War Crimes

By Juan Cole The United Nations Security Council is theoretically a sort of sovereign in international law. If it designates a regime like that of Gaddafi in Libya as a threat to international peace, it can deputize the nations of the world to remove it. One major exception to UNSC authority is Israel, which routinely […]

Human Rights

In Palestine, R2P isn’t Dead; It was never on the Table

contributors

By Michael Kearney My response to students’ queries on the matter of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) has generally been that the whole narrative is a bit of a distraction: R2P merely repackages a principle that already existed, namely that states have a moral – and kind of legal – obligation to act in the face […]

Apartheid

Did Israel go too Far? The Massacre at the UN School/ Refugee Center

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole Sharif Abdel Kouddous reports for The Nation from Gaza on the Israeli shelling of a UN school that killed 16 and wounded 200, even though the school’s coordinates had been given to the Israeli military. Despite Israeli water-muddying, there isn’t any doubt that the Israelis struck the school, nor is there any […]

Featured

U.N.: One Child Killed Every Hour in Gaza

contributors

By Juan Cole UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said on Wednesday that Israel’s military actions are responsible for the death of a child every hour in recent days and observed, “Respect for the right to life of civilians, including children, should be a foremost consideration. Not abiding by these principles may amount […]

Apartheid

The World Asks: Is Israel Targeting Civilians in Gaza?

contributors

By Luisa Gandolfo via The Conversation When the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, accused Hamas of using “telegenically dead Palestinians for their cause”, he overlooked an element of the conflict that could not be skewed for the viewing public: the damage to Gaza’s infrastructure. Since the start of Operation Protective Edge 15 days ago, approximately […]

Apartheid

Gaza: Inside Israel’s massacre at al-Shujayeh: “I can’t Believe I Survived”

contributors

By Mohammed Suliman via al-Akhbar “A massacre, a massacre!” were the words my brother, who works as a doctor at Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital, said as he yelled over the phone urging me to come to Gaza’s main hospital immediately. “Come witness the massacre,” he said. At first light, as I readied myself to go to […]