital H. Not the usual: ‘We came, we saw, we conquered, we shot, we cried.’ More like: ‘We cooked, we cleaned, we cursed, we tried to better the world, but didn’t always manage…’ At the end of the day, Advocate is a female-centered portrait of chutzpah put to good use: Lea is more often than not the only woman, or the only Jew, or the only leftist — in the room.

Key Participants

Lea Tsemel - A Jewish-Israeli lawyer who defends Palestinian political prisoners in military and civil courts.

Michael Warschawski - Lea’s husband and Israeli anti-Zionist organizer and activist who was prominent in Matzpen - the Israeli anti-Zionist, socialist organization--in the 1960-1980s

Ahmad Mansara - A 13-year-old Palestinian boy charged with attempted murder and one of Tsemel’s clients

Israa Jaabis - One of Tsemel’s clients who was accused of an attempted suicide bombing and charged with attempted murder

Key Issues

Advocate is an excellent tool for outreach and will be of special interest to people who want to explore the following topics:

• Israeli Occupation of Palestine
• Cultural Erasure
• Systemic Injustice & Legal Discrimination
• Right to the land
• Resistance & Struggle
• Child Detention & Criminal Justice System
• Anti-Palestinian/Anti-Muslim Racism
• Human rights

Israeli Occupation

The Israeli occupation entails military rule and control over Palestinian territories and people.[1] Affecting every aspect of Palestinian life, the Israeli military and government determines whether Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza can travel, work, access basic infrastructure needs such as water and electricity, seek appropriate medical care, and protest.[2] Administered primarily through military law, the occupation hinders Palestinians’ freedom of movement through numerous checkpoints and roadblocks. It also impedes Palestinians’ access to farmland, family support networks, income-generating activity, education, and medical care.[3] Many Palestinians experience harassment at Israeli checkpoints as a daily reality, in violation of Palestinians’ basic human rights.[4]

Due to the growth of exclusively Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, Palestinians are restricted from accessing land and using particular roads open to Jewish-Israeli settlers, and face shortages of water that is often redirected to Jewish-only settlements.[5] In Gaza, where Israel claims sole authority over airspace, land and border-crossings, and the maritime coast, Palestinians face severe shortages of electricity, clean water, essential goods, and medical supplies. Ongoing house demolitions by the Israeli government in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem contribute to economic, health, and emotional insecurity.[6] Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank also face the highest unemployment rates in the world, according to a UN report from 2018.[7] Criminalization of Palestinian resistance to the occupation takes place through home raids, extra-judicial imprisonment, and child detention, a theme we see in Advocate.[8] Due to the differential legal and institutional treatment accorded to Palestinians by the Israeli government, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has recommended Israel to amend or revoke all racially discriminatory legislation that violates the human rights of Palestinian citizens of Israel and Palestinians in the Occupied Territories.[9]

As the longest running military occupation in the modern world, the Israeli occupation is often dated to June 7, 1967 when, following the Six-Day War, the State of Israel occupied the Palestinian territories known as the West Bank and Gaza.[10] However, as a number of scholars have pointed out, the origins of the Israeli occupation of Palestine pre-date 1967, lying in earlier settler colonial events such as the founding of the State of Israel in Palestine and the large-scale migration of predominantly European Jews to Palestine from the late nineteenth century onwards.

Many European Jews began establishing colonies in Palestine in the 1880s in response to European anti-Semitism, while other waves continued through the first half of the twentieth century. Following the 1917 Balfour Declaration, through which the League of Nations placed Palestine under British administration, the British declared Palestine “a national home for the Jewish people” to the exclusion of native Palestinians. During the British Mandate period (1918-1948), Palestine witnessed burgeoning immigration of European Jewish populations, often fleeing anti-Semitic violence, as well as immigration of Middle Eastern Jews. Immigration peaked in the 1930s with the growth of Nazism and fascism.

At the close of World War II, the British ceded decision-making power to the United Nations. In the immediate aftermath of the UN resolution in November 1947 for the partition of Palestine among Jews and native Palestinians, the first Israeli-Palestinian war broke out. This war culminated in the Israeli Declaration of Independence on May 14, 1948, the expulsion, forcing into exile, and fleeing of 750,000 Palestinians, and the creation of the Palestinian refugee population across Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank, and Gaza, among other territories. While these events are known as the War of Independence by Israelis, Palestinians refer to it as al-Nakba, meaning “catastrophe,” as Israeli forces destroyed 418 Palestinian villages, preventing a now refugee population from returning to their homes.[11]

Legal Discrimination and Cultural Erasure

Following the Palestinian Nakba of 1948, 150,000 Palestinians remained inside what then became known as Israel. Today there are 1.6 million Palestinian citizens of Israel, comprising twenty percent of the population.[12] Over sixty-five laws in Israel discriminate against Palestinian citizens of Israel, imposing strict measures on Palestinians’ political, civil, social, legal, cultural, and land and housing rights.[13] Because Israel formally defines itself as “the state of the Jewish people,” Jews are granted dominance and privilege in all aspects of institutional and political life.[14]

Politically, Palestinian citizens of Israel have been absent from every ruling coalition of political parties since 1948. Within government ministries, only two out of 648 ministerial appointments have ever been made to Palestinian citizens of Israel[1]. Outside of formal decision-making arenas, government policies discriminate against Palestinian-Israelis who wish to settle and develop land. Despite comprising twenty percent of the population, Palestinians own only 2.5 percent of public land. In comparison, the State of Israel and the “quasi-governmental” Jewish National Fund own ninety-three percent of the land, and actively restrict Palestinian citizens’ ability to buy and use land.[15]

Beyond formal political exclusions, Palestinians face cultural and linguistic erasure. In contrast, exclusively Jewish symbols--such as the national flag, national celebration of Jewish holidays and historical events, and the predominance of Hebrew--pervade all aspects of public life. In contrast, the Arabic names of Palestinian villages destroyed in 1948, and the ongoing lack of recognition of Palestinian villages, contribute to the erasure of Palestinian history and collective life.[16] While Arabic is an official state language, it is used only occasionally in a formal capacity alongside Hebrew.[17] One example of Israeli historical erasure of Palestinian collective identity is the 2011 “Nakba Bill,” which financially penalizes organizations and institutions that mark Israeli Independence Day as the Palestinian Nakba.[18] Most recently, Israel’s 2018 Israeli Nation-State Law declares that Arabic is no longer an official language and that Jews “have an exclusive right to national self-determination,” while promoting Jewish settlement throughout historic Palestine.[19]

The formally ethno-racial nature of the state has widespread impacts on other non-Jewish populations as well, such as migrant workers from South and Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe,[20] and Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers.[21]

The Case of Ahmad Mansara

The documentary focuses on Lea Tsemel’s defense of Ahmad Mansara (alternatively spelled Ahmed Mansarah), a 13-year-old Palestinian. Ahmad is arrested after allegedly helping Hassan, his 15-year-old cousin, attack a teenager and man in Pisgat Ze’ev, an Israeli settlement in occupied East Jerusalem. While Ahmad’s cousin is killed by Israeli police, footage captures Ahmad--who is run over by an Israeli driver as he tries to flee and is seriously injured-- being arrested amidst bystanders shouting and urging the police to kill him.[22] At the time of Ahmad’s arrest, Israeli law prohibited imprisoning children under the age of fourteen.[23] The documentary captures Ahmad’s journey through the Israeli court system, including leaked footage of his interrogation where several adults are seen yelling at Ahmad, to the media’s portrayal of Ahmad as a terrorist, to ultimately his initial 12-year prison sentence for attempted murder.[24] Following this case, in August 2016, the Israeli parliament passed legislation that allows Israeli authorities to imprison minors as young as 12 years old for serious crimes.[25]

PROMPT ONE: STARTING THE CONVERSATION

Immediately after the film, you may want to give people a few quiet moments to reflect on what they have seen. You could pose a general question (examples below) and give people some time to themselves to jot down or think about their answers before opening the discussion. Alternatively, you could ask participants to share their thoughts with a partner before starting a group discussion.

DISCUSSION PROMPT: STEREOTYPING & ANTI-PALESTINIAN, ANTI-MUSLIM RACISM

Throughout the film, we see the media, court officials, and individuals depict Palestinian political prisoners, and Palestinians and Muslims more broadly, as less human than Jewish-Israelis. In her work as an advocate for Palestinian political prisoners, Lea navigates how to make cases for her clients in the midst of pervasive racist stereotypes.

• How are Palestinians portrayed by the Israeli government and media in the film? How does this portrayal compare to representations of Jewish-Israeli society?
• In what ways do various people in the film use racist representations of Palestinians as inherently anti-Semitic and “blood-thirsty” to justify Israeli occupation?
• How do Palestinians and Jewish-Israelis such as Lea Tsemel push back against dominant racist stereotypes about Palestinians?

DISCUSSION PROMPT: CHILD DETENTION

Israel has signed both the Geneva Convention on the Protection of Civilians and the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child; however, it remains the only country that tries children in military courts.[26] Further, as a UNICEF report observes, the Israeli military routinely inflicts human rights abuses on Palestinian children under dentention.[27] Since 1967, 45,000 Palestinian children have been held in some form of detention, and each year on average Israel arrests, interrogates, and detains around 700 Palestinian children.[28]

• How is Ahmad described by Israeli media and civil society? How does Israel’s detention of Palestinian minors like Ahmad undermine trust between Palestinians and the Israeli state?
• What does Israel’s policy of detaining Palestinian children, as depicted in the film, reveal about Israel’s criminal justice system?
• Did you learn about laws meant to protect the rights of children and minors that Israel is ignoring? Why does Israel ignore international laws that protect the rights of children and minors from detention, torture, and forced interrogations? How should the international community respond to such violations? For example, should the international community consider placing sanctions on Israel for breaking international law?
• The U.S. government held a record 69,550 migrant children in custody during the fiscal year 2018-2019.[29] In what ways are U.S. practices of child detention similar to Israel’s? How should U.S. citizens respond to these practices of the U.S. state that directly compromise the human rights of thousands of children?

DISCUSSION PROMPT: LIMITS OF LEGAL JUSTICE

Throughout the film, Lea attempts to use the Israeli courts to seek justice for Palestinian prisoners. At the same time, she constantly confronts the limits of the courts in delivering justice to Palestinian defendants.

• Why might Palestinians be skeptical of the Israeli legal system? What are examples of discrimination against Palestinians in the Israeli court system shown throughout the film? What does this suggest about the need to interrogate “justice” and the ideas they are founded upon?
• Lea describes constantly losing cases, with only occasional rulings in her favor, such as the Israeli Supreme Court decision on the use of torture in 1999. Why do you think she continues to fight within the legal system if she rarely wins cases? What does this suggest about ongoing fights for justice?
• Should Leah Tsemel have accepted a plea bargain for Ahmad? What does the dilemma she faces reveal about the law as a means of addressing inequality and systemic power?

DISCUSSION PROMPT: MAINTAINING OCCUPATION

In telling her story about growing up in Israel, Lea describes continually becoming more aware of the power the Israeli state holds over Palestinians’ lives.

• As described and depicted in the film, what methods beyond the courtroom does the Israeli government employ to maintain its power over Palestinians within its 1967 borders, and in the West Bank and Gaza?
• How does the treatment and sentencing of Ahmad--and of political prisoners Lea has represented--reinforce the power dynamics between the Israeli state and Palestinians?
• What role do we see the Israeli media play in legitimizing Jewish-Israeli privilege and maintaining institutional discrimination?

Can you add a follow-up question to this that asks people to interrogate/access the practices relative to violence?

DISCUSSION PROMPT: RESISTING OCCUPATION

The film depicts many forms of resistance to Israeli occupation, both among Palestinians and Jewish-Israelis like Lea and her husband, Michel Warschawski.

• What social movements and histories of protest is Lea Tsemel a part of? How does the state attempt to quiet these voices of dissent? Why do you think these voices are so threatening to the Israeli government?
• How does Lea understand the acts committed by her clients?
• During one interview, Lea says that "Israelis have no right to tell Palestinians how to struggle.” What do you think she means? Do we see this type of relationship - where people with power limit experiences of those with less power and then dictate the ways in which the oppressed are meant to engage in struggle and resistance - in the United States? If so, can you describe where you recognize that type of relationship?
• What ethical responsibilities does the international community have to speak out against the Israeli occupation?

The Discriminatory Laws Database,” Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, 2017 -- A legal database tracking discrimination, collected by a non-profit organization, independent human rights organization and legal center in Haifa, Israel.

B’Tselem: The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories -- An independent non-profit tracking legal violations of Palestinian human rights in the West Bank and Gaza, based in Jerusalem.

Incarcerated Childhood and the Politics of Unchilding, Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian -- Explores the impact of political violence and criminalization on Palestinian children, including the traumas they face and ways they resist and survive.

“Enshrining Discrimination: Israel’s Nation-State Law,” Nadia Ben-Youssef and Sadra Samaan Tamari -- A historical and political analysis of the 2018 Israeli Nation-State Law that codifies forms of national discrimination against Palestinian citizens of Israel.

Israel and Its Palestinian Citizens, Nadim N. Rouhana -- Explores the political, legal, civil, and social facets of life for Palestinian citizens of Israel.

A Shadow Over Palestine: The Imperial Life of Race in America, Keith Feldman -- Examines the relationship between Israel and the United States, looking at the racialization of Palestinians and racial segregation in the U.S.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Rachel Brown
Rachel Brown is an Assistant Professor in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Washington University in St. Louis. Her work and teaching address feminist and queer theory, migration, transnational feminist solidarity, and settler colonialism. Brown's writing has appeared in Feminist Theory, Political Theory, International Feminist Journal of Politics, and Global Networks. She is working on a book manuscript about migrant care and domestic workers in Palestine/Israel. She is a co-host of the Always Already Podcast, a critical theory podcast with a transnational listenership across the humanities and social sciences.

Siddhant Issar
Siddhant Issar is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His writing has been published or is forthcoming in Contemporary Political Theory, The Black Scholar, Public Seminar, and an edited volume on Rosa Luxemburg. He is also a co-host of the Always Already Podcast. Issar is currently working on his dissertation, which thinks with the Movement for Black Lives to develop a critical theory of racial capitalism.

Discussion Guide Producers, POV

Chrissy Griesmer
POV Engage Intern

Courtney Cook
Education Manager

Thanks to those who reviewed this resource:

Rachel Friedland
POV, Senior Associate, Programs & Engagement

This resource was created, in part, with the generous support of the Open Society Foundation.