Gaza & the World, Ep. 2, with Richard Falk

This is the second episode of "Gaza & the World," a weekly podcast from Just World Educational, hosted by our president, Helena Cobban. This project explores the many interactions between the ongoing, genocidal crisis in Gaza and the world-changing shifts that the global balance of power is currently undergoing.

In this episode, Helena's guest is JWE's valued board member Prof. Richard Falk, a veteran scholar of international law who has also served a crucial term as the UN's Special Rapporteur on Palestinian rights. Shortly before joining this conversation Falk had presided over  the final, four-day-long session of the globe-girdling Gaza People's Tribunal, which was held in Istanbul Türkiye. 

The two discussed the tribunal's conclusion that Israel had committed genocide, and explored the tribunal's findings on the multiple forms that genocide has taken, including domicide and ecocide. They discussed the complicity of Western governments. 

Falk also analyzed the failures of the United Nations, especially the Security Council, contrasting it with the more principled stances of the International Court of Justice and UN Special Rapporteurs.  

He argued that despite Israel's military dominance, it had lost the "legitimacy war," which he believed would ultimately be the decisive factor, drawing parallels with other anti-colonial struggles in the past. 

We're planning to release new episodes weekly, each Wednesday. Be sure to catch them all!