A network of 4,000 lawyers has launched an online dictionary of terms such as “genocide” and “colonialism” which it says have been “stripped” of their precise meaning in international law and “repurposed as political weapons”.
Launched by the Israel-based International Legal Forum (ILF) on the third anniversary of the October 7 attacks, the resource seeks to “remember, reclaim, and renew” the foundational principles of international law that have been “systematically hijacked, redefined, inverted, and weaponised... to malign certain countries while harming genuine victims".
The ILF highlights terms including “genocide”, “war crimes”, “ethnic cleansing”, “famine” and “colonialism”.
The organisation contends, for example, that the term “genocide” has been used by international human rights organisations and public officials in ways that “blur the lines between accusation and legal fact”.
The dictionary provides background on each term, historical examples and instances when the organisation believes the terminology has been misused, including by organisations and institutions such as Amnesty International, the United Nations and the Canadian government.
The compendium was developed through expert consultation and research, with the aim of making “vital legal principles and terms that have been wielded as weapons in an unconventional war for hearts and minds” accessible to policymakers, legal professionals, educators, journalists, students and the wider public.
The dictionary currently covers nine terms, with further entries including “occupation”, “Zionism” and “indigenous” expected to be added later.
Michal Colter-Wunsh, CEO of the International Legal Forum and Israel’s former Special Envoy for Combating Antisemitism, said: “Three years of responses to the October 7 massacre and the multi-front war waged that day have exposed an additional existential war front.
"This resource, which remembers the origins of these terms, reclaims their original meaning, and renews the shared pledge to uphold and protect them equally and consistently – is vital to fighting and winning this raging war that threatens humanity and freedom.”
The dictionary is available online at www.dictionaryofterms.org.
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