UKLFI Charitable Trust hosted a webinar on Ukraine, Israel, Mediation and Double Standards with Prof. Eugene Kontorovich, and chaired by Natasha Hausdorff on Sunday 27 March 2022.

Many countries have responded to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by imposing severe sanctions on Russian individuals and the Russian economy. This has prompted some to ask why similar sanctions are not imposed on Israel. Are double standards being applied and, if so, by whom? At the same time, Israel has emerged as a leading mediator in the conflict, apparently trusted by both Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky. In this webinar, Prof Eugene Kontorovich, who was born in Kyiv, compares the territorial and other issues relating to the Ukraine and Israel, and reflects on Israel’s new status in international diplomacy.

More about the speakers:

Professor Eugene Kontorovich is a professor at George Mason’s Antonin Scalia School of Law, specializing in constitutional and international law. Previously he was a professor at Northwestern University School of Law for 11 years. He is the author of dozens of academic articles in the leading law reviews and peer-reviewed journals. His scholarship has been cited in leading international law cases in the U.S. and abroad. He is head of the International Law Department at the Kohelet Policy Forum, a Jerusalem-based think tank, and recognized as one of the world’s pre-eminent experts on international law and the Israel-Arab conflict. Prof. Kontorovich plays a leading role in many Israel-related policy matters, and is regarded as the “intellectual architect” of U.S. state laws regarding boycotts of Israel.

Natasha Hausdorff is a barrister at 6 Pump Court Chambers, and a frequent speaker on International Law. She has a law degree from Oxford University, qualified as a solicitor at Skadden, and subsequently gained an LLM from Tel Aviv University, focussing on public international law and the law of armed conflict.  She clerked for Miriam Naor, former President of Israel's Supreme Court and was a Fellow at Columbia Law School's National Security Program. Natasha is legal director  of UKLFI Charitable Trust.