Frame It Within The Rule of Law - It Can Be Done

I have devoted much here at this blog to the question of international law, especially the question whether Jews possess an internationally recognized legal right to live in the areas of Judea and Samaria (and Gaza), at the least.

Someone occurs with my take:-

Interestingly, the issues that have caused Mr. Netanyahu the most grief have all been concerned with matters of international law. Irwin Cotler, a former Canadian justice minister and an expert on international law, attributes much of the legal approach regarding these issues to the U.S. President.

“Obama is a rule-of-law President,” Mr. Cotler said, noting the President, a former constitutional law professor, also has emphasized other legal issues such as torture and the Guantanamo detention centre in his agenda. When it comes to Jewish settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, the issue that has most clouded Israel’s relations with the United States, it’s the first time they’ve been viewed primarily through a legal prism, he said.

“Past U.S. administrations viewed the settlements as ‘ill-advised’ or as ‘obstacles to peace,’ but not usually as illegal.” “But Obama sees them as illegal,” he said.

...“The rule of law is Obama’s organizing idiom, the way in which he frames the issues,” Mr. Cotler said. “If that is how the U.S. President frames the issues, then Israel would be well-advised to do the same.”

(Kippah tip: LBD)