The Virginia State Bar’s office is in the Bank of America Center at 1111 E. Main St.
The Virginia State Bar has come under fire for citing “discriminatory policies” by Israel border security as a reason for cancelling a seminar in Jerusalem.
The agency had planned to hold its midyear legal seminar in Jerusalem in November. But in a message sent to bar members last Friday, President Kevin Martingayle said the trip was being cancelled after “certain members of the Virginia State Bar and other individuals” had expressed objections to the trip. The state bar has more than 48,000 members.
“It was stated there are some unacceptable discriminatory policies and practices pertaining to border security that affect travelers to the nation,” the message stated. “Upon review of U.S. State Department advisories and other research, and after consultation with our leaders, it has been determined that there is enough legitimate concern to warrant cancellation of the Israel trip and exploration of alternative locations.”
That prompted criticism from David Bernstein, a professor at the George Mason University School of Law in Arlington, who denounced the decision in a Washington Post blog. The headline for that post read: “Virginia State Bar boycotts Israel.”
The Post subsequently picked up the story. The decision also drew rebuke from the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond.
In a release issued Monday, the federation said it “denounces the Virginia State Bar’s (VSB) decision last Friday to cancel its Jerusalem legal seminar citing ‘discriminatory’ practices and intimating Israel’s visitor-entry procedures may be racially or religiously biased.”
The statement goes on to say that the VSB’s claims of concern over security protocols that may exclude or restrict some members are erroneous. The federation and its advocacy arm, the Jewish Community Relations Committee, “dispute this assumption and object to VSB’s policy that stems from this error.”
In a letter to the bar that accompanied the release, Jewish Community Federation committee chairwoman Frances Goldman and president Richard Samet maintained that Israel “denies admission to its country based only on legitimate, documented security threats.”
“As with all countries,” the letter states, “Israel needs to take care that visitors to its country do not pose a security threat while traveling there. Yet, since 2009 more than 250,000 Arab and Muslim visitors have lawfully visited Israel. While Israel may turn away visitors it determines to be security threats, so do Great Britain, France, and Italy, all places where VSB members have travelled as part of VSB sponsored trips.”
Before the cancellation announcement, a petition was circulated that said, “by holding this year’s Seminar in Israel, the VSB accepts discriminatory practices and policies against Arab, Muslim, and Palestinian members of the VSB on the basis of their race, religion, and national origin, effectively preventing these members from attending.”
The state bar issued a statement on Sunday maintaining that its decision was based primarily on a U.S. State Department advisory that warns of a complex security environment and continuing risks of travel in the Israel, West Bank and Gaza areas.
The statement emphasized the state bar’s decision “was not a political decision and is not a ‘boycott,’” and said the agency does not discriminate against any religion.
Irv Blank, a Richmond attorney and a past president of the state bar, said the use of the word “boycott” misrepresented the bar’s decision.
“The use of the word ‘boycott’ by the Washington Post was like pouring gasoline on a match,” he said, “and it lit this thing up worldwide in a way that no one with the Virginia State Bar ever dreamed would happen.”
A call to the state bar for comment was referred to Blank, who prefaced his comments by saying he was not speaking for the bar.
“The objection that people who are identified by the Israeli government as being a security risk could be detained for interrogation or in fact denied entry into the country — the suggestion that that is discriminatory against a whole class of people is absurd,” Blank said. “It is what every country does. And in Israel’s case, they just happen to do it better, and they happen to have to do it better.
“I’m embarrassed that this label has been attached to the state bar, which I love dearly,” he said, “and the disinformation about Israel which was disseminated by those who petitioned to stop the trip.”
Blank, who said he served on the trip’s planning committee, said the cancellation was due not only to the travel advisory but also to a lack of participants — a point made in the state bar’s statement on Sunday. Blank said the trip required at least 60 participants to sign up by this Wednesday. As of Friday, he said, just more than 20 had done so.
Blank noted Israeli companies’ contributions to the state economy, aided in large part by the Virginia Israel Advisory Board, which reported 172 new jobs added as a result of its efforts last fiscal year. The board’s annual report said those jobs represent additional tax revenue to the state of $573,620.
The board also reports its efforts have added 1,810 jobs to the state’s workforce since fiscal year 2000, and it projects recent activities will add another 740 jobs over the next three years.
In his comments, Blank also mentioned the BDS movement, a campaign of “boycotts, divestment and sanctions” against Israel supported by a coalition called the Palestinian BDS National Committee.
“The state bar will be labeled a participant in the BDS movement, none of which was ever considered, none of which was true,” Blank said.
It’s part of the ongoing war for the right of the State of Israel to exist as a Jewish state,” he said. “And unfortunately, the state bar got sucked into it unwittingly. I’m not sure how they’ll get out of it, except by time.”
The Virginia State Bar’s office is in the Bank of America Center at 1111 E. Main St.
The Virginia State Bar has come under fire for citing “discriminatory policies” by Israel border security as a reason for cancelling a seminar in Jerusalem.
The agency had planned to hold its midyear legal seminar in Jerusalem in November. But in a message sent to bar members last Friday, President Kevin Martingayle said the trip was being cancelled after “certain members of the Virginia State Bar and other individuals” had expressed objections to the trip. The state bar has more than 48,000 members.
“It was stated there are some unacceptable discriminatory policies and practices pertaining to border security that affect travelers to the nation,” the message stated. “Upon review of U.S. State Department advisories and other research, and after consultation with our leaders, it has been determined that there is enough legitimate concern to warrant cancellation of the Israel trip and exploration of alternative locations.”
That prompted criticism from David Bernstein, a professor at the George Mason University School of Law in Arlington, who denounced the decision in a Washington Post blog. The headline for that post read: “Virginia State Bar boycotts Israel.”
The Post subsequently picked up the story. The decision also drew rebuke from the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond.
In a release issued Monday, the federation said it “denounces the Virginia State Bar’s (VSB) decision last Friday to cancel its Jerusalem legal seminar citing ‘discriminatory’ practices and intimating Israel’s visitor-entry procedures may be racially or religiously biased.”
The statement goes on to say that the VSB’s claims of concern over security protocols that may exclude or restrict some members are erroneous. The federation and its advocacy arm, the Jewish Community Relations Committee, “dispute this assumption and object to VSB’s policy that stems from this error.”
In a letter to the bar that accompanied the release, Jewish Community Federation committee chairwoman Frances Goldman and president Richard Samet maintained that Israel “denies admission to its country based only on legitimate, documented security threats.”
“As with all countries,” the letter states, “Israel needs to take care that visitors to its country do not pose a security threat while traveling there. Yet, since 2009 more than 250,000 Arab and Muslim visitors have lawfully visited Israel. While Israel may turn away visitors it determines to be security threats, so do Great Britain, France, and Italy, all places where VSB members have travelled as part of VSB sponsored trips.”
Before the cancellation announcement, a petition was circulated that said, “by holding this year’s Seminar in Israel, the VSB accepts discriminatory practices and policies against Arab, Muslim, and Palestinian members of the VSB on the basis of their race, religion, and national origin, effectively preventing these members from attending.”
The state bar issued a statement on Sunday maintaining that its decision was based primarily on a U.S. State Department advisory that warns of a complex security environment and continuing risks of travel in the Israel, West Bank and Gaza areas.
The statement emphasized the state bar’s decision “was not a political decision and is not a ‘boycott,’” and said the agency does not discriminate against any religion.
Irv Blank, a Richmond attorney and a past president of the state bar, said the use of the word “boycott” misrepresented the bar’s decision.
“The use of the word ‘boycott’ by the Washington Post was like pouring gasoline on a match,” he said, “and it lit this thing up worldwide in a way that no one with the Virginia State Bar ever dreamed would happen.”
A call to the state bar for comment was referred to Blank, who prefaced his comments by saying he was not speaking for the bar.
“The objection that people who are identified by the Israeli government as being a security risk could be detained for interrogation or in fact denied entry into the country — the suggestion that that is discriminatory against a whole class of people is absurd,” Blank said. “It is what every country does. And in Israel’s case, they just happen to do it better, and they happen to have to do it better.
“I’m embarrassed that this label has been attached to the state bar, which I love dearly,” he said, “and the disinformation about Israel which was disseminated by those who petitioned to stop the trip.”
Blank, who said he served on the trip’s planning committee, said the cancellation was due not only to the travel advisory but also to a lack of participants — a point made in the state bar’s statement on Sunday. Blank said the trip required at least 60 participants to sign up by this Wednesday. As of Friday, he said, just more than 20 had done so.
Blank noted Israeli companies’ contributions to the state economy, aided in large part by the Virginia Israel Advisory Board, which reported 172 new jobs added as a result of its efforts last fiscal year. The board’s annual report said those jobs represent additional tax revenue to the state of $573,620.
The board also reports its efforts have added 1,810 jobs to the state’s workforce since fiscal year 2000, and it projects recent activities will add another 740 jobs over the next three years.
In his comments, Blank also mentioned the BDS movement, a campaign of “boycotts, divestment and sanctions” against Israel supported by a coalition called the Palestinian BDS National Committee.
“The state bar will be labeled a participant in the BDS movement, none of which was ever considered, none of which was true,” Blank said.
It’s part of the ongoing war for the right of the State of Israel to exist as a Jewish state,” he said. “And unfortunately, the state bar got sucked into it unwittingly. I’m not sure how they’ll get out of it, except by time.”
Thank you, BizSense, for having the conviction to report this story, as the Times Dispatch did not seem to think necessary. As a law student who desires nothing more than to work in the Commonwealth, the decision of the VSB was shocking and hurtful. That it would send a letter to its constituents accusing Israel of discriminatory border policy when our own government is accused of the same every single day, is absurd. This was inartfully done and a big mistake by the bar.