[rad-green] Waging War on the Rule of War -- Prof. Lawrence Davidson

*https://tothepointanalyses.com/waging-war-against-the-rule-of-law/
<https://tothepointanalyses.com/waging-war-against-the-rule-of-law/>*



*To the Point Analyses          21 November 2019*
*Waging War Against the Rule of Law*

*by Professor Lawrence Davidson*


Part I—An Embarrassingly Hard Moment


There is no doubt about it: at our present moment in history it is
embarrassingly hard to be a defender of the rule of law. This is
particularly so when such laws seek to assert and protect human rights. It
is embarrassing because being supportive of such regulations should be a
“no-brainer.” Instead, it pits you against the U.S. government and its
closest ally, Israel.


Thus, there is the fact that while there are many countries that take no
heed of international law in this regard, if you happen to be an outspoken
humanitarian Jewish American, you are really going to have a tough time of
it. You are assailed on one side by powerful American leaders who attack
international law with manifestly faulty reasoning (see below). On the
other side, one is confronted by Zionist Jews, both inside and outside of
Israel, who would destroy not only the international law that stands in the
way of their territorial greed, but the ethical and moral integrity of the
Jewish people as well. For all those Jewish Americans who see value in
defending human rights and the rule of law, I truly commiserate: it is not
easy being us!


Part II—Assaulting the Rule of Law


In its latest assault on the rule of law, the Trump administration has
declared that the Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories are
legitimate. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a self-described advocate
<https://www.state.gov/being-a-christian-leader/> of “Christian diplomacy”
has led the way in this. He stated that
<https://www.alternet.org/2019/11/mike-pompeo-declares-israeli-settlements-in-the-west-bank-are-not-in-breach-of-international-law-changing-50-years-of-us-policy/?utm_source=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=3026>:
“After carefully studying all sides of the legal debate, this
administration agrees with President Reagan [who, back in 1980, expressed a
similar sentiment]. The establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in
the West Bank is not per se inconsistent with international law.”


No details were given on the “careful study” Pompeo claims to have been
made. And, frankly, it is hard to take this assertion seriously because the
Trump folks are not known to be objective, or even attentive, when it comes
to detail. No information was given on what basis Ronald Reagan came to his
opinion. Nor is it known whether or not Reagan was senile at the time he
spoke. And, no elaboration was made as to what “per se” means in the
context of Pompeo’s declaration.


The Secretary of State went on: “The hard truth is that there will never be
a judicial resolution to the conflict, and arguments about who is right and
who is wrong as a matter of international law will not bring peace. This is
a complex political problem that can only be solved by negotiations between
Israelis and Palestinians.”


This bit of conjecture is dubious at best, and if such conclusions are the
product of the Secretary’s “careful study,” we can conclude that Pompeo is
either being disingenuous or is ignorant to the point of incompetence. Here
is what I mean:


—The conclusion that “there will never be a judicial resolution to the
conflict” is a contrived one. Pompeo should certainly know that there are
readily discernible reasons, most of them coming from the U.S.-Israeli
side, why attempts to apply international law as the basis of a settlement
have so far failed. Actually, there are at least forty three
reasons—that is the
number of vetos
<https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/blog/2017/12/19/how-many-times-has-us-backed-israel-at-un>
the United States has cast in the UN Security Council to protect Israel,
largely from international law, between 1972 and 2017. In addition, one
should never say “never.”


—The assertion that “arguments about who is right and who is wrong as a
matter of international law will not bring peace” is also contrived. Again,
you cannot acquiesce in seventy-one years of Israeli behavior, much of it
in violation of international law, all the while protecting, as most U.S.
governments have done, the criminal party, and then say “international law
will not bring peace.” Obviously, the historical context means nothing to
Pompeo.


—Pompeo’s final conclusion that “this is a complex political problem that
can only be solved by negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians” is
simply a throwaway line that has no meaning given the history of those
“negotiations” that have been attempted.


Part III—Accepting “Reality”


Perhaps the most egregious assertion made by Secretary Pompeo was that all
the U.S. is doing is “recognizing the reality
<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/18/world/middleeast/trump-israel-west-bank-settlements.html>
on the ground.” This same excuse was used by the Trump administration when
it blessed the occupation of the Golan Heights. Subsequently, some people
assigned to the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem have claimed that all Trump was
doing was recognizing the “truth.”
<https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-trump-supports-the-truth-how-u-s-officials-explain-pompeo-s-settlements-statement-1.8157220>


These claims oversimplify and distort the current situation to the point of
absurdity. Mr. Pompeo and those folks at the embassy are not dabbling in
some field of physics here. They have not come along and discovered a new
naturally occurring phenomenon. The fact is that in our social, economic
and political worlds we humans do not discover reality, we create our own
constantly fluctuating “reality.” And, as touched on above, today’s
variation on fluctuating “reality” in places like Gaza, Jerusalem, the
Golan Heights, and the West Bank are the result of Israeli actions that
defy international law. That makes those acts and their consequences—their
“reality”—by definition, criminal. At the same time, as we have seen, the
folks in Washington gave the necessary assistance that allowed the Israelis
to get away with their criminal behavior. That makes the people in
Washington who provided this cover, criminals as well.


Part IV—Conclusion


So what we have here is the Secretary of State of a country that has acted
as an accomplice to years of illicit behavior throwing up his hands and
saying “the law has failed”—while not mentioning the fact that he and
others before him, acting in their official government capacities, helped
to arrange that outcome.


This bit of sleight of hand was no doubt made easier for Mike Pompeo given
that he has ridden the coattails of a boss who is himself lawless. That
fast-and-loose attitude toward the rule of law is a main reason Donald
Trump is going to be impeached.


Despite all, the struggle of the Palestinians and their allies will go on.
Applying the appropriate biblical comparisons, the BDS movement (the
boycott of Israel) has become the “light unto the nations” that Israel
itself was mythically supposed to be. And outspoken anti-Zionist Jews, like
some of those Old Testament prophets, are now the last bastion against
Israel’s racist idolatry.

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