Georgetown Qatar Hosts Pro-Hamas Speakers at Event on International Law
Georgetown Qatar's international law event will feature speakers who have praised Hamas and justified Oct 7 — including a Harvard lecturer who lauded Yahya Sinwar as a "hero"
Georgetown University in Qatar is set to host a controversial panel of legal scholars on October 1st to discuss whether international law has lost its relevance, featuring speakers who have made inflammatory statements defending Hamas and seemingly justifying the October 7 attacks as legitimate “resistance.”
The upcoming event, titled “The Death of International Law?”, will feature Professor Ralph Wilde from University College London, Diana Buttu, a Harvard lecturer, and Georgetown Qatar’s own Assistant Professor Noha Aboueldahab as moderator.
Ralph Wilde’s Arguments in Support of Terrorism
Ralph Wilde wrote a November 2023 article in Opinio Juris arguing that “Israel’s War in Gaza is Not a Valid Act of Self-defence in International Law.” He also told Al Jazeera that “violent resistance” - a euphemism for Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups - is legitimate against Israel’s “illegal use of force.”
His position has faced sharp academic rebuke, notably from international law scholar Marko Milanovic of the European Journal of International Law, who called Wilde’s arguments “a bit wild” and fundamentally flawed in their legal reasoning. Milanovic’s detailed critique dismantled Wilde’s central thesis, arguing that Wilde failed to establish who exactly was the victim of Israel’s alleged “armed attack,” whether Hamas could legally represent Palestinian interests, and most critically, that the October 7 attacks deliberate targeting of civilians “cannot be characterised as an exercise of ad bellum self-defence” because it “manifestly had a punitive purpose” rather than defensive necessity.
Wilde’s arguments essentially justify the October 7 massacre by framing Hamas’s deliberate slaughter of civilians as legitimate “resistance.” His legal reasoning has been criticized for ignoring fundamental principles of international law regarding proportionality and the protection of non-combatants.
Diana Buttu’s Praise for Hamas Leadership
In an October 22, 2024 interview, Diana Buttu hailed former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, stating “The Israelis will never understand what it means to die a hero.” She also characterized Hamas as “a movement for freedom, for liberation.”
Buttu, who teaches negotiation skills and human rights law at Harvard’s Division of Continuing Education, has faced criticism for statements that appear to justify the October 7 attacks, which she described as the “natural consequence, unfortunately, of 56 years of military occupation.”
Noha Aboueldahab’s Anti-Israel Activism
The event’s moderator, Noha Aboueldahab, has made Israel’s alleged violations of international law a central theme of her scholarship. Her articles have included arguments that the International Criminal Court (ICC) represents a threat to Israel “in a way that unenforced UN resolutions do not.” Her selection as moderator suggests the event is designed to provide a platform for anti-Israel perspectives rather than balanced academic discourse.