Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs (JCFA)

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Placing Things in Proportion

January 12, 2012 | Dr. Amichai Cohen

"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.

Gaza Fact-Finding Mission: Responses to the Goldstone Report

October 4, 2011

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

October 6, 2010 | Irit Kohn

What does international law have to say about blockades against rogue enterprises?

Precision-Guided or Indiscriminate?

August 23, 2010 | Asher Fredman

Why Are the Palestinians Opposed to Ending the Occupation?

July 22, 2010 | Lt. Col. (ret.) Jonathan D. Halevi

Analysis: The Blockade on Gaza

June 24, 2010 | Irit Kohn

Reasons Not to Join the International Criminal Court in The Hague

January 10, 2010 | Amb. Alan Baker

Soldiers’ Testimonies to “Breaking the Silence”:
Was It Really Like This?

July 26, 2009 | Lt. Col. (ret.) Jonathan D. Halevi

Opening Remarks

June 18, 2009 | Dr. Lars Hansel

Piracy and International Law

February 8, 2009 | Eugene Kontorovich

International Responses to Territorial Conquest

January 18, 2009

Double Jeopardy and Multiple Sovereigns: A Jurisdictional Theory

January 13, 2009 | Anthony J. Colangelo

Courting Genocide: The Unintended Effects of Humanitarian Intervention

January 12, 2009 | Jide Nzelibe

The ‘Define and Punish’ Clause and Universal Jurisdiction: Recovering the Lost Limits

October 27, 2008 | Eugene Kontorovich