|
Trending Topics
|
Source: https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-pornography-of-legal-outrage/
How International Humanitarian Law Is Being Manipulated
(Times of Israel) Catherine Perez-Shakdam - International humanitarian law exists precisely because combatants often exploit civilians to shield themselves from retaliation. The prohibition against human shields is not decorative language. It is a recognition of an ugly truth: that some belligerents deliberately transform civilian proximity into a defensive weapon. Hamas has refined this practice into an art form. Its tunnels run beneath apartment buildings. Its command structures burrow beneath hospitals. Its weapons caches hide among homes, schools, and mosques. This is not accidental. It is doctrine. Genocide is not defined by the presence of civilian deaths. It is defined by intent - the demonstrable, deliberate intent to destroy a people as such. This standard exists for a reason. Without it, the term collapses into meaninglessness. Israel possesses the capability to annihilate Gaza's population. Yet Gaza's population continues to exist. Its growth over decades is documented. Its survival, even amid war, is evident. The accusation of genocide therefore rests not upon demonstrable extermination, but upon speculative interpretation. Democracies with functioning courts, investigative journalism, and internal dissent are subjected to relentless scrutiny. Meanwhile, regimes that operate beyond the reach of accountability are condemned in principle but pursued with noticeably less fervor. The more transparent a state is, the more vulnerable it becomes to legal and moral prosecution. The more opaque and tyrannical a regime, the less susceptible it is to sustained outrage. There is, in certain quarters, an unmistakable appetite for Israeli culpability - a readiness, even an eagerness, to interpret every military action through the lens of criminality. Israel, as a democratic state engaged in asymmetrical warfare, presents the perfect object upon which to project outrage. Terrorist organizations offer no such opportunities. They do not submit themselves to inquiry. They simply kill. It is therefore easier, and safer, to prosecute Israel in the court of public opinion than to confront those who oppose it. International humanitarian law is being manipulated - it is being transformed from a universal standard into a selective weapon. The writer is an associate scholar at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.