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Arsen Ostrovsky

Arsen Ostrovsky is a human rights attorney and CEO of the International Legal Forum, an Israel-based NGO and global network of lawyers standing up for Israel and combating antisemitism in the legal arena. You can follow him on Twitter at: @Ostrov_A.

Karim Khan during a meeting with European Union foreign ministers on April 11, 2022. Credit: Raoul Somers and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs via Wikimedia Commons.

The UK must call for Karim Khan’s resignation and reject ICC warrants

The ICC’s entire case against Israel is irreparably tainted to the core, given the inexcusable actions alleged to have been committed by Khan.

Arsen Ostrovsky

May 19, 2025

Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, center, during a tour of the Rafah area in southern Gaza on March 18, 2025. Credit: IDF.

Why Israel’s war against Hamas is necessary

A war can be both morally justified and legally constrained. Israel’s campaign against Hamas is exactly that. It was not launched lightly or recklessly—it was waged in defense of life, sovereignty and the rule of law.

John Spencer and Arsen Ostrovsky

April 20, 2025

Israeli Supreme Court Justice (now its president) Yitzhak Amit (center) hears a petition on the appointment of the civil service commissioner, Jerusalem, Feb. 6. 2025. Photo by Chaim Goldberg/Flash90.

Israel’s High Court just shattered the international courts’ false Gaza narrative

The truth matters. The law matters. And what Israel’s Supreme Court just showed is that even in the fog of war, when politics runs hot and justice often runs cold, there is still room for reasoned, moral and lawful adjudication.

John Spencer and Arsen Ostrovsky

April 10, 2025

Navi Pillay. Source: YouTube/United Nations.

Rewarding a UN antisemite

The American Branch of the International Law Association is giving a top award to a deplorable U.N. official.

Arsen Ostrovsky

Oct. 5, 2023

Then-director of Human Rights Watch Kenneth Roth at the Media Security Conference in Munich, Feb. 19, 2017. Credit: Kuhlmann/MSC via Wikimedia Commons.

Does Harvard’s ‘Veritas’ apply to Israel?

There can be no other way to look at the university’s decision on former Human Rights Watch head Ken Roth than as a cowardly and pitiful.

Arsen Ostrovsky

Jan. 23, 2023

A Hanukkah menorah on the last night of the eight-day Jewish holiday, at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem, on Dec. 19, 2017. Photo by Mendy Hechtman/Flash90.

Religious freedom as a universal message of Hanukkah

Although a uniquely Jewish story, the lessons of the holiday apply to everyone, irrespective of individual faith or background.

Arsen Ostrovsky

Dec. 9, 2020

Israelis participate in a march to celebrate Israel's 71st Independence Day near Havat Gilad in Judea and Samaria on May 9, 2019. Photo by Hillel Maeir/Flash90.

Annexation vs. sovereignty: Words matter

It is factually incorrect to assert that Israel intends to “annex” territory to which it has legitimate claim and that never has been part of a “state of Palestine.”

Arsen Ostrovsky and Richard Kemp

June 8, 2020

International Criminal Court, The Hague, Netherlands. Source: United Nations.

The ICC just became a tool of Palestinian lawfare

By becoming a willing pawn of the Palestinians, International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has politicized the court and brought its very legitimacy into question.

Arsen Ostrovsky and Maurice Hirsch

May 6, 2020

The scene where a house was hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon on Nov. 13, 2018. Photo by Hadas Parush/Flash90.

International community must hold Hamas accountable

Hamas in Gaza rained down more than 450 rockets in the space of four to five hours. Imagine if even one—just one—rocket was to hit an American city?

Arsen Ostrovsky

Nov. 13, 2018