Louis René Beres
Beyond Current Chaos: The Escalating Risks of Nuclear War
“I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.” -J. Robert Oppenheimer citing to Bahgavad Gita at first atomic test on July 16, 1945
A first thought dawns. Nuclear weapons are unique in the history of warfare....
Israel, War and International Law: Jewish Survival in an Age of Jihadist Terror.
All people.... who dare not defend themselves when they know they are in the right, who submit to punishment not because of what they have done but because of who they are, are already dead...
Facing Trump II: America’s Urgent Obligation to Rethink Nuclear Command Authority
“The man who laughs has simply not yet heard the horrible news.”
Berthold Brecht
An Existential Task
Until the end of his presidency – and even after his open complicity in subverting the United States Constitution...
Unpacking What Motivates Jihadist Movements Like Hamas
Even in our “advanced” age of artificial intelligence, Plato continues to provide lessons for us. The ancient Greek philosopher argues famously in The Republic that politics and statecraft are only a reflection of what is real....
The Gaza War and International Law: An Informed Assessment
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: In its obligatory war against Palestinian terror – a criminal process encouraged and sustained by Iran – Israel is acting within the bounds of pertinent international law. Though this assessment is difficult to...
Countering Hamas Terrorism: Israel, Iran and the “Samson Option”
Abstract: As Israel expands its law-enforcing offensive against Gaza-based Hamas, core attention should remain directed toward terrorist patron state Iran. With such attention, Israel will need to draw upon a comprehensive strategy that is...
Israel, Terrorism And Immortality: Hamas Attractions To “Power Over Death”
“An immortal person is a contradiction in terms.”
Emmanuel Levinas, God, Death and Time (2000)
Effective counter-terrorism is never just about strategy and tactics. For Israel, still at the start of Operation Swords of Iron, dealing...
Hamas Terror Attacks and International Law
Amid ongoing terror violence in Israel, the author — an expert in international law and regular JURIST contributor — argues that it is the responsibility of the United States and other world powers to...
Beyond Belligerent Nationalism
Special to Jewish Website
7 September 2023
Louis René Beres (Ph.D., Princeton, 1971)
Emeritus Professor of International Law
Purdue University
lberes@purdue.edu
“The dust from which the first man was created was gathered in all four corners of the earth.”
Talmud
Despite persistent...
Israel, Counter-Terrorism, and International Law: The Analytic Challenges of ‘System’
“The existence of `system’ in the world is obvious to every observer of nature, no matter whom.”
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of Man (1959)
Whether conspicuous or obscure, terrorism generally presents itself as a systemic challenge. This means, inter...