IDF Legal Officer Tours Top Law Schools Across US
A serving member of the IDF Military Advocate General’s Corps completed his tour of the premier law schools in the US last week after delivering a series of lectures on “The Implementation of the Laws of Armed Conflict Against Non-State-Actors.”
The annual initiative of bringing active members of the IDF, from the rank of sergeant to general, to the campuses and communities of the English-speaking world, is the brainchild of Our Soldiers Speak, a non-profit NGO founded by Benjamin Anthony in 2007.
The lectures focus on bona fide case studies and analyze the constraints and dilemmas in which democratic countries such as Israel are compelled to operate when fighting against those for whom international law bears no relevance.
In October, the active and uniformed IDF attorney, who must remain anonymous due to security considerations, addressed the law students at Harvard, Emory, University of Pennsylvania, UCLA, Stanford, University of Maryland and George Washington University.
Founder and director at Our Soldiers Speak, Sgt. Benjamin Anthony, explained to TPS (Tazpit Press Services) the two-fold rationale behind restricting attendance exclusively to law students and faculty members. Notwithstanding the fact that the presentations are highly legalistic in nature and are therefore specifically tailored to those with an in-depth knowledge of legal theory, the reasoning is essentially strategic.
“If you look at the US Congress and lead policy members, there is a disproportionate number that emanates from a legal background. Therefore, if you want to meet future policy makers and influence them, then one of the most obvious venues at which that can be achieved is at the law schools,” Anthony said.
Upon completion of the presentation, in which the general addressed issues such as legal definition of proportionality, methods in limiting collateral damage, reasons behind abortive strikes, and legal justification of targets, the students were given the opportunity to challenge the speaker.
The lectures attract a varied audience due to their background in the military sphere, human rights, Jewish affiliation or simply legal curiosity. “They feel they have an opportunity to learn and that they are hearing from a practitioner in a very rare position who fights asymmetrical conflicts 45 minutes from his capital city. Most other democracies are doing so thousands of miles away,” he said.
He added that the lectures do occasionally attract some hostility from anti-Israel students. As was the case at UPenn and Stanford, students placarded and anti-Israel literature were handed prior to, and during, the lecture. However, Anthony said that Our Soldiers Speakinsists on robust security measures to prevent any serious incidents.
“The students were given ample time to ask hard questions and as long as any question was asked in a respectful manner, they received the best response the speaker could marshall,” he said.
TPS caught up with David Rothenberg, a third year law student at Emory University and president of the Brandeis Center Emory Chapter. As a student interested in international law, Rothenberg stressed the importance of hearing from actual practitioners in their field in order to provide a more authentic perspective.
“The most interesting part was to see the pieces of information that IDF soldiers receive prior to determining whether they will attack homes containing an arms cache or an individual terrorist and seeing from a legal perspective what an attorney has to do to ensure that the IDF is conforming to international law.”
According to Rothenberg, students were especially interested in learning about the actual legal definition behind proportionality of force.
“I think the lecture opened people up to not just accepting what they see on the news because sometimes it takes months to conduct an analysis and gather the facts of what actually happened.”
Rothenberg reflected that while he understands that some people come in with negative predispositions about the IDF, he believes that a practicing officer methodically citing case examples can “definitely open the minds of people who simply hear things on the news but don’t really know what to think about it all.”
This is the fourth time that Ours Soldiers Speak has brought an IDF legal officer to the students of the premier law schools. In previous tours officers have also addressed top US law firms and leading think tanks.