This writer is not happy with Israel being defined as an apartheid state by Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic and Addameer’s Joint Submission to the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel entitled “Apartheid in the Occupied West Bank: A Legal Analysis of Israel’s Actions.”
Here’s the Times of Israel Piece
Clinicals serve as some of the most defining experiences in law school. As a student at Harvard Law, my participation in the Asylum Clinic formed the basis of years of pro bono cases which are among the most rewarding experiences of my legal career.
So it was with great chagrin that I read the Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic and Addameer’s Joint Submission to the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel entitled “Apartheid in the Occupied West Bank: A Legal Analysis of Israel’s Actions.”
I take issue with much of the content of the report which concludes that Israel is guilty of the crime of Apartheid. It displays rather shoddy scholarship for future leaders of the legal world. Illogical conclusions, convenient definitions and assumptions, limited sources, one-sided review, and a total failure to understand the Oslo regime or to recognize the security situation pertaining to Israel speak poorly of the authors. They did not approach this project as advocates for truth and reason free from passion, but rather from a pre-determined bias against Israel. It is fairly clear that they would rather see dead Israelis than imprisoned Palestinian perpetrators.
The most egregious problem with the project and the one I will address, however, is the fact that a Harvard Law School clinic partnered with Addameer to educate its students in human rights law.
For those who are unfamiliar with Addameer, it is a Palestinian human rights entity that, on October 22, 2021, was classified by Israel as a terror organization along with five other Palestinian human rights organizations that serve as a front for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (“PFLP”).
You might recall the PFLP from such hits as the Entebbe plane hijacking in 1976, the assassination of Israeli Minister of Tourism Rechavam Ze’evi in 2001, the house invasion and murder of the Fogel family in 2011, the massacre at a Jerusalem synagogue in 2014, the attempted assassinations of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, and the murder of 17-year-old Rina Schnerb in August 2019 while hiking with her family.
The PFLP boasts quite a robust history of violence. Recognized by the US, EU, Canada, and Israel as a terrorist organization, the PFLP has been engaged in terrorism since it popularized airplane hijackings in the 1960s. What people may not realize is that it has never ceased its terror activities, nor has it ever recognized the State of Israel or any forms of negotiation. It is a firmly rejectionist organization that brazenly seeks the eradication of Israel through violence.
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/harvard-law-school-fails-to-perform-its-due-diligence/
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