27.11.2014|Other|Opinion

Expert Opinion: The Lawfulness of Israel’s House Demolition Policy under International Law and Israeli Law

Legal opinion by academic scholars attached to the public petition for a blanket ban on the authority to order punitive house demolition. The opinion finds that this policy constitutes a grave breach of international humanitarian law, and that the rulings of Supreme Court in the matter are incongruent with fundamental principles it established in rulings addressing the tension between security considerations and human rights under international law, primarily the principle of individual responsibility and individual threat. The opinion also concludes that in certain circumstances, this policy may constitute a war crime, over which, in certain conditions, the International Criminal Court has jurisdiction.