Published: 25 June 2018
Last updated: 4 March 2024
Holocaust survivor and Palestinians' rights lawyer Felicia Langer dies in exile at 87 (Haaretz)
Felicia Langer was a Holocaust survivor from Poland who studied law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. After the occupation, was the first to open a law office dedicated to defending its Palestinian victims. In this, she followed an illustrious tradition of Jews who fought injustice in South Africa, Latin America, Europe and the United States.
Here, her sense of justice brought her into conflict with her state. Occasionally she even succeeded: In 1979, in the wake of her petition, the High Court of Justice blocked an expulsion order against Nablus Mayor Bassam Shakaa. A year later, the Jewish underground attached a bomb to his car that destroyed his legs, and Israeli justice came to light
In memory of Felicia Langer, the first lawyer to bring the occupation to court (972)
MICHAEL SFARD Felicia Langer was a Holocaust survivor, a communist, and one of the first Israeli lawyers to defend Palestinian residents of the occupied territories in the Israeli Supreme Court. She died in Germany last week
AND SEE
'The law is what keeps the edifice of occupation from crashing down' (972)
Michael Sfard is one of the preeminent human rights lawyers in Israel today, where for the past two decades, he has confronted the occupation on its own turf: in Israel’s legal system. He has just a published a book about his experiences.
The Wall and the Gate: Israel, Palestine, and the Legal Battle for Human Rights, by Michael Sfard (Metropolitan Books)
Photo: Attorney Felicia Langer in 2008. UNiesert, Wikimedia
