What are the moral, humanitarian and legal obligations of an attacked people to provide humanitarian aid and support to their enemies?
Featuring: Moshe Jaffee, LLM
Columbia University
Date: May 14, 2025
Time: 12 noon Eastern Daylight Time, 7 p.m. Israeli Time
As we all know, on October 7, 2023, the Jewish people and the state of Israel endured the most difficult day of its existence since the Holocaust. We are all haunted to this day by the searing images of Jewish children being burned in ovens in front of their parents; of parents tied to chairs and slaughtered in front of their children; of women and mean being murdered or physically raped and tortured and paraded in front of cheering crowds in Gaza. Meanwhile, 51 hostages remain in captivity in Gaza. No one knows exactly who is alive and what sort of hell-like conditions they have had to endure. On Monday, May 5th, Israel’s Cabinet approved a new plan for the distribution of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. We have seen, over the last 19 months, how Hamas has commandeered and looted the food aid delivery and how the United Nations and the International Red Cross has not visited our hostages, even once.
What are the moral and legal obligations of an attacked people towards their attackers? What does International Law say is advisable in such a situation? What are the moral, the legal and in the humanitarian obligations of the Jewish nation toward their enemies?
About our Speaker: Here to discuss this is Moshe Jaffee. Moshe received his LLM from Columbia University Law School, and is working on his doctorate at the University of Michigan Law School. He teaches a class on Constitutional and International Law at Cardoza University School of Law, and at The Academic Center for Law and Science in Israel and has lectured at Harvard University Law School and at West Point. Moshe is a member of the IDF’s Advocate General Corps.
