[Jerusalem Post ] Ruthie Blum - 'Everyone is entitled to a political point of view," says Prof. Avi Bell, head of the International Law Forum at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, established in January with the help of the Legacy Heritage Foundation. "The trouble is that so many people these days - including experts - tend to confuse their opinion on what is moral with what is legal." According to Bell, "Attitudes toward Israel serve as a perfect example of groupthink having replacing critical examination." The International Law Forum was established to set the record straight by providing accurate information and "get people to understand international law in general - what it is, what it isn't, what it can do and what it can't." "For some reason, whenever discussions on the 'war on terror' emerge, no one ever discusses the body of international law that requires combating terrorism. They will discuss civil rights, which is important, and the laws of war, which are also important. But they won't discuss the law of terrorism." "There are interesting issues relating to the Genocide Convention that are very relevant in this region, where there are leaders who actually talk about real programs to carry out real genocide." "Human Rights Watch says that Israel is engaging in collective punishment in Gaza by not supplying fuel and other goods. But there's never been an instance in history of an individual or state's being prosecuted for committing the war crime of collective punishment just for carrying out economic sanctions....This kind of charge has little or nothing to do with the legalities of the issues." "Does collective punishment mean anything that sounds like punishment that happens to a collection of people? The answer is no. Collective punishment consists of criminal-type penalties or indiscriminate military force as a punishment - such as executing all of the residents of an entire neighborhood because of a murderer in its midst."
2008-06-20 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive