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Created page with "'''Avraham Russell Shalev''' (also known as '''Adv. Avraham Shalev''') is an Israeli-Canadian lawyer and researcher specializing in international public law. He is a s..."
'''Avraham Russell Shalev''' (also known as '''Adv. Avraham Shalev''') is an [[Israeli]]-[[Canadian]] lawyer and researcher specializing in international public law. He is a senior fellow at the [[Kohelet Policy Forum]] and leads the organization's legislative monitoring team.<ref name="kohelet-bio">{{cite web |last=Shalev |first=Avraham |title=Adv. Avraham Shalev |url=https://www.kohelet.org.il/en/writer/adv-avraham-shalev/ |website=Kohelet Policy Forum |access-date=June 20, 2026}}</ref><ref name="jns-author">{{cite web |title=Russell Shalev |url=https://www.jns.org/author/russell-shalev |website=Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) |access-date=June 20, 2026}}</ref>
== Education ==
Shalev earned a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies from [[McGill University]] in Canada.<ref name="kohelet-bio" /> He later completed a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) and a Master’s degree in Middle Eastern Studies at [[Bar-Ilan University]] in Israel.<ref name="muckrack">{{cite web |title=Avraham Russell Shalev |url=https://muckrack.com/avraham-russell-shalev |website=Muck Rack |access-date=June 20, 2026}}</ref>
== Career ==
As a senior fellow at the Kohelet Policy Forum, Shalev's research focuses on public law, international legal affairs, and statutory implementation.<ref name="muckrack" /> He has published legal scholarship in several academic periodicals, including the ''[[Israel Law Review]]'', the ''San Diego Journal of International Law'', and the ''Washington University Global Law Review''.<ref name="muckrack" />
=== Legislative Monitoring and []UNRWA]]===
Shalev heads a dedicated monitoring unit within the Kohelet Policy Forum established to oversee and ensure that passed Knesset legislation is actively enforced by state agencies.<ref name="linkedin-post">{{cite web |last=Shalev |first=Avraham (Russell) |title=Attorney Avraham (Russell) Shalev leads a monitoring team... |url=https://www.linkedin.com/posts/russell-%D7%90%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%94%D7%9D-shalev-32625155_attorney-avraham-russell-shalev-leads-a-activity-7291718054688776193-4zBz |website=LinkedIn |date=February 2, 2025 |access-date=June 20, 2026}}</ref>
In this capacity, he has focused heavily on the legal status of the [[UNRWA|United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA)]] following Israeli domestic legislation banning the agency's operations. Shalev authored legal memoranda for Knesset members arguing that UNRWA's diplomatic immunity—originally stemming from a 1967 agreement—was effectively nullified by the new legislation, criticizing the Israeli Ministry of Justice for continuing to defend the agency's immunity in parliamentary committee hearings.<ref name="linkedin-post" />
=== Legal Analysis of the October 7 Attacks ===
In August 2025, Shalev published a comprehensive legal study in the ''Israel Law Review'' titled ''"Hamas' October 7th Genocide: Legal Analysis and the Weaponisation of Reverse Accusations – A Study in Modern Genocide Recognition and Denial."''<ref name="cambridge-ilr">{{cite journal |last=Shalev |first=Avraham Russell |date=August 9, 2025 |title=Hamas’ October 7th Genocide: Legal Analysis and the Weaponisation of Reverse Accusations – A Study in Modern Genocide Recognition and Denial |journal=[[Israel Law Review]] |volume=58 |issue=2-3 |pages=343–382 |doi=10.2139/ssrn.5183482 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/israel-law-review/article/hamas-october-7th-genocide-legal-analysis-and-the-weaponisation-of-reverse-accusations-a-study-in-modern-genocide-recognition-and-denial/322198E636341BE82F37ED7147FEB0F5 |access-date=June 20, 2026}}</ref>
Applying the [[Genocide Convention]] and international case law, Shalev argued that the [[7 October attacks|October 7 attacks]] executed by [[Hamas]] legally constituted genocide, meeting both the physical act requirements and the strict ''dolus specialis'' (special intent) thresholds.<ref name="cambridge-ilr" /> He posited that the reciprocal genocide accusations brought against Israel by entities like South Africa function as a rhetorical tactic of "reverse accusation" designed to shield Hamas from legal accountability and shift culpability back onto the victims.<ref name="cambridge-ilr" />
=== Critique of Academic Discourse ===
Shalev has also critiqued contemporary academia's framing of the [[Israel–Hamas war]]. In an October 2025 paper titled ''"The Misuse of Genocide: Academia’s Betrayal of Truth,"'' he asserted that the academic consensus alleging an Israeli [false] genocide in Gaza relies on partisan networks, such as the ''Journal of Genocide Research'' (JGR), which seek to intentionally dilute the legal definitions of genocide.<ref name="kohelet-article">{{cite web |last=Shalev |first=Avraham |title=The Misuse of Genocide: Academia’s Betrayal of Truth |url=https://www.kohelet.org.il/en/article/11606 |website=Kohelet Policy Forum |date=October 26, 2025 |access-date=June 20, 2026}}</ref> "The INOGS was founded in 1999 by genocide scholars who explicitly sought to refocus the field away from the Holocaust. As Holocaust scholar Israel Charny put it in a 2016 paper, the minimisation of the Shoah has been central to the INOGS project. As Charny records, the JGR has published articles denying that the Nazis explicitly targeted Jews and arguing that the Wannsee conference, where the Nazis formulated the Final Solution, was actually developing German policy towards minorities as a whole." Shalev reminds that such accusations ignore the military realities of dense urban warfare, rely on unverified or circular NGO data, and use out-of-context quotes from political leaders to delegitimize the sovereign status of Israel.<ref name="kohelet-article" />
== See also ==
* [[Kohelet Policy Forum]]
* [[Legal assessments of the Gaza genocide accusation]]
== References ==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Middle East]]
[[Category:lawyers]]
[[Category:McGill University alumni]]
[[Category:Bar-Ilan University alumni]]
[[Category:Kohelet Policy Forum people]]
== Education ==
Shalev earned a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies from [[McGill University]] in Canada.<ref name="kohelet-bio" /> He later completed a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) and a Master’s degree in Middle Eastern Studies at [[Bar-Ilan University]] in Israel.<ref name="muckrack">{{cite web |title=Avraham Russell Shalev |url=https://muckrack.com/avraham-russell-shalev |website=Muck Rack |access-date=June 20, 2026}}</ref>
== Career ==
As a senior fellow at the Kohelet Policy Forum, Shalev's research focuses on public law, international legal affairs, and statutory implementation.<ref name="muckrack" /> He has published legal scholarship in several academic periodicals, including the ''[[Israel Law Review]]'', the ''San Diego Journal of International Law'', and the ''Washington University Global Law Review''.<ref name="muckrack" />
=== Legislative Monitoring and []UNRWA]]===
Shalev heads a dedicated monitoring unit within the Kohelet Policy Forum established to oversee and ensure that passed Knesset legislation is actively enforced by state agencies.<ref name="linkedin-post">{{cite web |last=Shalev |first=Avraham (Russell) |title=Attorney Avraham (Russell) Shalev leads a monitoring team... |url=https://www.linkedin.com/posts/russell-%D7%90%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%94%D7%9D-shalev-32625155_attorney-avraham-russell-shalev-leads-a-activity-7291718054688776193-4zBz |website=LinkedIn |date=February 2, 2025 |access-date=June 20, 2026}}</ref>
In this capacity, he has focused heavily on the legal status of the [[UNRWA|United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA)]] following Israeli domestic legislation banning the agency's operations. Shalev authored legal memoranda for Knesset members arguing that UNRWA's diplomatic immunity—originally stemming from a 1967 agreement—was effectively nullified by the new legislation, criticizing the Israeli Ministry of Justice for continuing to defend the agency's immunity in parliamentary committee hearings.<ref name="linkedin-post" />
=== Legal Analysis of the October 7 Attacks ===
In August 2025, Shalev published a comprehensive legal study in the ''Israel Law Review'' titled ''"Hamas' October 7th Genocide: Legal Analysis and the Weaponisation of Reverse Accusations – A Study in Modern Genocide Recognition and Denial."''<ref name="cambridge-ilr">{{cite journal |last=Shalev |first=Avraham Russell |date=August 9, 2025 |title=Hamas’ October 7th Genocide: Legal Analysis and the Weaponisation of Reverse Accusations – A Study in Modern Genocide Recognition and Denial |journal=[[Israel Law Review]] |volume=58 |issue=2-3 |pages=343–382 |doi=10.2139/ssrn.5183482 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/israel-law-review/article/hamas-october-7th-genocide-legal-analysis-and-the-weaponisation-of-reverse-accusations-a-study-in-modern-genocide-recognition-and-denial/322198E636341BE82F37ED7147FEB0F5 |access-date=June 20, 2026}}</ref>
Applying the [[Genocide Convention]] and international case law, Shalev argued that the [[7 October attacks|October 7 attacks]] executed by [[Hamas]] legally constituted genocide, meeting both the physical act requirements and the strict ''dolus specialis'' (special intent) thresholds.<ref name="cambridge-ilr" /> He posited that the reciprocal genocide accusations brought against Israel by entities like South Africa function as a rhetorical tactic of "reverse accusation" designed to shield Hamas from legal accountability and shift culpability back onto the victims.<ref name="cambridge-ilr" />
=== Critique of Academic Discourse ===
Shalev has also critiqued contemporary academia's framing of the [[Israel–Hamas war]]. In an October 2025 paper titled ''"The Misuse of Genocide: Academia’s Betrayal of Truth,"'' he asserted that the academic consensus alleging an Israeli [false] genocide in Gaza relies on partisan networks, such as the ''Journal of Genocide Research'' (JGR), which seek to intentionally dilute the legal definitions of genocide.<ref name="kohelet-article">{{cite web |last=Shalev |first=Avraham |title=The Misuse of Genocide: Academia’s Betrayal of Truth |url=https://www.kohelet.org.il/en/article/11606 |website=Kohelet Policy Forum |date=October 26, 2025 |access-date=June 20, 2026}}</ref> "The INOGS was founded in 1999 by genocide scholars who explicitly sought to refocus the field away from the Holocaust. As Holocaust scholar Israel Charny put it in a 2016 paper, the minimisation of the Shoah has been central to the INOGS project. As Charny records, the JGR has published articles denying that the Nazis explicitly targeted Jews and arguing that the Wannsee conference, where the Nazis formulated the Final Solution, was actually developing German policy towards minorities as a whole." Shalev reminds that such accusations ignore the military realities of dense urban warfare, rely on unverified or circular NGO data, and use out-of-context quotes from political leaders to delegitimize the sovereign status of Israel.<ref name="kohelet-article" />
== See also ==
* [[Kohelet Policy Forum]]
* [[Legal assessments of the Gaza genocide accusation]]
== References ==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Middle East]]
[[Category:lawyers]]
[[Category:McGill University alumni]]
[[Category:Bar-Ilan University alumni]]
[[Category:Kohelet Policy Forum people]]