Eugene Kontorovich | |
|---|---|
 Kontorovich in Jerusalem, 2018 | |
| Born | 1975 (age 48–49) |
| Nationality | Israeli |
| Education | University of Chicago (JD) |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 2011–present |
| Organization | Kohelet Policy Forum |
| Spouse | Rachel Rosner (m. 2006) |
| Children | 4 |
Eugene Kontorovich (born 1975) is an Israeli legal scholar, specializing in constitutional and international law. He is the head of the international law department at the Kohelet Policy Forum, an Israeli conservative think tank.
Kontorovich studied law at the University of Chicago. He later clerked for Judge Richard Posner on the U.S. Court of Appeals. [1] In 2011, he received a fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, and was later[ when? ] awarded the Federalist Society's Bator Award, given annually to a young scholar under 40. [2]
From 2011 to 2018, Kontorovich worked as a professor at Northwestern University School of Law. [3] Since then he has served as a Professor of Law at Antonin Scalia Law School, [2] where he established the Center for the Middle East and International Law. [4]
Kontorovich coined the term "gaolbalization" (gaol + globalization): the practice of one country sending its excess prison population to another country with excess capacity. [5] [6] [7]
He has been active in opposing boycotts of Israel and its settlements, [8] including standing before a special US congressional committee on the topic. [9]
Kontorovich is a fellow of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, [10] and heads the international law department at the Kohelet Policy Forum. [11] He occasionally writes for The Washington Post and The Jerusalem Post . [12] [13]
Kontorovich is a proponent of using anti-BDS laws to combat the BDS movement. He has helped many US states draft such legislation. [14] In 2016, Kontorovich served as an expert advisor to the group that sued the American Studies Association over its 2013 decision to boycott of Israeli academic institutions. [15]
Born in Kyiv, Ukraine, Kontorovich moved to the US with his parents at the age of three. He immigrated to Israel in 2013 with his wife and four children, [16] and lives in the West Bank settlement of Alon Shvut. [17] [18]
The Modern Language Association of America, often referred to as the Modern Language Association (MLA), is widely considered the principal professional association in the United States for scholars of language and literature. The MLA aims to "strengthen the study and teaching of language and literature". The organization includes over 20,000 members in 100 countries, primarily academic scholars, professors, and graduate students who study or teach language and literature, including English, other modern languages, and comparative literature. Although founded in the United States, with offices in New York City, the MLA's membership, concerns, reputation, and influence are international in scope.
Douglas Howard Ginsburg is an American lawyer and jurist serving as a senior U.S. circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He is also a professor of law at the Antonin Scalia Law School of George Mason University.
The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA) is an Israeli think tank specializing in public diplomacy and foreign policy founded in 1976. Describing itself on its website as "The Global Embassy for Israel", it publishes the biennial journal Jewish Political Studies Review alongside other content.
The Volokh Conspiracy is a legal blog co-founded in 2002 by law professor Eugene Volokh, covering legal and political issues from an ideological orientation it describes as "generally libertarian, conservative, centrist, or some mixture of these." It is one of the most widely read and cited legal blogs in the United States. The blog is written by legal scholars and provides discussion on complex court decisions.
Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) is an annual series of university lectures and rallies held in February or March. According to the organization, "the aim of IAW is to educate people about the nature of Israel as an apartheid system and to build Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaigns as part of a growing global BDS movement." Since IAW began in Toronto in 2005, it has spread to at least 55 cities, including locations in Australia, Austria, Brazil, Botswana, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Jordan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Palestine, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Shurat HaDin, also Israel Law Center (ILC), is an Israeli non-governmental organization (NGO) founded in Tel Aviv in 2003. Shurat HaDin has been described as a civil rights organization. However, it has also been accused of pro-Israel lawfare.
The Ministry of Strategic Affairs and Public Diplomacy is an Israeli government ministry responsible for leading the campaign of expanding the Abraham Accords and the handling of ties on White House matters.
Law for Prevention of Damage to State of Israel through Boycott, also commonly known as the (Anti-) Boycott Law, is an Israeli anti-BDS law enacted in July 2011 and partially stricken down by the Supreme Court in 2015.
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) is a nonviolent Palestinian-led movement promoting boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against Israel. Its objective is to pressure Israel to meet what the BDS movement describes as Israel's obligations under international law, defined as withdrawal from the occupied territories, removal of the separation barrier in the West Bank, full equality for Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel, and "respecting, protecting, and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties". The movement is organized and coordinated by the Palestinian BDS National Committee.
The Kohelet Policy Forum is a conservative, libertarian, right-wing Israeli nonprofit think tank established in 2012 and run by founder and chair Moshe Koppel alongside Avraham Diskin, Avi Bell and Eugene Kontorovich. Its goal is to influence government policies within Israel.
The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law (LDB) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded by Kenneth L. Marcus in 2012 with the stated purpose of advancing the civil and human rights of the Jewish people and promoting justice for all peoples. LDB is active on American campuses, where it says it combats antisemitism and anti-Zionism.
The AMCHA Initiative is a non-partisan organization aiming to combat antisemitism on campuses through investigation, documentation, and education in order to protect Jewish students from assault and fear. AMCHA was founded in 2012 by University of California Santa Cruz lecturer Tammi Rossman-Benjamin and University of California Los Angeles Professor Emeritus Leila Beckwith. The term Amcha is Hebrew for "your people" or "your nation."
Boycotts of Israel are the refusal and calls to refusal of having commercial or social dealings with Israel in order to influence Israel's practices and policies by means of using economic pressure. The specific objective of Israel boycotts varies; the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement calls for boycotts of Israel "until it meets its obligations under international law", and the purpose of the Arab League's boycott of Israel was to prevent Arab states and others from contributing to Israel's economy. Israeli officials have characterized the BDS movement as antisemitic.
The current campaign for an academic boycott of Israel was launched in April 2004 by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) as part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign. The campaign calls for BDS activities against Israel to put international pressure on Israel, in this case against Israeli academic institutions, all of which are said by PACBI to be implicated in the perpetuation of Israeli occupation, in order to achieve BDS goals. Since then, proposals for academic boycotts of particular Israeli universities and academics have been made by academics and organisations in Palestine, the United States, the United Kingdom, and other countries. The goal of the proposed academic boycotts is to isolate Israel in order to force a change in Israel's policies towards the Palestinians, which proponents argue are discriminatory and oppressive, including oppressing the academic freedom of Palestinians.
Reactions to Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) refer to the views of international actors on the BDS movement.
The Israel Allies Foundation is a pro-Israel advocacy group that promotes their views with legislators. IAF works with politicians internationally to mobilize support for its values. One of its main goals is keeping Jerusalem fully under Israeli sovereignty.
The Israel Anti-Boycott Act (IABA) was a proposed anti-BDS law and amendment to the Export Administration Act of 1979 designed to allow U.S. states to enact laws requiring contractors to sign pledges promising not to boycott any goods from Israel, or their contracts would be terminated, and to make it a federal crime, punishable by a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment, for American citizens to encourage or participate in boycotts against Israel and Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.
With regard to the Arab–Israeli conflict, many supporters of the State of Israel have often advocated or implemented anti-BDS laws, which effectively seek to retaliate against people and organizations engaged in boycotts of Israel-affiliated entities. Most organized boycotts of Israel have been led by Palestinians and other Arabs with support from much of the Muslim world. Since the Second Intifada in particular, these efforts have primarily been coordinated at an international level by the Palestinian-led BDS movement, which seeks to mount as much economic pressure on Israel as possible until the Israeli government allows an independent Palestinian state to be established. Anti-BDS laws are designed to make it difficult for anti-Israel people and organizations to participate in boycotts; anti-BDS legal resolutions are symbolic and non-binding parliamentary condemnations, either of boycotts of Israel or of the BDS movement itself. Generally, such condemnations accuse BDS of closeted antisemitism, charging it with pushing a double standard and lobbying for the de-legitimization of Israeli sovereignty, and are often followed by laws targeting boycotts of Israel.
The American Studies Association (ASA) began an ongoing boycott of Israeli educational institutions in December 2013. The ASA's decision to boycott was controversial because it was the first major American scholarly organization to do so. In April 2016, four ASA members aided by the pro-Israeli Brandeis Center sued the ASA, but the lawsuit was dismissed in 2019 when the judge ruled that plaintiffs lacked standing.
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