Conor Gearty in 1987 at Emmauel College in Cambridge, where he achieved a PhD in environmental law. He later became professor of law at the London School of Economics
Born: November 4th 1957
Died: September 11th 2025
For someone who wants to believe in law, it is “depressingly clear” that international court rulings that Israel is breaching international law in its war in Gaza have had “zero” effect, Conor Gearty, who unexpectedly died aged 67, wrote when introducing his last book.
Gearty, who was professor of law at the London School of Economics, a barrister and globally acclaimed human rights scholar and advocate, said Israel “no longer even bothers seriously to defend its mass killing along even spuriously lawful lines”.
Israel, he said, “just kills away”, while its supporters in the United States and Europe “mobilise the law against those determined to oppose the realisation in real time of the genocidal plan against which the ICJ has warned”.
The effect of international court rulings “has been zero, the platitudes about peace are as empty as ever, while the delivery of weaponry, material and logistical support remain as real as they always been, with tens of tho
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