July 16, 2024
Millions
worldwide are appalled by what they see as the total failure of the
international legal order to prevent Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Despite major
cases before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International
Criminal Court (ICC), there is a growing sense of frustration that the law has
not done its job. While understandable, this outrage is based on a fundamental
misconception that international law’s objective is to eradicate violence; that
may be what the UN Charter promises, but it is not what international law is
expected to do nor what it actually does.
