WORKING GROUP

Washington University School of Law Alumni (including an international war crimes investigator) with diverse political backgrounds started Gaza Passage to attract like-minded group of international attorneys who share the single goal of helping non-combatants leave Gaza to avoid a humanitarian crisis during the war (October 2023). The Working Group includes:

American conservatives and liberals, African Americans and Jews. It has expanded to include International attorneys, liaisons to both the Israeli and American governments, and outreach resources. 

DR. ISAAC AMON, JD, LLM, JSD

Dr. Amon is an international legal scholar with significant experience as a war crimes investigator. He has experience working at the United Nations and served as a Legal Atrocity Crimes Investigator for an NGO from 2019-2021. In 2023, Dr. Amon earned Missouri Bar Foundation’s W. Oliver Rasch Award for best legal writing. (LinkedIn bio.)

Dr. Amon has earned three law degrees from Washington Unversity School of Law where he serves as an Adjunct Professor of Law. He is the current Director of Academic Research & Program Development at the Jewish Heritage Alliance.

ERIELLE DAVIDSON

Erielle Davidson is an Associate at Holtzman Vogel in Washington, D.c. Prior to joining the firm, she clerked for the Hon. Steven Menashi on Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Ms. Davidson brings to GazaPassage her past experience as the Associate Director of the Center for the Middle East and International Law at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia School of Law. 

Ms Davidson served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Law and Public Policy at Georgetown Law where she earned her Juris Doctor. She majored in Russian at Middlebury College prior to law school.

Ms. Davidson is an active political writer in US publications (@politicalelle).

PAT ECKLER

Donald “Pat” Eckler is an attorney and legal commentator based out of Chicago, Illinois. His legal accomplishments include: Partner at Freeman, Mathis, & Gary, LLP, Secretary/Treasurer of Illinois Defense Counsel, Member of DRI Taskforce on TPLF, and Co-host of Podium and Panel Podcast.

Mr. Eckler is widely known as having a prodigious knowledge of civil procedure which he shares regularly with his network. 

Mr. Eckler is a former college basketball coach and has earned degrees from the University of Chicago and the University of Florida. (LinkedIn Bio.)

ADAM FLOREK

Adam Florek is a litigator based out of Chicago. He is Of Counsel at at nationwide firm Peiffer Wolf Carr Kane Conway & Wise (with office in St. Louis). Mr. Florek’s practice is focused on all types of civil, commercial, and class litigation. After law school, he clerked for the Hon. Charles R. Norgle at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and Hon. William J. Bauer at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Mr. Florek received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Illinois Chicago’s John Marshall Law School where he was the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law. (LinkedIn bio.)

JEROME MARCUS

Jerome Marcus is a litigator based in Philadelphia and the President of The Deborah Project, a public interest law firm helping people affected by anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism on American university campuses. He is also a fellow at the Kohelet Policy Forum where his work relates to the law of war and Israel’s policies on that topic. Mr. Marcus is a former United States federal prosecutor.

He has earned three degrees from the University of Chicago – undergraduate, business, and law. (LinkedIn bio).

ANTONIO VALIENTE

Antonio Valiente serves as Director and Deputy General Counsel for all of Latin America of International Payments Innovator Athena Bitcoin Global. Mr. Valiente formerly served as General Counsel of Wal Mart Inc. (Puerto Rico). He resides in Puerto Rico where he serves as country manager of LocalCounseled and his own law firm conducting financial arbitrations. He has served international corporations as counsel for 25 years.

Mr. Valiente attended Fordham University and earned his JD from Inter American University School of Law, for both Common and Civil Law. (LinkedIn bio).

EDWARD "COACH" WEINHAUS

Coach is Contemporary Jewish Issues Commentator, Professor, and Academic having taught at the nation’s top universities including University of Chicago, Washington University, and UCLA. He currently teaches at Yeshiva University in New York. Coach serves as Special Media Advisor to the Chair of the Knesset’s Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee. Coach’s international background includes earning two European degrees, living abroad in three different countries, and overseeing implementation of bitcoin as legal tender for the only country to do so. (Fuller bio.)

Coach has earned five degrees, including two law degress from Washington University, where he is pursuing his doctorate.