Israel’s Day in Court and the Future of Unrwa

Regarding your editorial “The U.N.’s War on Israel” (Dec. 27): The International Court of Justice’s provisional order entirely ignored Hamas’s use of human shields and how that has increased the casualty figures, and then used those figures to justify its preliminary measures against Israel. In doing so, the court encouraged the use of human shields by our enemies. By intervening in the future phases of the case, and encouraging key allies to do likewise, the U.S. can help ensure that the court instead starts deterring war crimes rather than adding to the incentive to commit them.

Orde F. Kittrie is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a law professor at Arizona State University. He previously served for over a decade in legal and policy positions at the U.S. State Department.