Leah Tsemel

Leah Tsemel, or Lea Tsemel (Hebrew: לאה צמל‎‎), is an Israeli lawyer known for her work in support of Palestinian rights.

Tsemel was born in Haifa, Israel in 1945. She studied law at Hebrew University in the late 1960s. She is married to anti-Zionist activist Michel Warschawski, and they have two children.

In 1971, Tsemel became an apprentice to human rights lawyer Felicia Langer.

Tsemel represented activist Ezra Nawi. An Israeli settler claimed Nawi hindered the settler from filming Nawi's assistance of Palestinians, and Nawi was convicted and fined. On appeal, Tsemel successfully argued that the area the Palestinians were farming did not belong to the settler. Nawi's conviction was overturned.

Tsemel represented student Salah Hamouri after he was indicted on two counts: for planning to assassinate rabbi Ovadia Yosef and for being a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. She advised Hamouri to plead guilty to the latter in exchange for a lighter sentence.

Tsemel is "nondiscriminating about her clientele...whoever they might be and whatever charges they might face" and is known for defending suicide bombers.

Tsemel criticized Camp 1391, an Israel Defense Forces prison camp for "high-risk" prisoners in northern Israel, stating, "anyone entering the prison can be made to disappear, potentially forever, it's no different from the jails run by tinpot South American dictators." Tsemel was a participant in the Russell Tribunal on Palestine.

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