Abraham (Avi) Bell is an Israeli

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

at the University of San Diego School of Law and at

Bar-Ilan University Bar-Ilan University (BIU, he, אוניברסיטת בר-אילן, ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academi ...

's Faculty of Law. Bell received his B.A. and J.D. from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

, and his S.J.D. from Harvard. He interned in the office of

Israeli Supreme Court ar, المحكمة العليا , image = Emblem of Israel dark blue full.svg , imagesize = 100px , caption = Emblem of Israel , motto = , established = , location = Givat Ram, Jerusalem , coordina ...

judge

Mishael Cheshin Mishael Cheshin ( he, מישאל חשין‎; 16 February 1936 – 19 September 2015) was an Israeli Justice who served in the Supreme Court of Israel from 1992 to 2006. Born in Beirut, Greater Lebanon, Cheshin was the son of Leah (née Margal ...

. In addition, Bell frequently writes about the Arab-Israeli conflict. He also debated

Richard Goldstone Richard Joseph Goldstone (born 26 October 1938) is a South African former judge. After working for 17 years as a commercial lawyer, he was appointed by the South African government to serve on the Transvaal Supreme Court from 1980 to 1989 and ...

in a debate at

Stanford Law School Stanford Law School (Stanford Law or SLS) is the law school of Stanford University, a private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, it is regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world. Stanford La ...

entitled “The

Goldstone Report Goldstone may refer to: Places * Goldstone, Shropshire, a small village in Shropshire, England *Goldstone, California, a ghost town near the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex * Goldstone Lake, a dry lake in the Mojave Desert of San Bern ...

and the Application of International Law to the Arab-Israeli Conflict,” where a few days later, Goldstone said that “contrary to the report’s assertions, Israel did not intentionally target civilians.” In 2006, Bell criticized

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

for its reports on the

Second Lebanon War The 2006 Lebanon War, also called the 2006 Israel–Hezbollah War and known in Lebanon as the July War ( ar, حرب تموز, ''Ḥarb Tammūz'') and in Israel as the Second Lebanon War ( he, מלחמת לבנון השנייה, ''Milhemet Leva ...

, claiming that the organization's claims "mislead readers and betray ... bias," and that "HRW investigation n Srifa, Lebanonwas either professionally incompetent or a complete fabrication" and "nothing more than window dressing for predetermined anti-Israel conclusions." Human Rights Watch responded by claiming that Bell "displays a curious ignorance about even the basic requirements of international humanitarian law" However, a 2007 report of Human Rights Watch admitted that its "allegation f criminality in Srifaturned out to be wrong." The report stated that "eyewitnesses were not always forthcoming about the identity of those that died, and in the case of Srifa, misled our researchers ... a visit to the graveyard made it possible to establish that most of those killed in Srifa were actually combatants," and concluding that "further Human Rights Watch investigations into a deadly strike at Srifa established that an Israeli attack there killed 17 combatants and five civilians on July 19, not the 26 civilians claimed in Fatal Strikes" and "Human Rights Watch regrets the serious inaccuracy in its initial Fatal Strikes report." Bell was formerly a visiting professor at

Fordham University School of Law Fordham University School of Law is the law school of Fordham University. The school is located in Manhattan in New York City, and is one of eight ABA-approved law schools in that city. In 2013, 91% of the law school's first-time test t ...

and the

University of Connecticut School of Law The University of Connecticut School of Law (UConn Law) is the law school associated with the University of Connecticut and located in Hartford, Connecticut. It is the only public law school in Connecticut and one of only four in New England. In ...

. He currently teaches classes on property and intellectual property at

University of San Diego School of Law The University of San Diego School of Law (USD Law) is the law school of the University of San Diego, a private Roman Catholic research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1954, the law school has held ABA approval since 1961. I ...

, and on property, intellectual property and public international law at

's Faculty of Law. Bell also serves as Senior Fellow at the Kohelet Policy Forum.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Avi American legal scholars Israeli legal scholars American legal writers University of San Diego faculty Bar-Ilan University faculty University of Chicago alumni Harvard Law School alumni Living people University of Chicago Law School alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Law and economics scholars Scholars of property law