Paraphrased from Jonathon Rosenblum

It is time we recognize, to paraphrase Voltaire on the Holy Roman Empire, that “customary international humanitarian law” is neither customary, nor law, nor humanitarian.

It is not customary because it is not based on the actual behavior of nations past or present.

Nor is it law in any meaningful sense. Its “rules” were not enacted by any international governmental body to which sovereign nation-states ceded the right to legislate. Nor are they even embodied in reciprocal treaty obligations entered into by sovereign states.

Nor are the “rules” humanitarian. As Ganor points out, they render civilian populations more vulnerable by creating incentives for terrorists to operate from their midst. They sever the obligations on states trying to defend themselves against terrorism from any reciprocal obligations on the part of terrorists