Op-Ed: UVA Hosts Israeli Supreme Court Judge
In a stunning moral failing, UVA Law welcomed Judge Alex Stein of the Supreme Court of Israel to participate in the “Rules and Reasons” conference on Friday, September 12, 2025. The event was billed as one where “[a]n interdisciplinary and international group of scholars will explore the legacy of the late UVA Law professor Frederick Schauer (who passed away on September 1, 2024), a world-renowned scholar whose work spanned law and philosophy, evidence and psychology, constitutional law and freedom of speech.” In light of the ongoing genocide in Gaza perpetrated by Israel,[1] many students who attended the first day of the conference were surprised to learn via the conference’s brochure that an Israeli judge would be speaking, and that surprise turned to dismay and shock once Judge Stein’s legal positions were revealed. I was already attending each portion of the conference myself prior to becoming aware of Judge Stein’s invitation. He joined us via Zoom for Session 3, entitled “Proof,” and I asked Judge Stein the following question:
“Good morning, my name is Kirk. It is not often we get to speak to a practitioner or a judge of your level, so my question is about evidence and burdens of proof in practice. Recently, the Israeli Supreme Court determined that aid was not being impeded into Gaza. This decision was reached despite overwhelming evidence, including videographic and photographic proof, from human rights organizations and international bodies. What evidence will you, as someone who was part of the military occupation in Gaza prior to serving on the court, need to see to determine a genocide is ongoing in Gaza?”
In a dodge familiar to anyone who has watched judicial confirmation hearings here in the U.S., Judge Stein insisted that he cannot speak on ongoing cases or matters that may come before him in the future. He then proceeded to do exactly that by asserting that there is no genocide in Gaza, and he went even further to ask me (rhetorically, I assumed) if the rights of the Israelis had been sufficiently vindicated since the horrors of October 7, 2023. He held the answer to that was no. Judge Stein then asserted that the Supreme Court of Israel is at the forefront of human rights, and in fact it is better than the U.S. system because they are hearing cases that consider the rights of non-citizens. In support of the Israeli system being superior to the American judiciary, Judge Stein asserted, falsely, that the U.S. constitution doesn’t protect non-citizens.
All in all, it was a disgusting answer riddled with falsehoods and a display unbecoming of this institution. It is baffling to think an individual who previously served as a professor of law at an American university could believe that the U.S. Constitution does not protect non-citizens.[2] But I will not belabor this point here. Instead, I want to take his answer on genocide and the justifications thereof each in turn. I believe his answers will further illuminate why giving this man a platform at UVA was an irresponsible decision by the school’s administration.
Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza, full stop. We are seeing it with our own eyes every day, on the news and on social media. International watchdogs, organizations within Israel itself, and Gazans have told us this for months, even years. On September 16, 2025, a United Nations commission finally declared as much, and issued a statement that “warns [that] all other countries have an immediate obligation under the Genocide Convention to ‘prevent and punish the crime of genocide,’ employing all measures at their disposal. If they do not, it says, they could be complicit.”[3] UVA itself only furthered its own complicity by giving encouragement and a platform for Judge Stein, all while the events of May 4, 2024, where UVA called in militarized police who gassed and beat peaceful demonstrators protesting against the genocide, are still fresh in the memories of many UVA students and faculty. Prior to his elevation to the Supreme Court of Israel’s bench, Stein was a member of the Israeli Defense Force, where he served as an “officer at the Military Governor’s office in Gaza” which suggests he is not unfamiliar with the situation on the ground during Israel’s occupation.[4] Even before Israel's recent war on Gaza, the occupation of Gaza and other Palestinian territories was illegal under international law.[5] Judge Stein should never have been invited to speak at UVA Law.
In a letter from the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) at UVA Law rebuking the decision to invite him, it was noted that Judge Stein “has played a central role in upholding and advancing policies that not only violate international law, but strip Palestinians of basic human dignity.”[6] NLG researched “his record of reprehensible decisions.”
● In April 2025, he affirmed that “from a legal perspective, it is clear that the State of Israel is not obliged to provide electricity to the Gaza Strip, for money or for free,” even as millions faced blackout conditions amid a humanitarian catastrophe.[7]
● In November 2023, he rejected a petition (without so much as a hearing) that challenged the Israeli Prison Service’s inhumane treatment of Palestinian prisoners—including denial of medical care, legal access, and electricity.[8]
● He rejected a petition demanding humanitarian aid resume flowing into Gaza, even amid mass starvation and infrastructural collapse.[9]
● He has ruled that international laws of warfare and occupation do not apply to Israel’s ongoing actions in Gaza—a judicial move that, according to legal experts, “legitimizes starvation and genocide.”[10]
● He has upheld the demolition of Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank and the legalization of Israeli settlements on private Palestinian land—both of which are flagrant violations of international law.[11]
On the point of genocide, by asking if the rights of Israelis had been “vindicated” and insisting the answer was in the negative, Judge Stein continued his flaunting of international law and made the abhorrent implication that Palestinians deserve genocide because of October 7. Judge Stein surely knows, or should know, that collective punishment is a war crime in and of itself.[12] More than 60,000 people have been killed by Israel in the offensive in Gaza, with more than 200,000 casualties in total according to the IDF.[13] If I could have asked Judge Stein a follow up, I would have asked him how many bodies of dead children he demands before he feels his pound of flesh has been adequately exacted, or his rights “vindicated” as he desires. One can only assume that the answer is “more.”
So why did UVA invite and give a warm welcome to a judge who has flaunted international law, and enabled genocide? What did they expect us to learn from this shining example of jurisprudential responsibility? Who is this man to tell us about burdens of proof, evidence, and the importance of law? Somehow we just sit idly by and even invite and encourage individuals involved in the legal justification of genocide and who participated materially in crimes against humanity. There was a way to say politely that this was to be an in-person-only event, and consequently we could not accommodate Judge Stein. But the administration did not do that. Instead they invited him, platformed him, and in so doing, spit in the face of those who have defended their judgement and credibility.
When hosting controversial speakers in the past, UVA Law has often retorted to critics that it has a duty to host “a variety of viewpoints.” Yet, as the NLG letter noted, one must ask: “How many Palestinian lawyers, jurists, or human rights advocates has the law school invited to speak? If the answer is zero—and it appears to be—it is disingenuous to claim this platform was about intellectual diversity. Platforming only one ‘side,’ particularly the side responsible for mass displacement, indiscriminate bombing campaigns, systematic oppression, and genocide, is not neutrality. It is complicity.”
In the wake of this betrayal of its ideals and students, UVA Law should clarify what line it will draw in the future when it comes to inviting individuals who contributed to crimes against humanity or who support such atrocities. Students should call on UVA Law to present the other side, the Palestinian side, by inviting a speaker (or even a panel) to discuss the facts. It should not be difficult to find speakers who can elaborate on the evidence of genocide in Gaza and how that evidence is going to be used, as nearly every international law organization is in agreement that a genocide is ongoing. However, based on the school’s continued disparate treatment of pro-Palestine protests, and its viewpoint discrimination against Palestinian voices, I will not hold my breath for UVA to invite any such scholar to speak. But, I sincerely hope they prove me wrong.
[1] Jamey Keaten, UN Commission of Inquiry Accuses Israel of Genocide in Gaza and Urges Global Action, AP News (Sept. 16, 2025), https://apnews.com/article/israel-gaza-genocide-palestinians-c9d40ab3714b46957c5716132f9eb2a6.
[2] Reno v. Flores, 507 U.S. 292, 306 (1993) (“It is well established that the Fifth Amendment entitles aliens to due process of law. . . .”).
[3] David Gritten & Imogen Foulkes, Israel has Committed Genocide in Gaza, UN Commission of Inquiry Says, BBC News (Sept. 16, 2025) https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8641wv0n4go.
[4] Alex Stein, Justice Profile, Versa: Opinions of the Supreme Court of Israel (Benjamin N. Cardozo Sch. of L.), https://versa.cardozo.yu.edu/justices/stein-alex (last visited Sept. 17, 2025).
[5] Raffi Berg, UN Top Court Says Israeli Occupation Of Palestinian Territories Is Illegal, BBC News (July 19, 2024), https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjerjzxlpvdo.
[6] Visit @nlgatuvalaw on Instagram to view the full statement.
[7] Israel National News, “Supreme Court rejects petition demanding Israel supply electricity to Gaza,” (April 10, 2025),https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/406713.
[8] HCJ 7753/23 The Association for Civil Rights in Israel v. Minister of National Security (Isr. HCJ Nov. 23, 2023).
[9] Israeli Supreme Court Decision Legitimises Starvation, Genocide in the Gaza Strip, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor (Mar. 28, 2025), https://euromedmonitor.org/en/article/6663/Israeli-Supreme-Court-decision-legitimises-starvation,-genocide-in-the-Gaza-Strip.
[10] Id.
[11] Fake Justice: The Responsibility Israel’s High Court Justices Bear for the Demolition of Palestinian Homes and the Dispossession of Palestinians, B’Tselem (Feb. 6, 2019) https://www.btselem.org/press_releases/20190206_fake_justice.
[12] Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War art. 33, Aug. 12, 1949, 75 U.N.T.S. 287.
[13] Julian Borger, ‘We Took the Gloves Off’: ex-IDF Chief Confirms Gaza Casualties Over 200,000, The Guardian (Sept. 12, 2025), https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/12/israeli-ex-commander-confirms-palestinian-casualties-are-more-than-200000.
Guest Contributor — Kirk Wolff ’26
wzw8mp@virginia.edu