War Crimes and Fig Leaves: Litigating Human Rights in Israeli Courts
Talk and Conversation

Since October 2023, a legal avalanche has toppled Israel’s international standing. The country’s High Court of Justice was for many decades entrusted with articulating the scope of permissible behavior under domestic and international law and with shaping the lives of Palestinians and Israelis. But the war on Gaza has prompted international legal bodies to step in and issue new injunctions, advisory opinions, and arrest warrants aimed at upholding core norms of international law against Israel’s actions. What explains this change of attitude toward the country’s legal system and its ability to address human rights violations? A historical reassessment of many decades of constitutional and human rights litigation in Israeli courts traces the roots of their recent fall from grace to a series of concrete failures.

Michael Sfard is an Israeli human rights lawyer specializing in international human rights law and the laws of war, with a special emphasis on the law of belligerent occupation. He serves as the legal adviser to several Israeli human rights and humanitarian organizations as well as peace groups, including Yesh Din, Breaking the Silence, and Peace Now. He also represents Palestinian communities as well as Israeli and Palestinian activists and advises international human rights and humanitarian NGOs. He frequently publishes opinion pieces in the Israeli and international press and serves as commissioner in the International Commission of Jurists. His most recent book, The Wall and the Gate: Israel, Palestine and the Legal Battle for Human Rights, was published in 2018.

Featuring a musical performance by Barenboim-Said Akademie student Alpay Jan İnkilap

Presented in English