On Justice #6
Gaza, International Law and the Discourse of Genocide
With Ahmed Abofoul & Omer Bartov
Moderation: Chantal Meloni & Stefanie Schüler-Springorum
- Dialogue
English /
approx. 120-180 mins.
Along with Berlin Review and the ECCHR, HAU brings together legal and historical perspectives: Israeli genocide researcher Omer Bartov and Palestinian international law expert Ahmed Abofoul, who hails from Gaza, look back on the situation in Gaza since October 7, 2023, and discuss how and when massive violence becomes genocide. An encounter between history and the present, memory and law.
A majority of international experts, legal scholars, historians, and human rights organizations, including the UN-Commission describe the Israeli onslaught against lives, urban structures, and livelihoods in Gaza as genocide. The killing and destruction, following the murderous Hamas attack, are on a scale with little precedent in recent history. Yet the debate in Germany about the applicability of the term of genocide still ignites heated arguments across legal, political, and academic communities. The discussion seeks to intervene in this debate by delivering analysis of the rich body of facts about the situation on the ground in Gaza as well as by mapping the assault onto the history of genocides since the institution of international law in the wake of the Holocaust.
But the debate about whether the actions of Israel amount to genocide is not simply a question of terminology: states that have ratified the Genocide convention are bound not only to refrain from such crimes themselves but also to prevent and punish them elsewhere. Instead of prevention we see, that unlike the destruction of Aleppo or Grozny, it has been carried out with the logistical, military, and diplomatic support of most Western countries, chiefly the US and Germany. This puts the international order under massive strain: what happens to the status of international law if it´s enforcement is dismissed or ignored? How can accountability of states in the face of complicity to genocide be provided?
Palestinian international law expert Ahmed Abofoul and the Israeli-American genocide historian Omer Bartov will bring their disciplinary perspectives to seek to situate the current debates in their broader historical and legal context.
An evening moderated by international law scholar Chantal Meloni and historian Stefanie Schüler-Springorum, organized in cooperation with Berlin Review, ECCHR, and HAU Hebbel am Ufer.
Ahmed Abofoul is a Gaza-born International Lawyer and a Legal Advisor at Al Haq Europe, a Human Rights Non-Governmental Organisation. He has over a decade of professional experience in promoting and advocating for human rights and international justice at the national and international levels.
Omer Bartov is a historian and Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Brown University in Providence, USA. He is one of the leading researchers on genocide and the Holocaust. His latest book, “Genocide, the Holocaust and Israel-Palestine: First-Person History in Times of Crisis”, was published in German in April 2025 by Suhrkamp Verlag.
Chantal Meloni is a criminal lawyer and professor at the University Statale of Milan, where she teaches International Criminal Law. She has authored several academic books and articles published internationally and worked at the International Criminal Court. Since 2010 she has been advising the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and joined ECCHR in September 2015 as Senior Legal Advisor for International Crimes and Accountability.
Stefanie Schüler-Springorum is a historian and has been director of the Center for Research on Antisemitism at the Technische Universität Berlin since 2011. Her work focuses on German and Jewish history in the 19th and 20th centuries, gender history and Spanish history.
Dates
Past
Credits
A discourse series by HAU Hebbel am Ufer in cooperation with the ECCHR (European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights). Funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media as part of the Alliance of International Production Houses. Edition “On Justice #6” in cooperation with Berlin Review.
Location
HAU1
Stresemannstr. 29, 10963 BerlinThere are two marked parking spots in front of the building. Access to the Parkett by means of a separate entrance with lift when necessary. Barrier-free restroom facilities are available.
