Orde F. Kittrie’s book Lawfare is an exhaustive study of innovative financial and legal actions that can influence a change in the behavior of rogue regimes (think Iran’s ayatollahs and Hamas, to name but two). For Israeli readers – and those on the front lines of combating terrorism – the book is required reading.
The term “lawfare” was coined by Charles Dunlap Jr. in a 2001 essay: “The use of law as a weapon of war is the newest feature of 21st century combat.” His corollary lawfare definition is “Lawfare describes a method of warfare where law is used as a means of realizing a military objective.”
Kittrie, a law professor at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, contributes to – and advances – Dunlap’s framework to include the growing might of economic and bank-based pressure-point strategies. In his chapter on “Israeli Offensive Lawfare,” Kittrie vividly dissects the successful one-two punch of Shurat HaDin to stop a second Gaza flotilla on its way to challenge Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip in 2011.
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