AFI Podcast: Amos Guiora on "Enablers: Normalizing the Unimaginable," Netanyahu, the Rule of Law, and Hostage Accountability

Amos N. Guiora is Professor of Law at the University of Utah, retired Lieutenant Colonel in the Israel Defense Forces, and Director of the Bystander Initiative. An internationally recognized scholar of institutional complicity, bystander accountability, counterterrorism, and international law, he has helped shape legislation addressing enablers of abuse. His latest book, Enablers: Normalizing the Unimaginable, examines political enabling, the erosion of the rule of law in Israel, and accountability surrounding the October 7 attacks and hostage crisis.

In this interview, Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Amos N. Guiora discuss Enablers: Normalizing the Unimaginable, tracing its origins from Guiora’s scholarship on complicity to his critique of political enabling in Israel. They examine the rule of law, October 7 and its aftermath, hostage negotiations, the proposed criminalization of enablers, historical parallels with earlier research, public protests, and the broader implications of institutional accountability for democratic societies.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen is the Lifestyle and Finance Writer and Editor for A Further Inquiry with more than 400 published articles in the outlet. He is the Founder and Publisher of In-Sight Publishing (ISBN: 978–1–0692343; 978–1–0673505) and Editor-in-Chief of In-Sight: Interviews (ISSN: 2369–6885). He writes for International Policy Digest (ISSN: 2332–9416), The Humanist (Print: ISSN, 0018–7399; Online: ISSN, 2163–3576), Basic Income Earth Network (UK Registered Charity 1177066), Humanist Perspectives (ISSN: 1719–6337), Vocal, Medium, The Good Men Project, The New Enlightenment Project, The Washington Outsider, rabble.ca, and other media. His bibliography index can be found via the Jacobsen Bank at In-Sight Publishing. He has served in national and international leadership roles within humanist and media organizations, held several academic fellowships, and currently serves on several boards. He is a member in good standing in numerous media organizations, including the Canadian Association of Journalists, PEN Canada (CRA: 88916 2541 RR0001), Reporters Without Borders (SIREN: 343 684 221/SIRET: 343 684 221 00041/EIN: 20–0708028), and others.

Photo by Scott Douglas Jacobsen

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