The Virginia State Bar will not reconsider holding its seminar in Jerusalem this year, the group’s president said Monday, despite an international outcry earlier this month after canceling the trip following pressure from anti-Israel activists.
VSB president Kevin Martingayle, who has faced a deluge of criticism from pro-Israel groups after scrapping the state agency’s upcoming conference in Jerusalem, said there would be no seminar trip at all this year.
Martingayle initially cited Israel’s "unacceptable discriminatory policies" as a reason for the cancellation, but later said the decision was due to low interest.
He told the Washington Free Beacon that the VSB would not reinstate the Israel visit, despite calls from pro-Israel groups, outraged VSB members, and the speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates.
Martingayle said other groups of attorneys were welcome to contact the VSB’s travel agent and take over the plans for the trip, which have not been completely discarded.
"[I]f any group of lawyers wants to take over what was planned and try to make it a go, it can be done," he said. "Perhaps some of the folks upset with our decision will choose to revive the plans."
Forty anti-Israel groups involved in the boycott, divestment, and sanctions [BDS] movement praised the VSB last week for pulling out of the visit and "reaffirm[ing] its commitment to the principles of equality enshrined in U.S. law."
The trip was canceled just hours after an anonymous group called "Concerned Members of the Virginia State Bar" sent an open letter to the bar’s council members, claiming that "Israel employs discriminatory entry and exit policies" and arguing that some members might be barred from entering the country.
The letter was signed by 39 VSB members, including Virginia lawyer Ashraf Nubani.
Nubani, who has represented Hamas leaders and a charity that was designated by the U.S. Treasury Department for aiding al Qaeda, told the Free Beacon he was "greatly encouraged" by the VSB’s decision to cancel the trip.
"It is a reflection of changing times," he said. "Hopefully through this incident the VSB will come to learn that civil freedoms and principles of fairness outweigh political alliances."
When the Free Beacon attempted to verify his clients by email, Nubani asked whether the reporter asking for the information was Jewish and explained that he was "wondering if this is an attempt to detract from the news story based on whom I may have represented."
He also quoted Bob Dylan’s 1964 song "The Times They Are a-Changin’."
Martingayle, a long-time Democratic donor, denied that politics played a role in the decision. He has contributed $7,400 to exclusively Democratic candidates since 2000, according to state and federal records.
"[N]o political disputes played any role in our action," said Martingayle. "Again, we are apolitical and acted that way in this instance too."
Martingayle initially cited Israel’s "unacceptable discriminatory policies" for the decision, and said some Virginia State Bar members might not be allowed into the country.
Amid criticism from supporters of Israel, Martingayle and the VSB’s president-elect Edward Weiner issued a second statement that blamed low member participation.
Martingayle and Weiner said the group was "well short of the required number of confirmed attendees necessary for the trip to proceed."
"Unfortunately, some mischaracterized this decision as anti-Israel and anti-Semitic, even going so far as to mislabel it as a ‘boycott,’" said the statement. "Our decision was not based on any political factors or influences."
However, Israel supporters said the VSB’s decision and initial statement would help bolster the BDS movement.
"The Bar’s decision to single out Israel, whether intentional or not, provides comfort and a rallying cry for supporters of BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions), whose entire movement is based on the international delegitimization of Israel," said the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington.
Professor William Jacobson, an attorney who runs the Legal Insurrection blog, wrote that the move "has enormous propaganda implications, as cancelling conferences to be held in Israel is a main goal of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement."