OPINION:
One of our nation’s preeminent associations of international attorneys, the American branch of the International Law Association, recently decided to honor Navi Pillay, a notorious apologist for Hamas. Such an award could only have served to highlight the group’s misplaced values.
A relatively small number of lawyers around the world specialize in international law. They purport to help with the implementation of a system of laws allegedly intended to protect human rights and to promote fairness in commercial and other activities.
Some of these practitioners work for private clients who engage in transnational commercial transactions. Others, like me, work predominantly for sovereigns or for international organizations, seeking to promote high standards of behavior in activities worldwide.
Ostensibly, the people who practice international law, as well as the academics who seek to provide guidance in the evolution of international law, are devoted to the fair and equitable application of the principles that underpin this aspect of the law. The reality is regrettably very different.
Only too frequently, we have been witness to the subornation of the lofty principles of international law to political causes and personal prejudices. This has been especially egregious with respect to Israel. Much of the international law establishment has been unremittingly anti-Israel, using tools created by international law to attack and condemn the Jewish state. Frequently, that establishment has descended into outright antisemitism — all in the name of the application of international law.
A case in point involved the decision by the International Law Association’s American branch to select Ms. Pillay as the recipient of its Outstanding Achievement award at its annual convention on Oct. 21 in New York.
Ms. Pillay is well known in international legal circles. Among other positions, she has served as the U.N. high commissioner for human rights. While this is a noble title, Ms. Pillay turned it into an Orwellian epithet during her tenure.
Instead of promoting human rights, she used her position to attack Israel. It became an obsession with her. In her view, no nation on Earth is as vile as the only democratic government in the Middle East, the only nation in the region that values human life and promotes the rule of law.
But her role as a high commissioner was only the beginning. In 2010, Ms. Pillay was in charge of the investigation of the 2008-2009 conflict between Hamas and Israel.
When the Goldstone Report, the product of that investigation, was issued, it was a one-sided attack on Israel. The tone was so biased that the official author of the report, Justice Richard Goldstone of South Africa, saw fit to distance himself from his eponymous report.
But not Ms. Pillay. Notwithstanding the overwhelming evidence that the report was biased and one-sided, she stuck with it and denounced Israel for “war crimes,” all the while sparing Hamas a similar condemnation.
This performance was repeated in subsequent years. In 2021, after another round of fighting between Hamas and Israel, Ms. Pillay elected once again to disparage Israel. Never mind that Hamas chose to fire rockets indiscriminately into Israel and targeted civilians, seeking to cause a maximum of harm. For Ms. Pillay, it was Israel, which was the criminal for having chosen to defend itself.
It is possible that Ms. Pillay truly believes that Hamas is a moral actor. But whatever Ms. Pillay’s personal opinions, when she chose to assume official positions in which she was representing international institutions, and she was called upon to make judgments regarding compliance with international law, just like any impartial judge, she was obligated to rise above her own prejudices.
Ms. Pillay has clearly been unable to do so. She has demeaned the international law system.
International law, when applied by the highest officials of the world’s international organizations, must be applied fairly and dispassionately. Ms. Pillay has done the opposite.
Ms. Pillay’s blindness is more apparent today than ever due to the horrific events of Oct. 7. Hamas has revealed itself to be absolutely barbaric. Hamas, the group for which Ms. Pillay has consistently provided cover, has slaughtered women and children, the young and the old. While she cannot be deemed directly responsible for these reprehensible actions, Ms. Pillay does bear responsibility for having given ideological aid and comfort to a blatant terrorist organization.
Worse, she has brought disrepute to international law. Through her biased behavior, she has diminished a legal system that, if properly applied, might cause much good. But instead of promoting that system, she has undermined it.
The notion that just days after Ms. Pillay’s terrible judgment and her overt bias have been disclosed for what they are, as a consequence of the unparalleled violence that has been inflicted by Hamas on Israel, she was to receive an honor for her “Outstanding Achievement” in international law would have been an absolute travesty.
Fortunately, after some pressure was brought to bear, leaders of the International Law Association’s American branch canceled the award to Ms. Pillay as well as her scheduled keynote address.
The cancellation, however, had a caveat. In the words of the group’s president: “An award may be bestowed at a different time and location sometime in the future.”
Apparently, this moral awareness may be just temporary. The association insists on reserving the right to bring shame on itself and the international legal community in the future.
• Gerard Leval is a partner in the Washington office of a national law firm. His book, “Lobbying for Equality: Jacques Godard and the Struggle for Jewish Civil Rights During the French Revolution,” was published by HUC Press last year.
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