One of the biggest lacunae on Wikipedia is its lack of an entry on Natasha Hausdorff, a London barrister and expert on international law who happens to work with the UK Lawyers for Israel. She has a sterling background:
She holds law degrees from Oxford and Tel Aviv Universities and was a Fellow in the National Security Law Programme at Columbia Law School. Natasha previously worked for Skadden Arps, in London and Brussels and clerked for the President of the Israeli Supreme Court, Chief Justice Miriam Naor, in Jerusalem. She regularly briefs politicians and international organisations and has spoken at Parliaments across Europe and at the United Nations.
Hausdorff is, along with Douglas Murray, one of the most eloquent and articulate spokespeople for Israel. In this Triggernometry interview, highlighted by a reader today, and which I watched during lunch, Hausdorff debunks several of the Big Lies that propel opposition to Israel: Genocide, Apartheid, and Occupation—all at bottom expressions of antisemitism and, according to Hausdorff, expressions of modern “blood libel.”
I have watched so much Hausdorff that her arguments here aren’t that new to me, but I love to hear her speak. Like Pinker, she speaks in complete sentences and paragraphs. For those of you who don’t know how international law applies to Hamas vs. Israel, you could do worse than watch this one-hour interview of Hausdorff with hosts Konstantin Kisin and Francis Foster . The hosts don’t ask softball questions, but they do allow the interviewee to express her views. Don’t miss the Jew-hating Palestinian propaganda clips interpolated in the interview!
As for me, I’m sick to death today of the endless hatred and bickering about politics, hatred that doesn’t seem to be diminishing despite everybody’s calls for comity after the assassination attempt on Trump. Rather than express my own malaise and grumpiness, I’ll just ask readers to read and follow the posting Roolz if they haven’t. Please pay attention to the rules about civility towards other commenters and the host, as well as the rule about dominating threads.
And now, I give you someone who’s always civil. I’ll be back tomorrow with, I hope, a better disposition, as well as a science post and who knows what else.
Just want to note how great it is that important discussion and topics are getting visibility on YouTube, and that basically a comedian (Kisin) can use humor in a productive way in that it might reach a wider audience … me… than without. Of course I rely on PCC(E) for such things as well, so cheers all ’round.
Thank you, Jerry and h/t to the alert reader. I was looking for something like this yesterday, an otherwise extremely depressing day, but did not think to google natasha as she is relatively new to me. There are still thought provoking and educational traditional printed books, videos, podcasts, substacks, as well as weit and its references and links. News and comment of the moment is often available from the online media, while tv, that many of us relied upon for decades, after circling the drain for several years, seems to be fully flushed and in the outflow pipe to the ocean where it will metaphorically add to the pollution.
So I look forward to watching the Natasha video this afternoon and tapping into a fresh Hili dialog in the morning. Meanwhile, I am enjoying Dr Fauci’s autobiography, refreshing myself on medical topics like HIV/AIDS through freely available and well done Khan Academy videos. Thank you, Sal!
I’ve queued it up and will watch tomorrow at the gym. Thank you for alerting us to this.
Yes, very like Pinker she’s a treat to listen to.
I’m often searching for a good, ’bout an hour summary of “our side” and along with Sam Harris’ moral one of a few months ago, this is it.
I tell people to listen to both as they address different aspects.
Kids can camp out for weeks but not listen to two hours of the side they’re protesting apparently.
Our education system isn’t up to snuff perhaps.
D.A.
NYC
I should be outdoors working, but this video is superb. Thanks for posting it, Jerry.
Cracking good. Ms Hausdorff (and the boys) touch all the bases, including what international law is, Judea & Samaria, does Israel have a long-term future (Answer: Israel has no choice in the present. The future is the future.)
Professor Coyne,
Your work as a biologist is really fantastic. As a result, you happen to have really top notch law school colleagues who work in the area of international law. One of them–Curtis Bradley–is the third most cited scholar of international law among U.S. law school faculties. You would do well to ask him (or really international law scholar) for his thoughts on Hausdorff’s arguments here and their reception among the community of scholars of international law.
I assume this is a backhanded way of telling me that Hausdorff’s arguments are wrong, and you would do well to just say which ones, as I don’t have time to discuss stuff with Professor Bradley. Or you could give me links to what he’s written showing that Hausdorff is wrong. Just telling me to talk to someone isn’t really all that useful.
I’m getting weary of people who turn a blind eye to the behavior of the Palestinian community. I realize they aren’t all terrorists, but it seems to be a rather high percentage when the HAMAS approval ratings are considered. It’s especially sickening to think of all the aid money that went into weapons, tunnels and hate-filled education. I’m clear eyed enough to realize the Palestinians are going through a rough patch but it’s all of their own making. I don’t think they can govern and organize themselves. Heck, even I’d want to help them if they’d start behaving like civilized people! Nobody can deny there were atrocities committed on October 7th and that there are hostages, some of whom are even American! I support Israel with just about any action they take at this point. What I don’t understand is why people aren’t demanding that HAMAS surrender unconditionally? If the Germans and Japanese can do it, they can too. Apparently things aren’t bad enough on them because the civilized world is still tasked with feeding and housing them. Forgive the rant, I had to get it off my chest.
Question of international law.
Would Israel be legally bound to honor an agreement that is extracted by the taking and holding of civilian hostages?