Israel faces excruciating dilemmas in its fight to save hostages
By Anthony Bergin, Senior Fellow at Strategic Analysis Australia and Prof. Greg Rose (thinc. Research Director)
Foreword: This article was published on November 11 and even though some hostages have been released in trade of Palestinian prisoners, this article remains a very important analysis of the background and dilemmas Israel is facing.
Israel has agreed to daily military pauses in northern Gaza for humanitarian
purposes. But a wholesale Israeli ceasefire in Gaza still hangs in the balance. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected this option unless the 240 hostages held in Gaza are released.
In the context of war, hostage-taking is a contemporary war crime.
Hamas doesn’t apply the international laws of war. It recognises that ransoms have paid well throughout history. Jews often were seized by authorities in Muslim countries. Their communities paid large ransoms that incentivised this practice continuing through the ninth to 12th centuries.
Today’s Jewish hostages in Gaza are held by Hamas (180), Palestinian Islamic Jihad (40) and Gazan criminal clans (20).
Read more here
Our mission as thinc. is to challenge the use and misuse of law to delegitimize the State of Israel. The year 2023 ends in 30 days – please consider to contribute to the continuation of thinc.s importent work this and next year!
thinc. – speaks at events in Berlin – arranged by CSI Germany
Berlin 9th & 10th November 2023. By Andrew Tucker (Director of thinc.)
It was an honour to speak at the Israel Summit organized by CSI on 9th November and to members of the Bundestag on 10th November about how Europe should support peace in the Middle East. After 7th October, Europe needs to abandon the failed “two states” paradigm, and adopt a radically new approach to promote freedom and confront terror and extremism.
Israel, Hamas and international law
In my key-note address at the event on 9th November in commemoration of Kristallnacht, I explained that the application of international law to the current conflict in Gaza must be understood in historical perspective. There are strong similarities between Kristallnacht on 9th November 1938 and the Hamas attack on 7th October 2023. Both were directed against Jews, as Jews. It is important to remember that Hamas is a terror organization allied to the Muslim Brotherhood, and funded and supported by major players such as Iran, Qatar and Turkey. Hamas is not fighting for the creation of a Palestinian state adjacent to Israel, but to the elimination of Israel and the killing of Jews. I argued that the Gaza Strip is not occupied territory under international law, and that Israel’s right of self-defence entitles it to take all necessary and proportionate measures to eliminate the existential threat posed by Hamas and its allies, including Iran and Qatar – subject of course to the principles of international humanitarian law applicable to armed conflicts (proportionality, necessity and distinction). No conclusions can be drawn about possible breaches of international criminal law of humanitarian law at this stage, because we do not have the facts. Further, allegations of “genocide”, “ethnic cleansing” and “collective punishment” are clearly unsustainable.
Meeting in Bundestag
On Friday 10th November we met with MPs from various parties in the Paul Löbe House of the German Bundestag.
Parliamentarian Frank Müller-Rosentritt (FDP) said at the meeting that in Germany, every organisation must prove that it recognises the basic democratic order in order to receive funding. But when it comes to funds for Ramallah or Gaza, there is a blank cheque, he said: “If we want to breathe life into the reason of state and ‘never again’, we must do everything we can to ensure that the funds we provide are conditional. Not a single cent of taxpayers’ money should be spent on organisations that do not recognise Israel’s right to exist.”
Read the full report here
Are foreign embassies allowed in Jerusalem?
Andrew Tucker speaking at a conference in Prague, Czech Republic 22-23 November 2023
It was an honour to speak at the conference in the House of Representatives in Prague on the topic: “Does international law allow foreign embassies in Israel to be located in Jerusalem?”.
I presented the results of our research, explaining why, in our view, locating foreign diplomatic missions to Israel in (West) Jerusalem does not contravene international law.
The conference “Embassies in Jerusalem and International Law” was organized by the Israel Allies Foundation (IAF) Czech Country Director Karel Sedláček, the Czech Parliamentary Israel Allies Caucus chairman MP Miloslav Janulík, and Committee on Security chairman Pavel Žáček.
Read the full text of the report here
A symposium was held in Nijkerk, the Netherlands, on November 29th organized
by thinc. Christians for Israel (NL) and IAF (Israel Allies Foundation).
The symposium was addressing questions related to today’s Israel debate. How do we recognize framing that portray Israel negatively and how do we turn this around positively?
Two prominent Christian politicians from the Netherlands were invited to share their experiences on how to deal with this topic in the political debate in the national Parliament (The Hague) as well as in the European Parliament (Brussels). The politicians in question were Gert-Jan Segers (from CU) and Bert-Jan Ruissen (from SGP, European Parliament )
More than 130 guests showed up and participated in a very lively debate. It was a great event not quickly forgotten!
Two Webinars were held in November on the 14th and on the 28th.
The first webinar held on November 14 dealt with the question of proportionality and the definition of use of excessive force by the IDF in its war against Hamas in Gaza. Prof Geoffrey Corn from Texas Tech University and Col. (Ret). Miri Eisin, Director of the Institute of Counter Terrorism at Reichmann University offer their expertise in this complex environment of the current Israel-Hamas war. How are targeting decisions made? Is Israel achieving its military objectives? What are the IHL (International Humanitarian Law) implications? Please find a link to the webinar here
The second Webinar iwas about the Role of the UN in the Hamas Israel Conflict and was held on November 28th. Please find below the recording in its’s full length.
thinc. – looking into 2024
thinc. is in the process of finalizing our plans and activities for next year. Our special focus continues to be work related to raising awareness about the illegitimate use of law (“lawfare”) against Israel.
An other objective in 2024 is to train and educate key leaders, especially Lawyers, Christians & Politicians world wide in international law and its application in the present conflict. Extensive training programs are being put together these days.
Last but not least an effort will be made to impact European Policy towards Israel and Impacting international legal institutions situated in the Hague.
On thinc.’s Calendar
Save the date:
Our next Webinar will be held on Tuesday December 12th at 12 midday (Amsterdam time).
The topic for the webinar is: “Hamas, Gaza and the future of the ‘two states solution’”
Recommended Reading
1) Christians for Israel: Ten reasons to support Israel in this time of war
https://www.c4israel.org/news/ten-reasons-to-support-israel-in-this-time-of-war
2) Article in Newsweek: The IDF Faces an Enormous Challenge in Gaza | Opinion
https://www.newsweek.com/idf-faces-enormous-challenge-gaza-opinion-1838730
3) Geoff Corn on “The Disproportionate Confusion About Proportionality”
4) Lieber institute: ISRAEL – HAMAS 2023 SYMPOSIUM – STRATEGY AND SELF-DEFENCE: ISRAEL AND ITS WAR WITH IRAN
https://lieber.westpoint.edu/strategy-self-defence-israel-its-war-with-iran/
5) Newsweek magazine: Should Hamas be prosecuted for war crimes by the International court?
https://www.newsweek.com/2023/10/27/should-hamas-prosecuted-war-crimes-international-court-1834270
6) The Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies (BESA):
The Gaza War and International Law: An Informed Assessment
https://besacenter.org/the-gaza-war-and-international-law-an-informed-assessment/
