THE AUSTRALIAN: ‘No plaintiffs left’ in case against Jake Lynch ISRAELI legal group Shurat HaDin’s lawsuit against Sydney academic Jake Lynch over his support for a boycott of Israel could be thrown out in weeks if his lawyers succeed in arguing the case has no plaintiffs left who are real, aggrieved persons. Professor Lynch’s solicitor, Yves Hazan, has lodged an application with the Federal Court to have the racial discrimination case summarily dismissed because, he argues, Shurat HaDin is not a natural person and therefore cannot say it has been adversely affected by Professor Lynch’s actions. The head of Shurat HaDin in Israel, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, said Professor Lynch was taking “a cowardly approach” by “trying to get the case dismissed on a technicality” rather than run “a fair and public trial on the merits”. “He is running away from the fight like the Arabs ran from the battlefield in the Six-Day War,” Ms Darshan-Leitner told the HES. Shurat HaDin radically altered its case last month after judge Alan Robertson struck out key sections of its original statement of claim, which cast a broad net alleging Professor Lynch’s support for the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign damaged the interests of all Israelis. The original plaintiffs included Israeli academics with whom Professor Lynch had never had any dealings. The statement of claim said the Israelis had, for example, been deprived of seeing acts such as rap artist Snoop Dogg, who in 2008 cancelled a scheduled performance in Israel, reportedly because of pressure from the boycott movement. Shurat HaDin’s revised statement of claim focuses only on the decision of Professor Lynch, who heads the University of Sydney’s Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, to decline to sponsor Hebrew University of Jerusalem professor Dan Avnon on an exchange program. The case is no longer being pursued as a representative or class action and the original plaintiffs are withdrawing from it, except for Shurat HaDin. Professor Avnon, who has completed his fellowship after being sponsored by another Sydney University department, says he does not want to be involved in the case, although he hopes Shurat HaDin wins. In court, Mr Hazan foreshadowed his argument to have the case dismissed. “The fellowship requires an applicant at one university for academic exchange to be supported by a sponsoring academic from the other university,” Mr Hazan told the court. “Now, your Honour, the Shurat HaDin is not such a person.” The issue of standing will be heard late next month.
Posted on: Wed, 09 Jul 2014 03:59:02 +0000