Text of My Address on Israel/Gaza @ 16th Annual Int’ Humanitarian Law Roundtable

This is the text of the keynote address I delivered on August 26, 2024 in Chautauqua, New York, at the 16th Annual International Law Roundtable (see list of conference sponsors below).  2024.08.26 Rosenbaum keynote address at 16th Humanitarian Law Roundtable

My remarks dealt with several conflict situations, particularly Russia/Ukraine and Israel/Gaza.  As to the latter, I stressed Hamas’s responsibility for substantially all Israeli and Palestinian deaths in the current war and pointed out that Israel is acting in responsible self-defense to discharge the legal obligation it possesses under the 1948 Genocide Convention to prevent Hamas and its partners from continuing to commit genocide that they commenced perpetrating on October 7, 2023 during their massive unlawful armed invasion of Israel.

The description of the conference, from the sponsors, reads: “The International Humanitarian Law (IHL) Roundtable is a unique conference featuring the International Prosecutors of the world’s several International Tribunals and foremost experts in International Criminal Law. Held at the Athenaeum Hotel, the Robert Jackson Center and other venues at the Chautauqua Institution, this casual gathering is designed as a retreat for the Prosecutors, students, and VIP guests, with roundtables and workshops in an intimate setting. This year, the Roundtable is chaired by Andrew Cayley, former Chief Prosecutor of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC).”  (Source: https://case.edu/law/our-school/events-lectures/cutting-edge-international-humanitarian-law-2024-16th-annual-international-humanitarian-law-roundtable-chautauqua-new-york.)   The sponsoring organizations were:  The American Bar Association; American Red Cross; American Society of International Law; Athenaeum Hotel; Case Western University School of Law and the Frederick K. Cox Center; Chautauqua Institution; The Global Accountable Network; IntLawGrrls; New York University Center for Global Affairs; Public International Law and Policy Group; Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights; Robert H. Jackson Center and Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute at Washington University in St. Louis. In Association with the Ferencz International Justice Initiative at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.