(May 3, 2023 / JNS) Having reluctantly realized that traditional wars—with tanks, bullets and fighter planes—have failed against Israel’s military prowess, enemies of the Jewish state have turned to unconventional tactics in an effort to defeat it. That includes “weaponizing” international law to delegitimize Israel, according to Michal Cotler-Wunsh, a former member of Knesset who is now a senior policy adviser and research fellow.
During a speaking tour from April 17-21, which took her to the campuses of the law schools at Columbia, Yale and New York universities, as well as to the City University of New York (CUNY) and Rutgers University, Cotler-Wunsh spent an hour on the phone with JNS describing the main thesis of her lectures.
An attorney by training, Cotler-Wunsh knows that legalese can confuse people and seem removed from everyday life. So she turns to an example that non-lawyers will understand demonstrates that selective application of rules and principles undermines the entire system.
“When I say to a 3-year-old that we’re going to play a game, and you’re going to play according to the rules but I’m not, that 3-year-old will turn around and say to me, ‘I don’t want to play with you. You’re cheating,’ ” Cotler-Wunsh told JNS. “The game is finished. There’s no game.”
As preschooler games go, so goes international law. “The rules-based order has to be applied equally and consistently,” she said. Instead, many seek to apply rules selectively to the detriment of the...
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