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Gaza-Israel: the Legal and the Military View Transcript
Gaza-Israel: The Legal and the Military View Transcript Date: Wednesday, 7 October 2015 - 6:00PM Location: Barnard's Inn Hall 07 October 2015 Gaza-Israel: The Legal and Military View Professor Sir Geoffrey Nice QC General Sir Nick Parker For long enough commentators have usually assumed the Israel - Palestine armed conflict might be lawful, even if individual incidents on both sides attracted condemnation. But is that assumption right? May the conflict lack legality altogether, on one side or both? Have there been war crimes committed by both sides as many suggest? The 2014 Israeli – Gaza conflict (that lasted some 52 days and that was called 'Operation Protective Edge' by the Israeli Defence Force) allows a way to explore some of the underlying issues of the overall conflict. General Sir Nick Parker explains how he advised Geoffrey Nice to approach the conflict's legality and reality from a military point of view. Geoffrey Nice explains what conclusions he then reached. Were war crimes committed by either side? Introduction No human is on this earth as a volunteer; we are all created by an act of force, sometimes of violence just as the universe itself arrived by force. We do not leave the world voluntarily but often by the force of disease. As pressed men on earth we operate according to rules of nature – gravity, energy etc. – and the rules we make for ourselves but focus much attention on what to do when our rules are broken, less on how to save ourselves from ever breaking them. That thought certainly will feature in later lectures on prison and sex in this last year of my lectures as Gresham Professor of Law but is also central to this and the next lecture both on Israel and on parts of its continuing conflict with Gaza. -
Dear Prime Minister, We Note with Concern the Increasingly Violent
Dear Prime Minister, We note with concern the increasingly violent rhetoric directed towards Julian Assange of WikiLeaks. “We should treat Mr Assange the same way as other high-value terrorist targets: Kill him,” writes conservative columnist Jeffrey T Kuhner in the Washington Times. William Kristol, former chief of staff to vice president Dan Quayle, asks, “Why can’t we use our various assets to harass, snatch or neutralize Julian Assange and his collaborators, wherever they are?” “Why isn’t Julian Assange dead?” writes the prominent US pundit Jonah Goldberg. “The CIA should have already killed Julian Assange,” says John Hawkins on the Right Wing News site. Sarah Palin, a likely presidential candidate, compares Assange to an Al Qaeda leader; Rick Santorum, former Pennsylvania senator and potential presidential contender, accuses Assange of “terrorism”. And so on and so forth. Such calls cannot be dismissed as bluster. Over the last decade, we have seen the normalisation of extrajudicial measures once unthinkable, from ‘extraordinary rendition’ (kidnapping) to ‘enhanced interrogation’ (torture). In that context, we now have grave concerns for Mr Assange’s wellbeing. Irrespective of the political controversies surrounding WikiLeaks, Mr Assange remains entitled to conduct his affairs in safety, and to receive procedural fairness in any legal proceedings against him. As is well known, Mr Assange is an Australian citizen. We therefore call upon you to condemn, on behalf of the Australian Government, calls for physical harm to be inflicted upon Mr Assange, and to state publicly that you will ensure Mr Assange receives the rights and protections to which he is entitled, irrespective of whether the unlawful threats against him come from individuals or states. -
Israel and the Middle East News Update
Israel and the Middle East News Update Friday, December 13 Headlines: • Israel Hayom Poll: Center-Left Bloc – 61, Right Wing Bloc - 51, Liberman - 8 • Liberman Backs Pardon for Netanyahu in Exchange for Exit from Politics • Poll: Israelis Prefer a Two State Solution to One State • UK Chief Rabbi: Election Is Over But Worries Over anti-Semitism Remain Commentary: • Ma’ariv: “Netanyahu’s Life’s Work” − By Ben Caspit • TOI: “Why Israel’s 3rd Election Might Not Be Such a Disaster, After All” − By David Horovitz, editor of the Times of Israel S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace 633 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20004 The Hon. Robert Wexler, President ● Yoni Komorov, Editor ● Yehuda Greenfield-Gilat, Associate Editor News Excerpts December 13, 2019 Israel Hayom Poll: Center-Left Bloc – 61, Right Wing Bloc - 51, Liberman - 8 Q: If the Knesset election were held today and Binyamin Netanyahu were Likud chairman, for which party would you vote? Blue and White: 37 Likud: 31 Joint List: 14 Shas: 8 Yisrael Beiteinu: 8 United Torah Judaism: 7 Labor Party-Gesher: 6 New Right: 5 Democratic Union: 4 Q: Who do you think is primarily responsible for the failure to form a government? Binyamin Netanyahu: 43% Avigdor Liberman: 30% Yair Lapid: 6% Benny Gantz: 5% The Haredim: 2% Q: Will the fact that Israel is holding elections for the third time in the span of a year make you change or not change your vote compared with the previous elections? Yes: 13% No: 60% Perhaps: 27% Q: What are the odds that you will vote in the upcoming Knesset election, which will take place in approximately three months? Certain: 59% Good odds: 23% Moderate odds: 3% Poor odds: 15% See also, “Poll shows Gantz’s Blue and White opening 6-seat lead over Netanyahu’s Likud” (Times of Israel) Times of Israel Liberman Backs Pardon for Netanyahu in Exchange for Exit Yisrael Beytenu party leader Avigdor Liberman said Thursday he would back a deal in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is allowed to avoid jail in exchange for an agreement to retire from politics. -
Florida Film Festival Features a Short Film by 'Hometown Girl' Talia Osteen
Back to School Section B WWW.HERITAGEFL.COM YEAR 44, NO. 49 AUGUST 7, 2020 17 AV, 5780 ORLANDO, FLORIDA SINGLE COPY 75¢ Patricia Sigman runs for state Senate By Christine DeSouza Longwood resident Patricia R. Sigman is a Democratic candidate on the primary ballot for state Senate, Dis- trict 9. There is one opponent running against her for the seat and she is hopeful voters will turn out for the Aug. 18 primary elections to get her name on the ballot for the elections on Nov. 3. Sigman is a long-standing member of this community. She and her husband, Phil, have been affiliated with Temple Israel and also Con- gregation of Reform Judaism. Patricia Sigman “Seminole County is our home and our roots here run tive. She is a small business The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous will air from July 27 to Aug. 31, 2020 one of its award-winning documentaries deep,” she told Heritage. “The owner (Sigman & Sigman, highlighting Righteous Gentiles who saved Jews during World War II and the Holocaust. Sigman family has been here P.A. in Altamonte Springs), since the early 1960s.” a voter protection leader, Sigman, a board-certified community volunteer, and Labor & Employment lawyer with her husband, Phil, has Online movie series to feature rescuers and a civil mediator for 26 raised three children — all years, has seen all aspects of of whom attended Seminole law from the business, com- and rescued during years of Holocaust munity and personal perspec- Sigman on page 14A (JNS) — The Jewish Foundation for the to themselves and their families—to save goal was two-fold: to share stories Righteous is launching a Monday-night Jews,” said JFR executive vice president of heroism and raise awareness of movie series, from July 27 to Aug. -
Opinion New Government, New President, New Israel?
Journal of Military and Strategic VOLUME 20, ISSUE 3 Studies Opinion New Government, New President, New Israel? Melanie Carina Schmoll, PhD Israel in summer 2021 – the end of the pandemic seems to be near. Israel opens up, almost all mask requirements are cancelled, international travel groups are welcome and even the individual guests are allowed to travel to the Holy Land with almost no restrictions. It seems Israel is back in pre-pandemic times. But it is not the same country anymore. Some fundamental changes have happened over the last few weeks. When, in March 2021, the Israelis had to vote again for the Israeli Parliament, the Knesset, it was for the fourth time within two and a half years. The outcome was almost the same as the three times before. Benjamin Nethanyahu, Israel´s long-time prime minister, won most of the seats with his Likud party. As the State of Israel is a parlamentary democracy the executive branch or the government draws its authority from the Parliament (the legislative branch) and needs its confidence. Therefore, the prime minister is not decided directly by the voters but depends instead on a process of bargaining among the various fractions elected to parliament. In Israel, no single party holds most of the seats in Parliament and thus the process of forming a government is long and complicated.1 Israel also has an extreme proportional system of government, 1 For more information see Melanie Carina Schmoll, “Israel and the permanent siege: The people have spoken - who will find an answer to the needs of the voters?” Journal of Military and Strategic Studies 20, 1 (2019). -
“Is the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process Dead?” April 19, 2019 PART
The Brookings Institution Brookings Cafeteria Podcast “Is the Israeli-Palestinian peace process dead?” April 19, 2019 PARTICIPANTS: FRED DEWS Host KHALED ELGINDY Nonresident Fellow - Foreign Policy, Center for Middle East Policy TAMARA COFMAN WITTES Senior Fellow - Foreign Policy, Center for Middle East Policy DAVID WESSEL Senior Fellow, Economic Studies Director, The Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy 1 (MUSIC) DEWS: Welcome to the Brookings Cafeteria, the podcast about ideas and the experts who have them. I'm Fred Dews. On today's episode, an interview with Khaled Elgindy, author of a new book from the Brookings Institution Press, Blind Spot: America and the Palestinians, from Balfour to Trump. Elgindy is a nonresident fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings and previously served as an advisor to the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah on permanent status negotiations with Israel from 2004 to 2009 and was a key participant in the Annapolis negotiations throughout 2008. Conducting the interview is Tamara Cofman Wittes. Senior fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy, she served as deputy assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs from 2009 into 2012. Also, on today's show, Wessel's Economic Update. Today, Senior Fellow David Wessel, offers three reasons why we don't necessarily have to address the rising U.S. budget deficit through increased taxes and cutting spending right now. You can follow the Brookings podcast network on Twitter @policypodcasts to get information about and links to all of our shows, including our new podcast, The Current, which is replacing our 5 on 45 podcast. -
Israel's Round Four: New and Old Dynamics | the Washington Institute
MENU Policy Analysis / PolicyWatch 3432 Israel’s Round Four: New and Old Dynamics by David Makovsky Feb 9, 2021 Also available in Arabic ABOUT THE AUTHORS David Makovsky David Makovsky is the Ziegler distinguished fellow at The Washington Institute and director of the Koret Project on Arab-Israel Relations. Brief Analysis It is far from certain that the next election will stabilize Israeli politics, and even if it does, the forces taking shape could create challenging peace math for the Biden administration. srael’s March 23 parliamentary election will once again be a referendum on Prime Minister Binyamin I Netanyahu’s leadership. But two main factors distinguish it from previous rounds of voting, apart from the COVID-19 pandemic and the more active phase of Netanyahu’s corruption trial. First, the vote will happen amid a sizable fracture within the political right. Second, the apparent lead that the center-left currently enjoys in the polls is deceptive. On the second point, multiple center-left factions are hoping to cobble together a government following the collapse of the previous governing coalition. Yet they lack a single, galvanizing leader due to the plummet of Benny Gantz and the Blue-White Party, and a few of them could easily fall below Israel’s electoral threshold for entering parliament. Even if they do prevail, the resultant government would be politically heterogeneous to a precarious degree, raising questions about its policies and stability. Meanwhile, the pathway for the right is a pure right-wing government, despite internal fissures. In the end, many Israelis will once again vote in a pro- vs. -
Architect Joseph Klarwein Was the Winner of the 1957 Contest for Planning the Knesset Building on Givat Ram
Handout 1 Knesset Architect Joseph Klarwein was the winner of the 1957 contest for planning the Knesset building on Givat Ram. His initial proposal presented at the contest was ultimately very different than the building that was inaugurated on August 30th 1966. In fact, it was influenced by different architects that were involved in different parts of the planning and construction throughout its nine years, and among them were architect Dov Carmi and his son Ram. In textbooks written on the Knesset building, it is claimed that the planners intended to build a construction similar to the Greek Acropolis. Those who worked on the building programs before the contest had very little idea on how they wanted the building to look, and the result – an architectural mixture – surprisingly resembled the building of the United States’ embassy in Athens. The embassy was designed by the renowned Bauhaus architect Walter Gropius, which was later considered as a specimen of the “International Style.” Klarwein’s original model was comprised of a rectangular construction with 20 columns on its front and back, 15 columns on each side, and two internal yards on the eastern and western sides of the plenum hall found at the center of the building. The entrance to the building was to be on its northern front. The constructed building was square, with 10 columns on all sides, and with no internal yards; the plenum is not at its center, but on its eastern part; and west to the plenum hall there is a reception hall. This hall is named “Chagall State Hall,” as it is decorated with art created by the Russian-born Jewish artist, Marc Chagall. -
The Role of Ultra-Orthodox Political Parties in Israeli Democracy
Luke Howson University of Liverpool The Role of Ultra-Orthodox Political Parties in Israeli Democracy Thesis submitted in accordance with the requirements of the University of Liverpool for the degree of Doctor in Philosophy By Luke Howson July 2014 Committee: Clive Jones, BA (Hons) MA, PhD Prof Jon Tonge, PhD 1 Luke Howson University of Liverpool © 2014 Luke Howson All Rights Reserved 2 Luke Howson University of Liverpool Abstract This thesis focuses on the role of ultra-orthodox party Shas within the Israeli state as a means to explore wider themes and divisions in Israeli society. Without underestimating the significance of security and conflict within the structure of the Israeli state, in this thesis the Arab–Jewish relationship is viewed as just one important cleavage within the Israeli state. Instead of focusing on this single cleavage, this thesis explores the complex structure of cleavages at the heart of the Israeli political system. It introduces the concept of a ‘cleavage pyramid’, whereby divisions are of different saliency to different groups. At the top of the pyramid is division between Arabs and Jews, but one rung down from this are the intra-Jewish divisions, be they religious, ethnic or political in nature. In the case of Shas, the religious and ethnic elements are the most salient. The secular–religious divide is a key fault line in Israel and one in which ultra-orthodox parties like Shas are at the forefront. They and their politically secular counterparts form a key division in Israel, and an exploration of Shas is an insightful means of exploring this division further, its history and causes, and how these groups interact politically. -
Education, Design and Practice – Understanding Skills in a Complex
Education, Design and Practice – Understanding skills in a Complex World • Paper / Proposal Title: How to Escape an Illustrated Palace? Escape Room as a Teaching Tool at the Herzog Collage for Teachers • Author(s) Name: Tzachi Cohen • University or Company Affiliation: Herzog Academic Collage for Teachers and Ono Academic Collage • Abstract (300 words): The world of Teaching and Education has been preoccupied for the last several years with the task of reshaping it's methods of action. In the face of rapidly developing world of media and the shrinking to micro-bytes of the spans of attention, Education finally departed from the age-long model of a talking teacher standing in front of a listening class. Different, and better, alternatives were articulated and suggested. The activity suggested and described here is a shrewd and original answer to the question how to teach without teaching, how can a group of students enjoy acting as a group and expressing their strengths as individuals, face challenge and still obtain new "knowledge", accumulate "learning material"- i.e. be exposed to new facts. The writer has thought up and preformed an escape room concerning the life and works of Nobel Prize winning Hebrew author S.Y. Agnon. This activity, this game, an educational charade was built on pillers of academic knowledge, but this knowledge was well concealed in the game. The players-students experience the activity as a game but are knowinglessly lured into a world of contance. The solution here by suggested innovations from the Study of Learning. Memory and learning are a world of ties, thick or thin. -
Mps in Drive for Nuclear Energy - the Australian, 2/18/2021
18/02/2021 MPs in drive for nuclear energy - The Australian, 2/18/2021 MPs in drive for nuclear energy EXCLUSIVE GREG BROWN COALITION’S CLIMATE PUSH Nationals senators have drafted legislation allowing the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to invest in nuclear power as twothirds of Coalition MPs backed lifting the ban on the controversial fuel source to help shift the nation to a carbon- neutral future. The block of five Nationals senators, led by Bridget McKenzie and Matt Canavan, will move an amendment to legislation establishing a $1bn arm at the green bank to allow it to invest in nuclear generators, high-energy, low-emissions (HELE), coal- fired power stations and carbon capture and storage technology. The Nationals’ move comes as a survey of 71 Coalition backbenchers conducted by The Australian revealed that 48 were in favour of lifting the longstanding prohibition on nuclear power in the EPBC act. Liberal MPs Andrew Laming, John Alexander and Gerard Rennick are among backbenchers who want Scott Morrison to take a repeal of the nuclear ban to the upcoming election — a move that would open a new divide with Labor as the nation sets a course for a low-emissions future. “I’m very keen to see the prohibition lifted,” Mr Laming said. “It is something that has to be taken to an election so Australians realise there is a significant change in energy policy.” Mr Alexander said it was like “trying to fight Muhammad Ali with one arm tied behind your back if you are going to ignore nuclear energy”. “This is a new era; let’s be right at the cutting edge,” Mr Alexander said. -
Excluded, for God's Sake: Gender Segregation and the Exclusion of Women in Public Space in Israel
Excluded, For God’s Sake: Gender Segregation and the Exclusion of Women in Public Space in Israel המרכז הרפורמי לדת ומדינה -לוגו ללא מספר. Third Annual Report – December 2013 Israel Religious Action Center Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism Excluded, For God’s Sake: Gender Segregation and the Exclusion of Women in Public Space in Israel Third Annual Report – December 2013 Written by: Attorney Ruth Carmi, Attorney Ricky Shapira-Rosenberg Consultation: Attorney Einat Hurwitz, Attorney Orly Erez-Lahovsky English translation: Shaul Vardi Cover photo: Tomer Appelbaum, Haaretz, September 29, 2010 – © Haaretz Newspaper Ltd. © 2014 Israel Religious Action Center, Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism Israel Religious Action Center 13 King David St., P.O.B. 31936, Jerusalem 91319 Telephone: 02-6203323 | Fax: 03-6256260 www.irac.org | [email protected] Acknowledgement In loving memory of Dick England z"l, Sherry Levy-Reiner z"l, and Carole Chaiken z"l. May their memories be blessed. With special thanks to Loni Rush for her contribution to this report IRAC's work against gender segregation and the exclusion of women is made possible by the support of the following people and organizations: Kathryn Ames Foundation Claudia Bach Philip and Muriel Berman Foundation Bildstein Memorial Fund Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Foundation Inc. Donald and Carole Chaiken Foundation Isabel Dunst Naomi and Nehemiah Cohen Foundation Eugene J. Eder Charitable Foundation John and Noeleen Cohen Richard and Lois England Family Jay and Shoshana Dweck Foundation Foundation Lewis Eigen and Ramona Arnett Edith Everett Finchley Reform Synagogue, London Jim and Sue Klau Gold Family Foundation FJC- A Foundation of Philanthropic Funds Vicki and John Goldwyn Mark and Peachy Levy Robert Goodman & Jayne Lipman Joseph and Harvey Meyerhoff Family Richard and Lois Gunther Family Foundation Charitable Funds Richard and Barbara Harrison Yocheved Mintz (Dr.