Has Israel been using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza? In this episode of Expert Witness, leading international law scholar, Professor Tom Dannenbaum, discusses with Middle East Eye news editor Sondos Asem the nuts and bolts of the starvation war crime throughout history and what needs to be done to make the law more effective. He argues that under international law, there’s a very strong case for implicating Israeli leaders for the crime of weaponising starvation, and for failure to prevent genocide.

Filming date: 16 May 2025 London and Massachusetts

What can more than 100 years of the international justice system tell us about its present and future? In this episode of Expert Witness, Professor William Schabas, widely recognised as one of the world’s leading scholars of international criminal law, provides a reflection on his decades of experience as an academic lawyer and genocide expert, and the challenges facing international law after Israel’s war on Gaza in 2023. Schabas is the former president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars and the author of more than 20 books on genocide, the International Criminal Court, and international human rights law.

Date of filming: 4 April 2025, London

What is the future of Unrwa, the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees?

In this episode of Expert Witness, Unrwa chief and Swiss-Italian humanitarian Philippe Lazzarini talks to Middle East Eye’s news editor Sondos Asem on the current humanitarian situation in occupied Palestine, and the future of the cash-stapped agency.

Lazzarini is the 11th commissioner-general of Unrwa, the largest provider of humanitarian assistance to some six million Palestinians in occupied Palestine, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. He reflects on the funding crisis faced by the organisation and calls on UN member states and the Arab world to step in to compensate for the vacuum left by the withdrawal of US funding in January 2024.

Filming date: 22 May 2025, Geneva,Switzerland