When I saw the emails being sent out about a forum regarding War In Gaza, I assumed it was just a educational talk about the current things happening in Gaza — things we currently see on the news. I decided to still attend as Professor Webb mentioned that it was an important and interesting forum. He was not wrong, I left the forum with a different perspective and more knowledge about the war in Gaza.
This talk was delivered by Leila Nadya Sadat, whom is a international lawyer and a professor. Professor Sadat discussed about various points regarding international politics playing a role in the Israel Gaza conflict. Before coming into this forum, I had some basic knowledge about international politics involvement — the United Nations having a meeting to ceasefire but the US has vetoed multiple times.
The first point that Professor Sadat made was the significance of international powers acting responsible. Professor Sadat mentioned “Responsibility to Protect” which is a commitment created by the United Nations to prevent genocide, war crime, ethical cleanse, and crime against humanity. This commitment plays a part in the war in Gaza as it is a genocide and ethical cleanse — Israel is killing innocent lives, more than 34,000, and ethically cleansing Gaza to get rid of the Palestinian population. Professor Sadat mentioned that states must consider the “Responsibility to Protect” commitment because states need to protect their own citizens but also well being of others. States cannot look away from the war in Gaza, as thousands of innocent lives are gone every day due to act of genocide by Israel. Professor Sadat gave few examples of this; South Africa creating a case against Israel regarding committing genocide in Gaza with the International Court of Justice. This example shows the principle of “Responsibility to Protect” South Africa is following – this is a influential move as Turkey will joining South Africa in this case. Another example is the vote to ceasefire by the United Nations; many nations agreed to ceasefire but the United States is the only one that said no multiple times due to its veto power.
The second point that Professor Sadat made was the significance of International institutions — especially intergovernmental organizations such as United Nations when addressing conflicts such as War in Gaza. Professor Sadat mentioned that the United Nations help keep states accountable to fulfill the “Responsibility to Protect”, which was seen when discussing immediate ceasefire during the month of Ramadan and accusing Israel for denying access to aid which leads to famine in Gaza. Another international institutions Professor Sadat has mentioned is the ICJ, International Criminal Court. This institution is only effective if every state follow the rules created by ICJ to stop crimes like genocide; if all states follow then ICJ is a powerful and useful international actor.
To conclude, Professor Sadat believes that international powers needs to act immediately if we want to see a stop to this genocide in Gaza. I agree with Professor Sadat because states needs to stand up and hold Israel accountable for committing genocide. If we all just watch what is happening and not acting upon it, more innocent lives are going to be gone.
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