Exposing Lawfare Against Israel

Since Operation Protective Edge, the “religion of peace” practitioners have attempted to use the International Criminal Court to scapegoat the Jewish state through the subtle use of lawfare. The most recent lawfare to come out of academia is from Stanford University, which hosted pro-Hamas attorney, Noura Erakat, the niece of Palestinian chief negotiator, Saeb Erakat. Erakat presented her case in a lecture titled, “War on Gaza in the Age of Human Rights: Prospects for Accountability.”

Noura Erakat organized the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, which is tied to C.A.I.R. (Hamas in the U.S.). According to the Stanford University website, she helped launch the first university divestment campaign at U.C. Berkeley, and helped seed BDS campaigns throughout the country.

Erakat explained that since the audience was not a legal audience, she would instead provide the legal and political context for the situation in Gaza while citing her “sources” from the questionable NGO, Breaking the Silence, which promotes war crimes accusations against Israel that is based on anonymous and unverifiable hearsay testimonials.

Posing a rhetorical question if Israel is indeed the most moral army in the world, Erakat asserted, “Israel’s engagement with the laws of war made it possible to kill as many civilians and destroy as much civilian infrastructure as it did” in a reference to Operation Protective Edge. Hamas camouflages its combatants in civilian clothes turning all Gazans into potential IDF targets.

Erakat claimed UNWRA facilities were targeted by the IDF During Operation Protective Edge, but conveniently failed to mention Hamas uses these facilities to attack Israel. According to YNet, the UNRWA Chief in Gaza found massive stockpiles of weapons hidden in UNRWA facilities by Hamas.

Hamas in August 2014 booby-trapped a U.N. clinic in Gaza by hiding 12 barrels containing 80 kg. of explosives each in a wall, and then used a child to lure Israeli soldiers into the building. The explosives denoted and three soldiers died.

Erakat also made the accusation that it was it perfectly legal for Hamas to kidnap, because of the legal context that was used.

When it (Israel) discovers Hamas’ tunnel network that enables its militants to actually infiltrate Israeli territory, which it created in order to capture soldiers, it’s perfectly legal under humanitarian law. Of course, the way that we framed this is that Israeli soldiers – even our President described this as barbaric, and said that it was the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers, but of course kidnapping is limited to how we describe the absconding of civilians, not of soldiers, right? There’s also a lot to be said of the rhetoric of how we frame this.

According to the Jerusalem Institute of Justice, 160 child laborers died during Hamas’ construction of cross-border tunnels between Gaza and Israel.

Erakat’s use of lawfare is an attempt to blur the moral distinction between Israel and Hamas. One must remember which side tries its best to avoid civilian causalities, and which side strives diligently to create them. If only those in academia who blame Israel for these civilian deaths would take the time to examine the chain of causation.

If Erakat is so concerned about justice for Palestinians, why is she silent on the issues of honor killings against Palestinian women by Hamas? Her goal is simple: the delegitimization of Israel. In Judea and Samaria, honor killings of Palestinian women are up 200% from last year, yet Erkat’s silence is deafening on these real issues of justice. Even the BDS movement Erakat supports hurts the Palestinians.

According to Erakat, “Gaza is, for all intents and purposes, different because of the presence of what I would describe as a political party with an irregular combat force and what Israel would describe as a terrorist organization: Hamas.”

If one believes, as does Noura Erakat that Hamas is just an “irregular combat force”, contemplate on this: according to the Times of Israel, Hamas terrorism is funded in part by the sale of African slaves and human trafficking, and Gaza protestors are regularly beaten and detained by Hamas security officials. These are just some of the consequences of a designated terrorist organization becoming the governing entity of the Palestinian-Arabs.