BY CALEB TOBIN
Photo Credit: Caleb Tobin
The Israel-Hamas war has dominated headlines for the past six months, raising questions about humanitarian law and the rules of war.
A recent discussion at Stonehill College, sponsored by The Department of Political Science and International Studies, provided students and staff with context about the conflict and how humanitarian law applies to it. The discussion explored what legally constitutes a genocide and why international law is so difficult to implement.
“International law does not address the humanitarian crisis as it happens,” said Michal Ben-Josef Hirsch, associate professor of political science at Suffolk University and guest speaker for the discussion.
Ben-Josef said one of the main challenges in implementing international law is how it is often left up to interpretation.
“We have way more customary law and principles. International law is not as obligatory as domestic law. Even in its principle, it doesn’t have a constitution, even written laws. It is open to a lot of interpretation,” Ben-Josef told the audience.
She also said that state sovereignty and humanitarian intervention often come into conflict with each other and that, most of the time, a state’s sovereignty and interests take precedence over humanitarian interventions.
Two Stonehill students, Jonathan Cook ‘25, and Alexandra Trantos ‘25, provided background info on the crisis in Gaza.
Trantos said the current crisis began after Hamas’ attack against Israel on October 7, which killed over 1,200 people. Almost 250 people were taken hostage by Hamas.
“Israel responded with air strikes in Gaza, particularly in the north of Gaza,” Trantos said. She also said 203 humanitarian aid workers have been killed so far along with 33,000 Palestinians.
“There has been a lack of food, water, and aid entering Gaza because of Israel’s blockade,” Trantos said.
Cook said the Biden administration has provided support to Israel in its fight against Hamas.
“The Biden administration, in many cases, has given Netanyahu a blank check to prosecute the war,” Cook said.
Ben-Josef said that, more recently, the Biden administration has put more diplomatic pressure on Israel to reign in its conduct in Gaza and allow aid into the territory but said these efforts should have been taken months ago.
Ben-Josef added that Gaza is a very small area.
“Gaza is a third of the size of Los Angeles, so when you talk about moving populations north or south, we are talking about this little strand that is quite populated and quite crowded,” she said.
According to the CIA Factbook, Gaza had a population of approximately 2,000,000 people in 2023.
Another topic raised during the discussion was genocide and how it is legally difficult to prove.
“In genocide, which is not part of the Geneva Convention, it has its own convention, but in genocide, you have to show intent to kill in whole or in part a national or ethnic group,” Ben-Josef said.
“We want to distinguish between the performative use of the word genocide vs the legal use. We definitely have war crimes. We might even have crimes against humanity,” said Ben-Josef, referencing the Gaza crisis.
She said the legal framework for genocide is very narrow and that genocide can be difficult to prove because of that narrowness.
‘What I’m highlighting here is because it (international law) is so vague and malleable, the expectation that we’ll get some holy grail of ‘you’re doing a genocide’ is very wishful thinking,” Ben-Josef said. “We have very few cases where we actually say, ‘that’s a genocide.’”
When talking about how to end the war, Ben-Josef said a negotiated settlement will be the best course of action to end the violence.
“Most wars end in a negotiated settlement, so the push should be for a diplomatic settlement in Israel and Palestine,” Ben-Josef said.
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