Chapter

All is fair in law and war ? : legal cynicism in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Shiri Krebs

Cynical international law ? : abuse and circumvention in public international and European law

Berlin : Springer, 2021

p. 235-259 : graph.

English

Bibliography : p. 255-259

This chapter focuses on the role played by international law generally, and international criminal investigations particularly, in a growing new battlefield: the war on public perception of contested wartime events. Building on the theory of legal cynicism, the chapter argues that perceptions of the illegitimacy of international humanitarian law weaken the legal authority of international law and its potential to guide behaviour during armed conflicts. This chapter focuses on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, arguing that the prevalence of legally cynical framing of international law, institutions and war crimes investigations intensifies pre-existing processes of social backlash and denial among Jewish-Israelis. The findings suggest that applying international humanitarian law to disseminate information about wartime events may backfire, contributing to production of disinformation and of cynical perception of international humanitarian law.

• Cynical international law ? : abuse and circumvention in public international and European law / Björnstjern Baade, Dana Burchardt, Prisca Feihle, Alicia Köppen, Linus Mührel, Lena Riemer, Raphael Schäfer (eds)