On 4 November, Israel officially informed the United Nations of its decision to cut ties with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) following the passage of two bills opposing UNRWA’s activities on Israeli territory. The new laws also designate UNRWA as a terrorist organisation and strip its staff of legal immunity. As many commentators (e.g. Eirik Bjorge), including state officials, have criticised, those bills seriously threaten the operational viability of UNRWA in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Genocide
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Evacuations In Armed Conflict: A Fine Line Between A Life-Saving Measure And Forced Displacement
According to media reports, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is proposing to force Palestinian civilians out of northern Gaza and declare a ‘closed military zone’. Likud MP Avichai Boaron told The Guardian that ‘the IDF will evacuate all the civilians who are in the north of Gaza, from the…
Statements by Officials on Social Media as Evidence Before the ICJ
Today there are (at least) three cases on the ICJ’s docket where applicant States have relied on social media statements made by officials of respondent States as evidence. The reliance on public statements by State officials before the ICJ is not per se a new development (a notorious example is the Nicaragua case). However, since these statements were…
Assessing the Contents of the ICJ’s Latest Provisional Measures Order in South Africa v. Israel
In its application instituting proceedings against Israel last December, South Africa requested the International Court of Justice (ICJ) indicate a provisional measure ordering Israel to “immediately suspend its military operations in and against Gaza” (para. 144(1)). Since then, in successive orders and decisions dated 26 January, 16 February, and…
The Story of a General Assembly Resolution, the Weaponizing of Genocide, and the Bizarre
This post is a story of the bizarre. Its, perhaps unlikely, subject is the adoption of United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution (A/78/L.67/Rev.1), which established 11 July as the International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica. As its name indicates, the resolution was meant to commemorate the victims…