In today's Baltimore Sun George Bisharat urges the Obama Administration to support the UN war crimes investigation into the war in Gaza. He argues this is not only important in terms of holding Israel accountable for that war, but to save the idea of international law itself. From the article "A step toward ending Israel's impunity":
Such elastic definitions of "combatants" defy well-settled
international law. Yet Daniel Reisner, the former head of the
International Law Division of the Israeli Military Advocate General,
recently claimed: "If you do something for long enough, the world will
accept it. The whole of international law is now based on the notion
that an act that is forbidden today becomes permissible if executed by
enough countries … International law progresses through violations.". . .
Israel's attempted legal innovations are simply bad for humanity, and
our response to them should be: "No thanks." For too long we have
indulged that country, bestowing it $3 billion annually in military aid
since 1973 and repeatedly vetoing resolutions in the U.N. Security
Council holding Israel accountable for its serial violations of
international law.Times are changing, and our policies must
now change as well. The Obama administration should back the Goldstone
mission in word and in deed. The United Nations Human Rights Council,
which appointed Mr. Goldstone, is often derided by Israel's defenders
for its focus on Israeli human rights abuses. In fact, that relatively
toothless body would have little role in this issue were the Security
Council not so derelict – because of U.S. obstructionism – in its
duties. Mr. Goldstone (who happens to be Jewish, and has ties to
Israel) holds impeccable credentials and repute for great personal
integrity. He is the right person to start salvaging international law
from the damage it has suffered in recent years.International law protects weak and strong alike, and we ignore its continuing abuse at our peril.
Also, check out this interesting profile of Richard Goldstone from the Los Angeles Times.
