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Israel's Contribution to the Modern Evolution of International Law

(Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Amb. Alan Baker - Even before the establishment of the Israeli state, Jewish and Israeli international lawyers and experts participated in the drafting of the Genocide Convention and relevant international resolutions. In the aftermath of World War II, Israel was one of the few founding countries that initiated and developed the idea of a permanent international criminal court to deal with genocide and crimes against humanity. Israel actively participated in the drafting of the 1958 international conventions on the laws of the sea and international straits and the subsequent 1982 International Convention on the Law of the Sea. On the basis of Israel's battlefield experience, Israeli legal and military experts participated in the development and codification of the laws of armed conflict and international humanitarian law, including the 1977 Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions, international humanitarian law and human rights instruments, conventional weapons conventions, mine protocols, and non-conventional weapons conventions. Through Israel's battlefield experience, Israel has developed combat techniques to deal with modern-day terror, while at the same time seeking to avoid loss of life by innocent individuals. However, with all that Israel has achieved and contributed to humanity, the same elements of hostility, discrimination, singling-out, and anti-Semitism that have existed since even before Israel's establishment remain a major stumbling block to its total acceptance and acknowledgment in the international community. The writer, director of the Institute for Contemporary Affairs at the Jerusalem Center, served as legal adviser and deputy director-general of Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as Israel's ambassador to Canada.
2018-04-24 00:00:00
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