The end of a system that once held the world together – Danny Orbach on what comes after the collapse of the global order and the rules-based system

About this episode

Danny Orbach discusses the implications of the collapse of the global order and the evolving definitions in international law.

The language of international law is being stretched to breaking point. Terms once defined with precision are now deployed as instruments of moral accusation, detached from the evidentiary standards that once gave them force. In that shift, something deeper is revealed about the condition of Western institutions. Authority no longer rests securely on method, but on consensus, amplification, and the emotional force of accusation. What presents itself as a defence of human rights increasingly operates through blurred definitions, institutional capture, and self-reinforcing narratives. The result is a system that struggles to distinguish between war, crime, and rhetoric, while insisting on moral certainty. Danny Orbach is an associate professor for history and Asian studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He specialises in military history, political assassinations and coups, military adventurism, illegal orders, dynamics of military atrocities and the history of intelligence and espionage. In this conversation with Jonathan Sacerdoti he challenges the widespread use of the term “genocide” in relation to Gaza, examines how international institutions, media, and academia…

People in this episode

Host: Jonathan Sacerdoti

Guest: Danny Orbach

Topics covered

• international law
• global order
• human rights
• military history
• political narratives
• evidentiary standards

Keywords

• genocide
• Gaza
• international institutions
• media
• NGOs
• legal definitions
• moral framing

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Hebrew University of Jerusalem

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