Israel in international law. Top legal experts address issues related to the Gaza War; the Goldstone Report; universal jurisdiction and libel tourism.
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Draft International Convention for the Prevention of Incitement to Terror
Incitement has become one of the major tactical weapons in the arsenal of certain governments terror organizations and societies in advocating terror, violence and hatred. Read More »
Placing Things in Proportion
“Proportionality” has become a common term, widely used by human rights
organizations, politicians, soldiers and laypersons. But its precise legal
meaning is little understood. NGOs allege that a certain attack was
disproportionate because civilians were killed; military officers retort
that the action was proportional because the enemy fired first. From a legal
standpoint, both claims are inaccurate, and based on irrelevant conceptions
of proportionality. The goal of this paper is not to justify or discredit
the use of proportionality, but rather to clarify its parameters, and
identify the problems confronting attempts to apply it, especially in the
context of military operations. The main claim in this paper is the
following: Proportionality cannot be analyzed as a legal term disconnected
from the institutions that apply it. Proportionality may be understood only
in the context of its application by the courts. This paper was presented at
the conference Sixty Years Since the Adoption of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights and Genocide Convention: Evaluating the Record, at Bar Ilan
University on December 10, 2008. Read More »
Gaza Fact-Finding Mission: Responses to the Goldstone Report
On September 15, 2009, the Gaza Fact-Finding Mission, headed by Justice Goldstone, released a 575-page report in which it analyzed the military actions during Operation Cast Lead, also known as the Israel-Gaza war of December-January 2008-2009. The report has been criticized as being one-sided, out of context, and unprofessional. Presented here are studies which address both the report and Israeli actions in Gaza. In addition, critical, introspective editorials and selected news articles are offered.
Israel’s Blockade Stands the Test of International Law
What does international law have to say about blockades against rogue enterprises? Read More »
Why Are the Palestinians Opposed to Ending the Occupation?
Foreign Minister Lieberman’s plan to assist the Gaza Strip in becoming an independent entity has encountered wall-to-wall Palestinian opposition. The dual-headed Palestinian regime in Ramallah (Fatah) and in the Gaza Strip (Hamas) totally rejects Lieberman’s proposal to recruit the European ... Read More »
Analysis: The Blockade on Gaza
Israel, as a democratic State, looks for legal tools to curb such smuggling and respond to Hamas’ terrorist attacks against its citizens. One of the tools available under international law is the maritime blockade. Israel, finding itself in a state of armed conflict with Hamas, has opted to employ this legal measure. Read More »
New Revelations About the UN Goldstone Report that Seriously Undermine its Credibility
Col. (ret.) Desmond Travers, the Goldstone Commission’s military expert, displayed a fundamental bias against the Israel Defense Forces, reported false information about IDF weapons systems, claimed that Hamas fired only two rockets at Israel prior to last winter’s conflict, and displayed a clear lack of professionalism in conducting his investigations. Read More »
Amnesia International: Forgetting the Real Culprits in Gaza
Amnesty International (AI) in its briefing paper titled “Suffocating: The Gaza Strip Under Israeli Blockade”1 asserts that Gazans are suffering enormously under the so-called blockade. These assertions obscure the true nature of the relationship between Israel and Gaza. First and foremost, thousands of Hamas rocket, missile and mortar attacks predated and prompted any economic sanctions put into effect by Israel.2 Despite this fact, as a recent Ministry of Defense report indicates, the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza increased by almost 900 percent in 2009 as compared to 2008.3 Despite that, Israel’s perennial critics, such as AI, have become increasingly vocal. As will be demonstrated below, flogging the purportedly dire humanitarian situation distorts the overall picture of Gaza and forgets the actual cause for the clearly less-than-optimal circumstances in which Gazans live. Read More »
Reasons Not to Join the International Criminal Court in The Hague
There has been talk recently about the possibility of Israel joining the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Unfortunately taking such a step could harm Israel more than benefit it. Read More »
Letter to Richard Goldstone
In a nutshell, your Report is a deeply flawed document that is not only unbalanced and inflammatory, but reflects a procedurally deficient rush to judgment incapable producing any meaningful findings, least of all charges as grave, politically loaded and emotionally laden as those of “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity”. Read More »
Turning a Blind Eye to Hamas War Crimes
On August 14, 2009, “police” forces belonging to the Hamas de-facto administration and the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, its military-terrorist wing, attacked the Ibn Taymmiyah mosque in Rafah, where operatives of the Jund Ansar Allah group (affiliated ideologically with Al-Qaeda) were located. Twenty-eight Palestinians were killed in the attack, at least 100 were wounded, and the mosque suffered heavy damages. Read More »
Soldiers’ Testimonies to “Breaking the Silence”:
Was It Really Like This?
The public debate about anonymous soldiers’ testimonies to the Breaking the Silence (Shovrim Shtika) organization shows how rarely those testimonies were read in full. The testimonies indicate a state of preparedness for warfare which is different from the ongoing security situation in the territories as part of the Second Lebanese War; they bear witness to the IDF fighting ethic and also include claims (as distinct from hearsay) of a suspected breach of the laws of armed conflict in a number of isolated, localized events which did not originate from orders issued by senior command ranks, and which require in-depth investigation by the IDF. Read More »
Hamas, The Gaza War And Accountability Under International Law
Address to Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Joint International Conference, International Law and Military Operations in Practice Read More »
