“Mr. Zelensky told reporters on Saturday that Jerusalem could be a site for peace talks between the leaders of Ukraine and Russia.”
Half of Jerusalem is occupied and unilaterally annexed.
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1 deeply impressed by these students who performed the Passover Seder in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Their protest is important on so many levels and one can only hope they succeed in transforming US foreign policy. And yet, their image also demonstrates how far
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1/ Alarming: @UofT apparently rescinded @ValentinaAzarov’s job offer as director of the human rights program due to pressure by a sitting judge who didn’t like her work with Palestinians and on Palestinian rights.
theglobeandmail.com/canada/a…
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There will be talk about ambiguities of language, but I think it's safe to say that, starting from today, the mainstream position under Public International Law will be that Israel established an apartheid regime in Palestinian territories.
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To fulfill para 79 of the provisional measures decision, Yoav Gallant, Isaac Herzog, and Israel Katz, at a minimum, must resign immediately and / or face disciplinary measures and / or indictment.
Mark my word, this minimum will not be met.
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Happy and pround to share that I have been promoted to professor of law @HaifaFacultyLaw. Mentors and friends out there, my deepest thanks go to you. This job is nothing if not a local and transnational work of community-making.
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This would obviously be an unfortunate choice if part of what Zelensky would be after is stressing the illegality of the acquisition of territory by force.
Just like most embassies, it would be wiser to stay away from Jerusalem ->
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"We are not committing genocide but war crimes and / crimes against humanity": Israel's best defense today before the ICJ is also it worse one.
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After hearing SA's argument today i predict that the ICJ will craft a ceasefire order of some kind. My own legal opinion is that such an order will be justified.
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"accusing the Jewish state of genocide is crossing a moral threshold!"
This position seems to me very dangerous and invites continued spiralling of antisemitic conspiracy & backlash.
It scares me as a Jew
Unbelievable. Stéphane Séjourné, France's new minister of foreign affairs, essentially said that France wouldn't support the ICJ's decision if it rule against Israel because accusing them of genocide is "crossing a moral threshold" and is "exploiting the notion of genocide for political purposes".
Here's the exact quote (translated):
"As for the International Court of Justice, we firmly tell the Israelis that international law applies to everyone, the systematic strikes in Gaza must stop... but words have meaning and accusing the Jewish state of genocide is crossing a moral threshold! We cannot exploit the notion of genocide for political purposes, that is our consistent position."
So first of all it's an egregious lie that it would be their "consistent position" that "we cannot exploit the notion of genocide for political purposes" because less than a year ago the French parliament (including Macron's party) voted to recognize as "genocide" the Holodomor in Ukraine, and the year before that they voted (also including Macron's party) to recognize the so-called "Uyghur genocide"; both clearly done for political purposes (on the Uyghurs only some Western countries - led by the U.S. - have ever called it a "genocide" and a UN Human Rights Office investigation on the ground did not retain this designation)... So when it's directed at geopolitical foes of the West, France happily exploits the notion of genocide for political purposes.
And in this case this isn't even about this, since we're speaking about an official ruling by the International Court of Justice, of which France is a founding member. So if the ICJ ruled in the sense that Israel was indeed committing genocide, by definition it wouldn't 'be an "exploitation of the notion of genocide for political purposes" but a ruling based on international law.
So as I've said since the very beginning, this demonstrates once again that the war in Gaza is essentially the war of the "rules-based order" with all its double standards vs "international law". And sadly now France has made it clear that faced with the choice, they opt to side with the rules-based order against international law 😢
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Demanding #CeasefireNOW is sometimes understood as an anti-Israeli slogan. But there are hefty Isaeli national security interests to stop this war. Below are *only* those concerns (though there are others):
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ICJ finds Israel in breach of prohibition of Aricle 3 of CERD: "States Parties particularly condemn racial segregation and apartheid and undertake to prevent, prohibit and eradicate all practices of this nature in territories under their jurisdiction."
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1. Been working on this talk for the last year or so, and finally it's out -- integrating thoughts about revolution / migration / @GLAN_LAW litigation.
ted.com/talks/itamar_mann_a_…
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1. In late March, such strange images started to circulate. During the last six weeks, @NiamhKTabbal and I have been investigating the story behind them. Today @just_security publishes our work.
justsecurity.org/70309/tents…
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Starting from August, my family and I will be spending a year in Berlin. Happy and grateful for the opportunity to join Humboldt University as a research fellow, hosted by Florian Jeßberger. Will be good to take a break, but would have preferred to leave during better times.
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But Perhaps I can recommend the unlikely option of Haifa. The Northern port city would symbolically bring the leaders closer to large Ukrainian and Russian diasporas.
Apart from that, Haifa would shed the meeting from unnecessary symbolism, which may Indeed be a heavy load.
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Studied international law as thought it might help in liberating the Palestinian people and therefore also my own. That turned out to be wrong.
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to prevent any unintended offense against the Palestinian cause.
Tel Aviv is a fun city. It’s small hotels are well suited to host classified preparatory meetings.
It would also create an auspicious atmosphere for a summit.
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1/10 The new @btselem report exposes a raltively unstudied kind of torture in Israeli prisons, which might be called "revenge torture".
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What does it mean to "decolonize" Palestine? Various parties use the term in totally different ways:
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Theodor Meron deserves all our respect, but legends are often , well, legends. In the 1967 memo Meron also advises the Israeli government on how to circumvent the prohibition on settlements, by disguising them as military facilities. Not far from what Israel initially did.
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"We must ask whether the mass killing of one set of human beings is a proportionate means of completely protecting another set of human beings from all future threats. It is not."
@AdHaque110 channeling @dirkmoses on "permanent security"
justsecurity.org/89960/enoug…
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Proud to have been appointed associate Dean for research @HaifaFacultyLaw. We have a really exciting & excellent group of scholars; I’m seeking advice on how to be useful. If you’ve done this job or have thoughts I’ll be thankful for any tips.
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Methodology for legal scholars, summarized:
(1) Pick a topic you find interesting, curious, or enraging.
(2) Read everything you can about it, including legal materials.
(3) Write what you think about the topic now that you've read; what's wrong with what people write?
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Update: Flip Schuller, @NiamhKTabbal, Lisa-Marie Komp and I just filed an ECtHR complaint on behalf of A.N., an asylum seeker who was the victim of this practice near Samos on 13.5.
1. In late March, such strange images started to circulate. During the last six weeks, @NiamhKTabbal and I have been investigating the story behind them. Today @just_security publishes our work.
justsecurity.org/70309/tents…
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1. How and why has rescue equipment been weaponized against migrants in the Aegean? @NiamhKTabbal and I have been trying to crack this puzzle for a while, looking at the materiality of rescue equipment.
Our concluding article is now out w/@LJIL_Leiden:
cambridge.org/core/services/…
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1. Today in DC, #Netanyahu will try to convince that anti-war means antisemitic. He has long weaponized antisemitism against Palestinians. Our @UCLALawReview article w/ @lihiy argues that this weaponization hurts Jews, and paves an argument for resistance. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/ppers.c…
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1/2 In this @just_security piece, @Smadarbn1 and I argue that torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian detainees illustrate the one-state reality of violations, requiring the ICC to expand its investigation and to reconceptualize its jurisdiction.
justsecurity.org/98501/israe…
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This, by @AdHaque110, is spot on:
🧵of background on where the second war of independence trope comes from.
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1. For some years, we @GLAN_LAW have been chasing the tail of a beast called European border externalization: a violent creature from Brussels, often discussed but seldom seen (apart from its incarnation in the bodies of Italian/ Greek/ Spanish/ non-European border guards).
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There are now no more Palestinians among those Karim Khan seeks to arrest in his Palestine investigation.
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2 is Hamas's project. 3 is the explicit project of large part of the Israeli gov. (Some jewish groups see it as decolonial). 1 has never been less popular over here. It may be a dead political project. But it is the only kind of decolonization that can also represent justice.
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The discursive role international law plays in Israel has transformed. Far from setting real limitations on state behavior, IHL has more and more come to define desirable transgressions. It is now a menu of rules that must be broken to accomplish an effective spectacle of power.
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The decision @HarvLRev made to rescind a publication offer at this late late stage is disappointing and shameful. Judging from his past work, Rabea Eghbariah is a wonderful scholar.
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My essay on international criminal law and @BehrouzBoochani's work will be coming out this year with the European Journal of International Law. Today marks 7 years since Reza Barati's death in detention, and so I've posted it: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.…
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Literally shredding the UN Charter while blaming the audience for metaphorically doing it is truly next level
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As an international law guy, kinda relieved that constitutional lawyers have now decisively overtaken our dubious traditional role of generating defensive scholarship solely aimed to preserve the discipline.
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Next week in Frankfurt for first conference abroad after who knows how long. Opening lecture by Seyla Benhabib, then meeting in real life with missed colleagues and collaborators.
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Why has the European Court of Human Rights failed to stop acts of abandoning asylum seekers at sea on unnavigable life rafts? Why have no remedies been given since this started in March 2020?
Two answers @ejiltalk, following @ABoatReport @daria_sartori ejiltalk.org/a-lost-opportun…
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The attack on Gaza will displace many Palestinians, sending them on horrific journeys seeking asylum. Many will have suffered bombings against the backdrop of extreme poverty and oppression. Governments should grant them intl protection, but also help make their return possible.
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I have just listened to Ezra Klein interviewing Israeli right wing opinion leader Amit Segal and i don't think I have ever heard Klein so unprepared.
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🎭Border Masquerades🎭is out at long last @BerkeleyIntLaw. The paper inverts Hannah Arendt's claim that citizenship functions as a mask covering our private charachteristics and allowing us to appear as equal persons publicly. Humanity is a mask.
ac0f3675-c45e-4407-a6e5-4a9e…
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"I came to your seminar on human rights because I thought this would not be about politics, but about the basic needs that everyone has. I'm sightly disappointed."
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My analysis of South Africa's litigation strategy at the ICJ is up on @Verfassungsblog.
I try to make several points and open a basic question about the nature of this procedure. The piece is titled The Missing Party.
verfassungsblog.de/the-missi…
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My new article Border Masquerades will be coming out late this Autumn with the Berkeley Journal of International Law, in a Special Issue dedicated to Guy Goodwin-Gill. This version is not perfectly final, still soliciting your thoughts and comments.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.…
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1. Gaza is an ongoing atrocity. Whether its situation formally meets the legal definition of apartheid is a technical matter. In many ways the 15-years closure is probably worse. But the closure in itself is held by most commentators as legal. This was not always a given outcome.
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What a relief to finally be in Berlin! Alongside my usual role as dad I hope to spend this sabbatical reading, writing, and (re)connecting with friends & colleagues, thanks to @AvHStiftung
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The Body of the Judge and the Suffering of the Collective: South Africa’s Genocide Application and the Power of Minority Opinions
New post on Israel's appointment of Aharon Barak, holocaust survivor, as ad-hoc ICJ judge
verfassungsblog.de/the-body-…
Thanks @Verfassungsblog
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Thanks to Zoom we have really been able to continue pushing forward with all aspects of our academic activity with the exception of fun
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My review essay on Behrouz Boochani's No Friend but the Mountains is now out @ejiltalk, with many thanks to @CJTams
academic.oup.com/ejil/advanc…
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Good coverage of the way in which the Gaza war has become an opportunity for displacing Palestinian communities in the West Bank.
Displacement is proceedings by the hands of violent settlers and, as shown here, by the Israeli military. All under longstanding political plans.
The entire population of the West Bank village of Zanota is moving. They say they have no choice after being harassed and threatened by Israeli settlers.
Sky's Stuart Ramsay speaks to people forced to move 👉 trib.al/mdClQHi
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1/3 The rush to make genocide accusations on both sides of the Hamas-Israel war seems to me indicative of the utter failure of international law in responding to war crimes and crimes against humanity (including apartheid).
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Justice David Mintz of the Israeli High Court of Justice, in a decision from today: "torture is prohibited, apart from in very exceptional cases..."
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1. More than a month later, I decided to watch the videos collected from the atrocities of Oct 7 and posted online by the Israeli government. (Theynare now accessible to everyone).
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Human rights law emerged from a backward looking orientation to time: holocaust, absolute destruction. Those bases have lost relevance. The project will remain viable only by a forward looking orientation to the time of unfolding climate crisis.
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I can't get this photograph out of my mind. What a horrific nightmare.
The olives and palms in the background.
If someone knows where and by whom it was taken, or what is the box in the foreground (detail, below), please tell me.
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Our newly established @BorderForensic is dedicated to realizing a global vision of border justice. For updates, please follow.
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What's going on right now in Northern Gaza has nothing to do with Israeli security and everything to do with (escalating importance):
(a) forced displacement;
(b) settlement;
(c) political galvanizing in the name of the prime minister;
(d) out of control collective revenge.
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Teachers of international law: Martti Koskenniemi has a new 10-page (!) introduction to the critical school, focusing on sovereignty: archive.kulawr.ru/netcat_fil…
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5/ on the more optimistic side, should be said very loudly that several among the law faculty at @UofT displayed breathtaking solidarity. This could not be exposed without them, and I’m sure this is anything but easy. Thanks so much. You know who you are.
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It took me a long time to admit this, but now I can say proudly: IHL is not something I enjoy.
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1/ As per Thomas Friedman, Biden has adopted a plan for a "demilitarized" Palestinian state. Post Oct-7, it will be hard or impossible to find Israeli support for anything more. Mainstream is still terrified that Palestinian military power will invite another similar attack.
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Unaccompanied minor sues Greece for towing him out to sea, abandoning him there
Horrifying account of pushback of two minors, taken from the Samos camp, forced on a Hellenic Coast Guard vessel & finally left adrift in a life raft at sea - case filed by @GLAN_LAW at the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of one of the *children* glanlaw.org/aegean-push-back…
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Wish for the new Jewish year: may The Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law become as open and accessible as the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
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New essay out @JournalGenocide:
Everyday Evil and the Family: Watching the Zone of Interest in Israel 2024
I argue that the main contribution the film offers to our understanding of “banal evil” is in tying it to parenting and the family.
tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.…
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4/ Hard to exaggerate how dangerous this development is for academic freedom in legal clinics globally. @UofT urgently needs to be put on a recovery treatment. First step is to hold those who mistreated @ValentinaAzarov accountable. With all respect, Dean Iacobucci should resign.
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Discouraged as i'm back from a small demonstration for a hostage deal. Support for a deal has become a form of opposition, suggesting that chances for gov adopting it are slim. Despite oppositional protest, no word on Rafah, as the offensive intensifies. At least i met a fox.
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This online event on our coauthored piece (w/@lihiy) is coming up soon, apparently amid fast developments related to the topic in German politics. Thanks @thehertieschool for the kind invitation.
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1/ Uploaded Eichmann’s Mistake: The Problem of Thoughtlessness in International Criminal Law
I've been working on this paper for a while, and it is now thankfully forthcoming in the Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence
academia.edu/39993654/Eichma…
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New article w/@InternatlTheory written for tumultous times -- back in times that now seem not as tumultuous.
I'd like to think this read is relevant and escapist in equal measure.
cambridge.org/core/journals/…
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Conversation with a good friend i met at Tel Aviv university nearly two decades ago: he reminds me how our education was based on thinkers who came out of WWII: Arendt, Benjamin, Levinas... and how the readings we were invited to do were all about exposing their contemporary
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Pleasure & honour to be here in Copenhagen @MobileUCPH with @tgammeltoft's crew
We are thrilled to announce that MOBILE's Permanent Visiting Professor @itamann from @UofHaifa is visiting the center and @jura_ku for the first time and will be working alongside us during the month of August: mobilitylaw.ku.dk/news/2023/…
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This engrossing piece by @fredericmegret is a must-read for anyone interested in activism grounded in international law. It also generously and deeply engages with my own work, in a way that I very much hope to follow up on.
🌊🚢🐳
brill-com.ezproxy.haifa.ac.i…
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2/ But this idea is contrary to sovereign equality. From an international legal standpoint, a "demilitarized" state is not a state. (Art. 9 of the Japan constitution, outlawing war as a means to settle disputes, is often the counter-example. But it's probably a different matter).
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(1) Releasing the hostages. According to reports, an unknown number of Israeli hostages have already died. A failure to #BringThemHome will have dire consequences for the cohesion of Israeli society and Israeli stability. A ceasfire and prisoner swap can prevent that risk.
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This will raise Qs about very real nat sec risk from Hamas. Israel can protect its Southern border (with different gov). Military/Intel action vs Hamas can be long term and discriminatory. Revenge is not a military purpose. Retribution for Oct 7 can be achieved through trials.
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Out at last
Border Violence as Crime
42(3) U. Pa. J. Int'l L 675-736 (2021)
scholarship.law.upenn.edu/ji…
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A few years ago, @samuelmoyn wrote this very critical review of an essay that later became Chapter 1 of my book. Working on related themes once again, and his devastating words stick. The review is no longer available online, so I uploaded it here:
academia.edu/40026928/The_Em…
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New paper up now -
Hangman’s Perspective: Three Genres of Critique following Eichmann
Forthcoming in The Oxford Handbook of International Criminal Law (2018)
academia.edu/37871119/Hangma…
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Conferences are important because they lead you to believe that some people care about what you do
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UN Security Council should make a Ch. 7 Resolution enforcing this provisional measure designed to ensure access to food and water.
President Salam: Without such humanitarian aid, “the right of existence” of an entire human group [...] would be jeopardized.
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Decolonization 1: Jews in Israel willingly place their security in the hands of Palestinians, as Palestinians do in the hands of Jews, so that all can live equally. Both groups belong to the land, and the land belongs to both of them.
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This was not easy to write, but hopefully it helps move the conversation on an urgent issue.
The New Palestinian Refugees | by @itamann
ejiltalk.org/the-new-palesti…
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Our team @GLAN_LAW @ForensicArchi just published a report and submitted SDG v Italy at the Human Rights Committee. We document Italy's reliance on merchant vessels for returns to Libya. Passengers of the Nivin resisted their disembarkation for ten days. One took this photo. /1
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The problem with the ICJ decision in 3 words: everyone is satisfied.
The same problem in 6 words: everyone but the Palestinians is satisfied.
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Samer Alatout is a wonderful scholar. I have taught his work on the history of water and its regulation in Palestine and Israel to my environmental law students at Haifa. I had the privilege and pleasure of meeting him several times. I stand in solidarity with Samer's protest.
طلاب جامعة ويسكونسن في مدينة ماديسون بيسطروا أجمل المواقف المدافعة عن فلسطين في التخييم في الحرم الجامعي للمطالبة بعدم الاستثمار أو التعامل مع اسرائيل. اصتدموا مع قوة البوليس يوم الأربعاء ولكن أعادوا بناء المخيم في خلال ساعة من هدم الخيم. الإدارة الآن تتحاور حول مطالبهم و ان شاء الله رح يحققوا انتصارا ولو جزئيا. ارجوكم ارسلو لهم رسائل محبة و دعم من خلال حسابي هنا (سأعطيهم الرسائل) أو على حسابهم على التويتر @sjpuwmadison. أو إنستغرام. instagram.com/sjpuwmadison?i…
و هذي صورتي من الاصطدام مع البوليس في يوم الأربعاء، الصورة اللي سببت الخجل لإدارة الجامعة. وضعي الصحي جيد، فلا تقلقوا.
كرهت الصور هاي، بس للأيام.
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When is a customary international law rule no longer customary?
'several member states have tabled a proposal to legalise pushbacks'
euractiv.com/section/politic…
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Why is literature central to human rights thinking and action? @LyndseyStonebri formulates a concise and powerful answer, within the general terms of Kantian aesthetics.
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3/3 As far as i can see, war crimes and crimes against humanity are probably still the more accurate categories.
This is not to absolve anyone from responsibility. It's a mistake to think that genocide is always more heinous than crimes against humanity.
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.@ProfCCostello and I finished our editorial work on a Special Issue @Ger_Law_Journal titled Border Justice: Migration and Accountability for Human Rights Violations. Was hard to keep track of developments (not all of which fall into the more visible crisis narrative). We tried.
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1. Belatedly, my two cents on the Friday @CIJ_ICJ provisional measures modification: a piece of confused lawyering by a court that seems to be out of its depth.
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