BDS campaigner targeted by law firm with links to Israeli intelligence

A recent Spinwatch piece from myself and David Miller:

A law firm targeting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement has close links to Israeli intelligence, US government cables leaked by Wikileaks show.

Shurat HaDin—Israel Law Center (ILC) made a complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission last month against Jake Lynch, the director of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at Sydney University, over Lynch's support for BDS.

The ILC, set up in 2003, claims to be 'a fully independent non-profit organization, unaffiliated with any political party or governmental body.'

However, the organisation's director, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, has privately admitted to taking direction from the Israeli government over which cases to pursue and relying on Israeli intelligence contacts for witnesses and evidence.

Catch the whole thing here. Also worth noting follow-up pieces from Electronic Intifada, and +972.

The Australian has this response from Shurat Hadin lawyer Andrew Hamilton:

He conceded that, as revealed by leaked US cables, Shurat HaDin had received tip-offs from Mossad, but said this was part of the normal practice of lawyers seeking information and evidence to bolster their cases.

Of course, what Nitsana Darshan-Leitner said to the US Embassy in Tel Aviv went significantly further than this. According to the Embassy's report, she admitted that Shurat Hadin had taken direction from the Israeli Government about what cases to pursue in its early years.