Our Most Read Posts in 2024 (and Au Revoir)

I would like to wish our readers a very Happy New Year! One cannot but also wish the world a 2025 that is more peaceful than 2024. Unfortunately, armed conflict continued to rage in many parts of the world and, sadly, the hope expressed in my Happy New Year post of a year ago that 2024 would bring peace and comfort to the many in need of them proved to be in vain.

We published some blog statistics a few months ago showing the numbers of submissions we received and the numbers we accepted. What those statistics do not show was the very diverse range of topics which those blogposts cover. However, as was the case in 2022 (when the list of most read posts was dominated by the Russia-Ukraine war) and 2020 (when COVID related posts were at the top of the list) one thing has attracted the attention of our readers in 2024, and perhaps unsurprisingly, it is the tragic conflict in Gaza! Seventeen of the posts in our list of twenty most read posts in 2024 relate to legal issues arising from Israel’s military action in Gaza (and elsewhere in the middle east). These post cover issues arising from the law relating to the use of force (the jus ad bellum), international humanitarian law, the law and procedure of the International Court of Justice, the prohibition of genocide etc. Many thanks to our readers for turning to us for analysis of these and other issues, and to all those who submitted posts this year. 

As I have reminded readers in previous years, this list contains those post which were viewed the most by readers in the year being surveyed (2024), even though some of them were published in previous years. This is why you will see some posts published in 2023 in the list. Indeed the No. 2 most read post in 2024 was the No. 1 most read post in 2023! 

On a more personal note, this is my last post written as one of the editors of this blog. The blog started in December 2008 with me as the editor and it has been a huge privilege to work on the blog since then. However, after sixteen years as editor, the time has come to pass on the baton to others. I consider my work on this blog to have been one of the most important and useful things I have so far done as an international lawyer. As I wrote on the blog’s 10 year anniversary, the task of editor changed (at least for me) significantly over the years. In the early years most of my time was spent writing blog posts with a later transition to mainly reviewing and editing the ever-increasing number of posts we receive. Through this system of review, it has been a pleasure to be in touch with, to read, review, edit, revise the work of, so many international lawyers at all career stages! Together, with those who joined me as Editors and our Associate Editors, the work was also one of overseeing the running of the blog.

I am immensely grateful to the EJIL Board of Editors (and in particular to Joseph Weiler, who was sole Editor in Chief at the time) for taking a risk back in 2008 in relation to the format and for entrusting me with the task of editing the blog. I am very lucky to have worked over the years with a team of incredibly talented blog Editors andAssociate Editors. I am indebted to them all.

Now for that list of the most read posts of 2024!

1) Jesse Limpel, Why the ICJ Cannot Order Israel to Stop the War in Gaza as a Provisional Measure (Jan 2024)

2) Marko Milanovic, Does Israel Have the Right to Defend Itself? (Nov. 2023)

3) Marko Milanovic, ICJ Delivers Preliminary Objections Judgment in the Ukraine v. Russia Genocide Case, Ukraine Loses on the Most Important Aspects (Feb 2024)

4) Marko Milanovic, ICJ Indicates Provisional Measures in South Africa v. Israel (Jan 2024)

5) Amal Clooney & Marko Milanovic, Panel of Experts Publishes Report Supporting ICC Arrest Warrant Applications for Crimes in Israel and Palestine (May 2024)

6) Marko Milanovic, ICJ Delivers Advisory Opinion on the Legality of Israel’s Occupation of Palestinian Territories (July 2024)

7) Olivia Flasch, Rebutting Allegations of Genocide Against Israel (Jan 2024)

8) Marko Milanovic, Were the Israeli Pager and Walkie-Talkie Attacks on Hezbollah Indiscriminate? (Sept 2024)

9) Marko Milanovic A Quick Take on the European Court’s Climate Change Judgments (April 2024)

10) Luciano Pezzano, The Obligation to Prevent Genocide in South Africa v. Israel: Finally a Duty with Global Scope? (Jan 2024)

11) Eugenio Carli Community Interests Above All: The Ongoing Procedural Effects of Erga Omnes Partes Obligations Before the International Court of Justice (Dec 2023)

12) Jérôme de Hemptinne, Classifying the Gaza Conflict Under International Humanitarian Law, a Complicated Matter (Nov 2023)

13) Brian McGarry, Decoding Nicaragua’s Historic Request to Intervene in South Africa v Israel (Feb 2024)

14) Geir Ulfstein, Does Israel have the right to self-defence – and what are the restrictions? (May 2024)

15) Yussef Al Tamimi, Implications of the ICJ Order (South Africa v. Israel) for Third States (Feb 2024)

16) Victor Kattan & Gerhard Kemp, Apartheid as a form of genocide: Reflections on South Africa v Israel (Jan 2024)

17) Nico Krisch Speaking the Law, Plausibly: The International Court of Justice on Gaza (Jan 2024)

18) Marko Milanovic and Michael Schmitt, Israel’s Use of Force Against Syria and the Right of Self-Defense (Dec 2024)

19) John Quigley, Legal Standard for Genocide Intent: An Uphill Climb for Israel in Gaza Suit (Mar 2024)

20) John Quigley, Karim Khan’s Dubious Characterization of the Gaza Hostilities (May 2024)