Gaza, Genocide and the Limitations of International Law
I have a new monthly column in World Politics Review. This is the first piece.
In mid-September, a United Nations commission of inquiry concluded that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza. As damning as its report is, however, it is unlikely to lead to international action, as the countries with the power to force Israel to halt its war of collective punishment against Palestinians—most of all, the United States—show no sign of doing so. This is not only because they disagree with the charge of genocide. They can also justify their inaction because of the ambiguities and limitations of international law, including the 1948 Genocide Convention itself that, according to the U.N. commission as well as a growing consensus of scholars and experts, Israel is violating.
This is not to dismiss the 72-page report by the team of independent experts commissioned by the U.N. Human Rights Council, which is meticulous and unequivocal. The commission’s chair, South African jurist Navi Pillay, was a judge on the Internationa…
