International Legal Forum (ILF)

History and Activities

The International Legal Forum is an Israel-based non-governmental organization that operates as a network of Zionist lawyers and activists. ILF claims to have 4,000 lawyers and activists in its network in 40 countries who collectively attempt to use the law to fight terrorism, antisemitism, and the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement. ¹

ILF has been active in advancing legal claims against Hamas following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel. Following October 7, ILF submitted international war crimes claims against Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, and Iran, and filed lawsuits against Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) for harassing Jewish students on campus. It also sued UNRWA USA in the United States on behalf of October 7 survivors for UNRWA’s alleged complicity in the terrorist attacks, sued a cryptocurrency company for allowing its platform to be used by Hamas, and defended Israel and the Israel Defense Forces in the Hauge against accusations of genocide in Gaza. ²

Before the October 7 attack, ILF claimed to have run legal campaigns against Airbnb to end its boycott of Israel, filed legal proceedings against the University of California, Berkeley School of Law for its exclusion of Zionist speakers, and defended Israel against allegations from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch that Israel has erected an apartheid system against the Palestinians. ²

In September 2025, ILF CEO Arsen Ostrovsky wrote an op-ed in the Telegraph supporting Israel’s controversial decision to launch an air strike against Qatar without informing the United States, saying “just as the United States were [sic] right to take out bin Laden in Pakistan, so too was Israel absolutely justified under international law to target Hamas leaders in Doha.” ³

Additionally, ILF has a reporting service where those who have allegedly experienced antisemitism can request legal support. ⁴

People

The chief executive officer of the International Legal Forum is Arsen Ostrovsky. Ostrovsky is also a senior fellow at the Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy (Misgav), sits on the advisory board for Sharaka, freelances as a human rights lawyer, and is a columnist at Newsweek. Previously, he was the Israel affairs director of the Zionist Council of New South Wales in Australia, the executive director of the Israel-Jewish Congress (IJC), a research fellow at the Hudson Institute, and a policy analyst at the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC). ^{5 6}

The founder of ILF is Yifa Segal. Segal is the managing director of Hetz for Israel, and was previously a chief of staff to the Israeli ambassador to the United States, the director of the International Legal Forum, the joint director of Tazpit News Agency, and an attorney at Shura HaDin Israel Law Center. ^{5 7}

The advisory board of ILF includes John Spencer, the chair of Urban Warfare Studies at West Point; Michal Cotler-Wunsh, Israel’s Special Envoy for Combating Antisemitism; and Meir Ben Shabbat, Israel’s former national security advisor. ⁸

Affiliates

The Zionist Advocacy Center, a for-profit, pro-Israel legal agency, is a registered foreign agent in the United States for the International Legal Forum. ⁹