Why Israel Should Obey Geneva Even When Its Enemies Do Not

We are again witnessing what a world without pity looks like. The invasion of Ukraine; Russia’s murder of civilians in Bucha; Hamas killers filming themselves murdering women, children, and retirees in kibbutz gardens; the pulverization of Gaza and mass civilian casualties. We’ve been catapulted backwards into the lawless universe Bruegel painted centuries ago in his Massacre of the Innocents.

When the internationally sanctioned system of rules collapses, the legal and ethical norms that regulate individual conduct begin to founder. Justifications of violence are hurled around, with all the righteousness that goes with identity claims and group loyalty. Mere bystanders rush to judgment in service of their prior political certainties.

Amid this moral storm, we have one piece of wreckage to cling to. The Geneva Conventions still figure prominently on both sides of the propaganda battle over the current conflict in Gaza, suggesting that they still have some vestigial authority. Hamas’s supporters cite