Israeli lawyer fights legal battles on behalf of Palestinians

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Europe

02:39

Almost six thousand Palestinians are currently detained in Israeli prisons, most are charged with "security-related offenses," and conviction rates hover around 95 percent. Lawyers who take on Palestinian cases go up against a system of occupation that's considered illegal by international law.

However, Gaby Lasky, an Israeli lawyer who fights some of the toughest legal battles on behalf of Palestinian clients, says it's her moral obligation.

It was the slap and kick that went viral. And landed Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi in Israeli military prison for eight months while some Israeli ministers were calling for a life sentence. Gaby Lasky secured the lesser sentence. She has been representing Palestinians in Israeli courts for twenty years.

Lasky said, "Who I am (make me) cannot sit with her feet up and say: 'okay, it'll pass,' or I can just try and make my small life better because it won't be. What we need actually is that both sides see the other side. And that's the only way that I believe we'll be able to end the occupation, understand each other.”

She's one of only a few dozen Israeli human rights attorneys who take on Palestinian cases in an effort to influence a policy change.

Mohammed Khatib, another client of Lasky, is also an attorney and an activist. He's up for indictment on charges of assaulting a soldier, participating in a non-approved march and obstructing justice.

In cases against Palestinians, charges tend to be general. For example, passive resistance is always termed "assault."

Lasky, a former Israeli army officer, today is considered a traitor by many Israelis. She said she is dancing with the wolves and has gotten threats, but she doesn't back down.

"Every human being has the obligation to try and make the world a better place for all of us. And it is because all the good people keep silent that the world looks like it does today" she said.

Lasky admits she cries, but the conviction that she's doing the right thing for Israel and Israelis keeps her showing up in court day after day.