Felicia Langer (born 1930) is an Israeli human rights attorney known for her defense of Palestinians charged with political violations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. She has also authored several books alleging human rights violations on the part of Israeli authorities. In July 2009, German President Horst Köhler awarded her the Federal Cross of Merit, First class. This is the fifth highest of the Germany's federal order of merit's eight ranks.[1]
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Felicia Langer was born in Poland of Jewish parents. Her family emigrated 1939 to Russia, where her father died in one of Stalin's prisons. In 1950 she emigrated to Israel with her husband, Mieciu Langer, a survivor of Nazi concentration camps. In 1965 she obtained a law degree from Hebrew University. She briefly worked for a Tel Aviv law firm, until after the Six-Day War in 1967. She was opposed to the conduct of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, and so established a private practice in Jerusalem defending Palestinian political detainees. Langer assisted Palestinians in cases involving land confiscation, house demolition, deportation, and torture.[2]
While she only infrequently won cases in her 23-year career, she counts her successful defense in 1979 of Nablus mayor Bassam Shaka as the high point. Shaka had been a PLO supporter and outspoken critic of the Camp David accords, and was subsequently accused of inciting terrorism by his public statements and issued an expulsion order. Langer defended him successfully, having the expulsion order overturned.[3] For many years Langer was vice president of the Israeli League for Human and Civil Rights. She was also a member of a communist party Rakah.[4]
In 1990, Langer ended her law practice and left Israel to live in Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, accepting a teaching position at university. In an interview with the Washington Post, Langer said she is quitting because Palestinians no longer can expect justice in Israel.[5] In Germany she continues to author books and be an outspoken advocate of the Palestinian cause.
In 1990, Langer received the Right Livelihood Award "for the exemplary courage of her struggle for the basic rights of the Palestinian people."[6] In 1991, she was awarded the Bruno Kreisky Award for Outstanding Achievements in the Area of Human Rights.[7] In 2005, Langer was awarded the "Erich Mühsam Prize" for her continuing struggle for the human rights of Palestinian people.[8]
Langer was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit, First class, by the President of Germany Horst Köhler following the nomination by the government of Baden-Württemberg, itself based on suggestions by Evelyn Hecht-Galinski and the city of Tübingen. At the award ceremony, on 16 July 2009 in Stuttgart, the decoration was bestowed by Hubert Wicker, a senior civil servant of Baden Württembergs chancellery. The official award acknowledges a lifetime effort of Langer for peace, justice and human rights.[9]
The decision to award the Federal Cross of Merit to Langer has been criticized, among others, by several prominent German Jews, Jewish and pro-Israel organizations. Federal Cross of Merit holder Ralph Giordano said: "No one in the last 25 years, with a one-sidedness bordering on blindness, has done Israel more damage than this supposed human-rights lawyer."[10] Other Federal Cross of Merit holders as Giordano, Motke Shomrat, Arno Lustiger and Arno Hamburger, announced their intent to return their awards if Langer's award is not withdrawn.[11]
Dieter Graumann, vice president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said that Langer was a "militant and fanatical hater of Israel."[12] The American Jewish Committee wrote a letter to Köhler condemning the award. The letter expresses an "astonishment at the decision to honor an individual who for many years was an apologist for a regime which brought untold fear and misery upon the citizens of eastern Germany", and refers to her membership of the Israeli Communist Party.[13]
A sharp critisim in German newspapers was mentioned by the spokesman of the Israeli ministry of foreign affairs Yigal Palmor. He said that Langer had a long track of supporting forces in benefit of violence, death and extremism.[14]
As a result of the criticism, and in response to his return of the award, Dr. Gert Haller, the highest ranking state secretary in the office of the President of Germany, Horst Köhler, wrote a letter to Arno Hamburger saying that the grievance caused by the awarding was "terribly unfortunate." After requests by Hamburger he stated there was no legal basis to withdraw the award.[15][16][17]
Several elected officials, including the Mayor of Tübingen Boris Palmer and representatives of the Government of Baden Württemberg, underlined their support for the award.[18]
Langer's books discuss the torture of detainees, routine violation of international law prohibiting deportation, as well as collective punishment.