LAWFARE PROJECT VICTORY! LP Legal Actions Force Shutdown of ALL Kuwait Airways Inter-European Flights

The Lawfare Project has won an extraordinary victory against Kuwait Airways Corporation (KAC) and the Arab League boycott of Israel. A week after Lawfare Project Swiss Counsel Philippe Grumbach filed civil and criminal complaints against KAC in Geneva, the airline has halted all inter-European routes, effective immediately.

All KAC flights between the United States and Europe were previously terminated last December, after the U.S. Department of Transportation determined that the airline was unequivocally operating in violation of federal anti-discrimination laws.

After the filing of the Swiss actions, the airline was put on notice that “other KAC flights in Europe not routed through Kuwait may be targeted for similar complaints.” LP had in fact engaged French counsel Pascal Markowicz and German Counsel Nathan Gelbart for parallel actions, but before they could file in their respective jurisdictions, KAC proactively terminated all of these routes to avoid further civil and criminal charges. The airline was obviously aware of its acute vulnerability to judicial findings of illegality and the levying of crippling associated penalties.

By cancelling these lucrative flight paths rather than admitting Israelis on KAC flights, the airline–a wholly owned instrumentality of the Kuwaiti government–is demonstrating its commitment to discrimination even while exposing itself to enormous pecuniary loss.

Ironically, the Arab League boycott of Israel was instituted with the stated goal of delegitimizing and bankrupting the Jewish state. This victory sends a loud and clear message to Arab League governments and corporations that the legal and financial risks of refusing to deal with Israelis will be disproportionately painful for the boycotters. The Jewish state and its businesses and people will continue to thrive; It is those choosing discrimination over profits and the Arab League over international operations who will face the threat of insolvency.

National origin discrimination has no place in global commerce, and these practices will be prosecuted and penalized whenever and wherever they are attempted in the Western world. The Lawfare Project will proudly leverage this critical precedent in our continuing offensive against the Arab League boycott and its progeny, the BDS movement.