When asked if he felt the ceasefire deal should be canceled, the president said that is „Israel’s decision.“
„If all the Gaza hostages aren‘t returned by Saturday at 12 p.m., I would say cancel the ceasefire,“ Trump said in the Oval Office. „Let all hell break out; Israel can override it.“
(February 10, 2025)
However, Abu Obaida, spokesman for Hamas‘s armed wing the Qassam Brigades, said it will be „postponed until further notice, pending the occupation‘s compliance and retroactive fulfullment of the past weeks‘ obligations“.
„We reaffirm our commitment to the terms of the agreement as long as the occupation adheres to them,“ he added.
Abu Obaida said the delay would continue until Israel halted its attacks on Palestinians returning to their homes in Gaza and allowed aid into the enclave at previously-agreed-to levels.
(February 9, 2025)
Government delays Security Cabinet talks on Phase II of hostage deal despite public outrage; families urge swift action after freed hostages appeared gaunt and frail, underscoring dire state of 76 captives still held in Gaza
(August 28, 2024)
Saleh Hijazi, a BNC adviser on apartheid-free policy, said he expected calls for Israel’s suspension to intensify next month with the opening of the 79th session of the General Assembly. UNGA, as it is known, begins on Sept. 10.
She criticised the hypocrisy of Western powers such as France and Germany, highlighting the gap between their official statements and actions on the ground. In particular, she condemned their inaction regarding ongoing Turkish military attacks on civilians and infrastructure in northern Syria, stressing that these assaults continue without any clear response or preventive measures from Western nations.
Ahmed was also questioned about her foreign policy efforts, specifically whether she had raised human rights concerns, including Turkey’s occupation of large parts of northern Syria and its alliance with Islamist militias. She confirmed that she had addressed these issues with international actors such as the United Nations, the United States, and European states, urging them to act as guarantors to facilitate the return of refugees to their homes.
(January 31, 2025)
The U.S. and Iraq announced an agreement last year to wind down the military mission in Iraq of an American-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group by September 2025, with U.S. forces departing some bases where they have stationed troops during a two-decade-long military presence in the country. (…)
But the fall of Assad in a lightning offensive led by Sunni Islamist rebels in December led some to reassess that stance, including members of the Coordination Framework, a coalition of mainly Shiite, Iran-allied political parties that brought current Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani to power in late 2022.
(January 29, 2025)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requested on Wednesday to cancel all hearings in his trial scheduled for next week after announcing his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, slated for the same time.
(January 28, 2025)
The Tuesday and Wednesday hearings for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s corruption trial testimony were canceled due to one of the three judges presiding over the cases falling ill, the Jerusalem District Court ruled on Tuesday morning.
A few hours before the Tuesday hearing was set to begin, the testimony was canceled, soon followed by the Wednesday session, because Judge Moshe Bar-Am fell ill with the flu.
The implementation of Israel’s legislation on 30 January — curtailing the operations of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) — will undermine the ceasefire and sabotage Gaza’s recovery and political transition, a senior UN official told the Security Council today.
Lazzarini told the UN Security Council on Tuesday that the ban would „heighten instability and deepen despair in the occupied Palestinian territory at a critical moment“.
“The relentless assault on UNRWA is harming the lives and future of Palestinians across the occupied Palestinian territory,“ he said.
“It is eroding their trust in the international community, jeopardising any prospect for peace and security.”
(October 15, 2024)
One rogue nation cannot declare war on the UN itself and continue to get away with it
The fate of captives held by Hamas is in the balance until they are finally swapped for Palestinian prisoners
Ever since the war on Gaza started following Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, around 11,200 people have gone missing according to the Gaza government media office.
They did not arrive at Gaza’s hospitals and they were not buried and are therefore not counted in the Gaza government’s official death toll, which now stands at 46,899.
His statement came almost three hours after Israel had expected to receive the names, which Hamas was to give to mediator Qatar. There was no immediate response from Hamas or Qatar.
The prime minister, speaking to the nation about 12 hours before the ceasefire is set to start, also said Israel is treating the ceasefire with Gaza as temporary and retains the right to continue fighting if necessary. He claimed that he had the support of President-elect Donald Trump, who he said he spoke with Wednesday.
(August 28, 2024)
Saleh Hijazi, a BNC adviser on apartheid-free policy, said he expected calls for Israel’s suspension to intensify next month with the opening of the 79th session of the General Assembly. UNGA, as it is known, begins on Sept. 10.
(October 15, 2024)
One rogue nation cannot declare war on the UN itself and continue to get away with it
(July 19, 2024)
Taking into account the agreement of the Parties,
Fixes the following time-limits for the filing of the written pleadings:
21 July 2025 for the Memorial of the Republic of Nicaragua;
21 July 2026 for the Counter-Memorial of the Federal Republic of Germany; and
Reserves the subsequent procedure for further decision.
(December 6, 2024)
The UN’s top independent expert on Palestinian human rights has repeated a call for Israel to be removed from its membership in the United Nations, citing its “relentless attacks” against the institution’s top aid group for Palestinian refugees.
On Thursday, UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese said on social media that Israel should be unseated, echoing calls from numerous international law experts and advocates for Palestinian rights.
In this context, French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian has arrived for his sixth visit to Beirut since the presidential vacancy began. His discussions will include meetings with Berri, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, several members of parliament, and ambassadors from the Quintet committee.
According to LBCI sources, Le Drian is not expected to present any new proposals but will urge Lebanese officials to elect a president as soon as possible. Paris believes that a presidential election would send a strong message that Lebanon is working to rebuild its constitutional institutions.
(August 28, 2024)
Saleh Hijazi, a BNC adviser on apartheid-free policy, said he expected calls for Israel’s suspension to intensify next month with the opening of the 79th session of the General Assembly. UNGA, as it is known, begins on Sept. 10.
(The Palestinian delegation at the UN said on Aug. 22 that it was also planning to soon initiate an “actionable resolution” in the General Assembly, “demanding within a time frame the end of this illegal occupation and all other issues contained” in the ICJ advisory opinion.)
(October 15, 2024)
One rogue nation cannot declare war on the UN itself and continue to get away with it
Ms. DiCarlo condemned not only the RSF attacks but also the indiscriminate airstrikes by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in civilian-populated areas such as the capital Khartoum and El Fasher, a major city in North Darfur hosting thousands of internally displaced which has been besieged for months by the RSF.
“Both warring parties bear responsibility for this violence,” she stressed.
She added that as the rainy season nears its end, both sides continue to escalate their military operations, recruit new fighters and intensify their attacks, fuelled by “considerable” external support and a steady flow of arms.
“To put it bluntly, certain purported allies of the parties are enabling the slaughter in Sudan. This is unconscionable, it is illegal, and it must end.”
(…)
The situation in Sudan has been in a freefall since the war erupted last April.
It is now the world’s worst displacement crisis, with more than 11 million people driven from their homes – nearly three million among them into neighbouring countries as refugees, according to the UN relief coordinating office, OCHA.
The war has also unleashed a severe hunger crisis, affecting millions.
(archive entries)
(October 29, 2024)
Delays in the Palestine investigation trace back to 2015 when former ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda initiated a preliminary examination. Although the investigation met the necessary criteria in 2019, it was postponed due to jurisdiction debates over Palestinian territories. The formal investigation began in March 2021, yet no meaningful progress has been made, further delaying requests against Netanyahu and Gallant.
(November 1,2024)
Francesca Albanese made her remarks during a session of a U.N. committee focused on the inalienable rights of Palestinians on Oct. 30, just a day after releasing a report accusing Israel of committing war crimes and genocide in Gaza.
„It is time to consider suspending the credentials of Israel as a member state of the U.N.,“ Albanese stated. She acknowledged the sensitivity surrounding the issue, emphasizing that many member states also have troubled human rights records.
On March 17, 2023, it took the judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) just 23 days to confirm the arrest warrants requested by ICC prosecutor Karim Khan against Russian President Vladimir Putin and his children‘s rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova. But more than five months after being filed on May 20, ICC magistrates are still deliberating on the arrest warrants requested by the same prosecutor for crimes committed in Israel and Gaza since October 7, 2023.
(21 October 2024 )
The judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) adopted an amendment to regulations 52 and 53 of the Regulations of the Court, which enters into force today. The amendments concern the presentation of the document containing the charges and the decision of the Pre-Trial Chamber to confirm or decline charges.
Regulations 52 and 53 of the Regulations of the Court, as amended, provide clear direction on how the charges need to be presented by the Office of the Prosecutor and in the decision of the Pre-Trial Chamber. The confirmation of charges decision is a pivotal document for the conduct of the trial and defines its scope. By harmonising the presentation of key pre-trial and trial documents, the judges enhance the efficiency and transparency of the confirmation of charges procedure and ensuing trial proceedings.
(October 25, 2024)
The ruling did not elaborate or disclose further details, saying that “the personal medical situation of Judge Motoc is entitled to medical confidentiality.”
Motoc was replaced by Beti Hohler, a Slovenian who was elected as a judge at the court last year after earlier serving as a trial lawyer in the court‘s prosecution office.
The decision is likely to further delay a decision on the request by the court‘s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan.
The attorneys highlight three categories of potential US code violations the DOJ could investigate:
– The killing of US citizens by Israeli citizens and soldiers in recent years (including Ayşenur Eygi, Kamel Ahmad Jawad, Jacob Flickinger, Tawfiq Abdel Jabbar, Mohammad Khdour, Omar Assad, and Shireen Abu Akleh).
– Israel’s illegal settlement activity in the occupied West Bank, assisted by US citizens and organizations.
– Evidence that Israeli forces may have committed war crimes and engaged in torture – including killing thousands of civilians, forcibly displacement and starvation, unlawful confinement, torture and inhumane treatment of detainees, and mass destruction of civilian property and infrastructure.
“Of course,” the attorneys note, “U.S. courts have jurisdiction over the more than 23,000 U.S. citizens currently serving in Israel’s armed forces, along with IDF members or other Israeli officials that travel to the United States.”
We write regarding the case of Dylan Collins, a U.S. citizen and journalist for Agence France-Presse (AFP) injured by Israeli tank fire on October 13, 2023. It has now been more than one year since Mr. Collins was injured in a targeted Israeli strike while on assignment for AFP. To date, Mr. Collins has received no explanation for the attack, and there have been no steps toward accountability. Given the inaction of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, the United States must open an independent investigation into this incident.
We previously wrote to the State Department regarding Mr. Collins’ case. On October 13th, Collins was part of a group of journalists covering the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. The group was clearly marked as press and had selected an open and highly visible position on a hilltop near the Blue Line to minimize the risk of misidentification. The group was clearly visible to several Israeli military positions, as well as to an Israeli Apache helicopter and drone circling overhead. There were no Hezbollah positions in the vicinity. The group had been filming from the position for close to an hour when, despite these precautions, they were struck twice by Israeli tank rounds, followed by a sustained burst of .50 caliber heavy machine gun fire. Issam Abdallah, a Reuters journalist, was killed and six other journalists (from Reuters, AFP, and Al Jazeera) were wounded, one severely. Collins was the only American involved in the incident. The first tank round largely missed him, but he sustained shrapnel wounds to his face, arms, and back when a second tank round hit as he was applying a tourniquet to his colleague’s leg (despite Mr. Collins’ efforts, Ms. Assi lost her leg in the attack).
The U.S. attorney general is also facing internal pressure to investigate Israel‘s killing of Americans.
The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has said that an Israeli army bulldozer demolished an observation tower and the perimeter fence of a UN position earlier on Sunday in Marwahin, in the southern part of the country.
CAIRO, October 20, 2024 (WAFA) – Ambassador Muhannad Al-Aklouk, the Permanent Representative of Palestine to the Arab League, said that Palestine has urgently requested an emergency meeting of the Arab League Council at the level of permanent representatives, as soon as possible.
The ‘Gaza Effect’ may be much larger than anyone expects. Unless they change course, the Democrats are much likelier to lose in November than most people seem to realize.
It should be self-evident that genocide is bad because it’s genocide, but apparently it isn’t—at least, not to everyone.
Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Sir Keir Starmer MP,
Dear Prime Minister,
We, the undersigned, are writing to you as Muslim Labour Councillors representing communities all across Britain to call for an immediate and complete suspension of arms sales to Israel.
The tragic human toll we have seen over the past year has been unimaginable.
The letter by the Muslim councillors adds to pressure mounting on the British government from within the Labour Party to take stronger action against Israel.
Last week, 51 British MPs from seven political parties backed a parliamentary motion calling for the Labour government to take measures against Israel.
(October 15, 2024)
US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Monday criticized the Biden administration over the “horrors” seen in Gaza due to the actions of an „unrestrained“ Israel.
„The horrors unfolding in northern Gaza are the result of a completely unrestrained Netanyahu gov, fully armed by the Biden admin while food aid is blocked and patients are bombed in hospitals. This is a genocide of Palestinians,” she wrote on X.
„The US must stop enabling it. Arms embargo now,” added Ocasio-Cortez, a high-profile progressive lawmaker.
(October 16, 2024)
The president told the Arab League chief that Israel is trying to spread the flames of conflict across the region as it aims to occupy Palestinian lands to leave them without a homeland.
He continued by saying that Türkiye continues its initiatives to hold Israel accountable for its crimes, as he highlighted the importance of an extensive arms embargo to increase pressure on Tel Aviv.
“Yet again we see direct and apparently deliberate fire on a UNIFIL position,” the Mission said in a statement.
“We remind the IDF and all actors of their obligations to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and property and to respect the inviolability of UN premises at all times,” it stressed.
(19:06 BST)
The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon (Unifil) said an Israeli Merkava tank fired at their watchtower near southern Lebanon‘s Kfar Kela on Wednesday morning.
Two cameras were destroyed, and the tower was damaged, Unifil said.
The head of UN Peace Operations on Monday said ambassadors in the Security Council had given a “unanimous expression of support” to peacekeepers in Lebanon remaining in position along the Blue Line that separates south Lebanon from Israel, despite coming under fire, with five “Blue Helmets” sustaining injuries following attacks by Israeli forces.
Jean Pierre Lacroix was speaking to the media at UN Headquarters in New York after emerging from a closed door meeting on peacekeeping mission UNIFIL, amidst Israeli calls for the force to vacate the area and move further north.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) faces an unprecedented moment in its history, one that could shape its legacy and impact the lives of thousands.
Prosecutor Karim Khan and his team have risen to their mandate, applying for arrest warrants in the face of enormous risk and pressure.
Yet, the ICC as a whole is faltering. The delay in the judges‘ decision-making is a catastrophic failure to uphold the court‘s own mission.
In May, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan requested the court to issue warrants of arrest for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, along with three Hamas leaders. The ICC is yet to make a decision despite the mounting death toll in and destruction of Gaza amid Israel’s continuing genocidal violence.
(…)
If Bensouda was threatened and blackmailed for merely investigating allegations of war crimes perpetrated before the current genocidal war, one can only fathom the pressures and threats, real or assumed, that Khan faced or feared.
Now that he has done his duty, it is for the three sitting judges of the pre-trial chamber to decide whether to issue the warrants or not. Whether they face the same threats as Bensouda is unknown, but they must be acutely aware that the very credibility of the ICC also hangs in the balance if warrants of arrest for Netanyahu and Gallant are not issued without further delay.
(October 6, 2024)
1. Nicaragua: applied to join on 8 February
2. Belgium: declared intention to join on 11 March
3. Ireland: declared intention to join on 27 March
4. Colombia: applied to join on 5 April
5. Turkey: declared intention to join on 1 May
6. Libya: applied to join on 10 May
7. Egypt: declared intention to join on 12 May
8. Maldives: declared intention to join on 13 May
9. Mexico: applied to join on 28 May
10. Chile: declared intention to join on 2 June
11. Palestine: applied to join on 3 June
12. Spain: declared intention to join on 6 June
13. Cuba: declared intention to join on 22 June
(…)
The ICJ has not granted any of the requests so far.
For his part, Mikati briefed Araghchi on the latest situation in Lebanon, terming Israel‘s acts of aggression as a real example of war crimes.
While he lamented the inaction of the UN Security Council against the dangerous adventures of the Zionist enemy, the Lebanese prime minister appreciated the support of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Lebanese government and people amid unrelenting Israeli strikes.
(September 27, 2024)
The announcement, coming two weeks after the Iraqi government said it had reached a deal with the Biden administration to remove most U.S. troops over the next two years, underscored Washington’s hesitancy to telegraph its military movements at a time of extreme volatility in the Middle East. But it also sowed confusion over the eventual end state of the Pentagon presence in the country.
(September 20, 2024)
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have claimed for months to be working „around the clock“ on a Gaza ceasefire deal that is „close“ to happening. Spoiler alert: It‘s not going to happen because Hamas, the terrorist organization that massacred Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, doesn‘t want to release their hostages.
Despite their reportedly tireless efforts to negotiate with the terrorists, the Biden-Harris administration has privately conceded that a ceasefire deal won‘t happen before the end of Biden‘s term in January 2025. „No deal is imminent,“ a Biden-Harris official told the Wall Street Journal. „I‘m not sure it ever gets done.“
(August 24, 2024)
The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, stressed that the court has jurisdiction to investigate Israelis, urging judges to decide on arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Security Minister Yoav Gallant, which he had requested months ago.
17/September/2024 07:22 PM
„I have the honor to introduce the draft resolution under consideration in this Emergency Special Session, entitled “Advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the legal consequences arising from Israel’s policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and from the illegality of Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory”, Palestine ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Masnour said before the 10th special emergency session of the UNGA in New York.
September 17, 2024 at 7:20 pm
The Palestinian Permanent Mission to the UN submitted a first draft resolution, Tuesday, to the General Assembly demanding Israel end its presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories within 12 months, Anadolu Agency reports.
(23. Mai 2013)
Now, the speech:
The president who dramatically expanded the CIA secret drone war, ordered a troop surge in Afghanistan and aggressively prosecuted leakers made a forceful defense of his actions and an even more forceful case for winding down the war on terrorism.
The key line: „This war, like all wars, must end. That‘s what history advises. That‘s what our democracy demands.“
Nationality: Mexico (Latin American and Caribbean States)
Term: 11 March 2021 – 10 March 2030
Assumed full-time duty: 1 May 2021
Elected from: List B on 23 December 2020
Assigned to: Pre-Trial Division
Second Vice-President
Nationality: Benin (African States)
Term: 11 March 2018 – 10 March 2027
Assumed full-time duty: 11 June 2018
Elected from: List B on 8 December 2017
Assigned to: Pre-Trial Division
Nationality: Romania (Eastern Europe)
Term: 11 March 2024 – 10 March 2033
Elected from: List B on 4 December 2023
Assigned to: Pre-Trial Division
(today)
In filing to court, Karim Khan expresses frustration with court‘s delay in issuing warrants, urging swift action ahead of Netanyahu‘s scheduled speech at UN General Assembly later in September
(September 9, 2024)
The Court has yet to issue any warrants.
(…)
Four States Parties argued that the Court lacks or may not exercise jurisdiction over Israeli nationals who commit international crimes in Gaza: Argentina, Congo, Czechia, and Hungary. They were joined by the United States, which is not a State Party
(September 5, 2024)
“You cannot allow an attack on the court,” Khan said. “Then you have no rules-based system.”*
https://aje.io/7u2xai?update=3158140
* Which is exactly what Russia Israel & US want; hence the „Hague Invasion Act“
#US #Russia #Israel #ICC ..
(August 24, 2024)
The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, stressed that the court has jurisdiction to investigate Israelis, urging judges to decide on arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Security Minister Yoav Gallant, which he had requested months ago.
(June 27, 2024)
The International Criminal Court Pre-Trial Tribunal on Thursday postponed its decision-making process about whether it will allow ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan to issue arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes.
The postponement came following a June 10 application by England to file a “friend of the court” brief against the ICC’s jurisdiction over the issue.
Demoralized by the Biden administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war, Palestinian American Samia Assed found in Vice President Kamala Harris’ ascension — and her running mate pick — “a little ray of hope.”
That hope, she said, shattered during last month’s Democratic National Convention, where a request for a Palestinian American speaker was denied and listening to Harris left her feeling like the Democratic presidential nominee will continue the U.S. policies that have outraged many in the anti-war camp.
(September 1, 2024)
An Islamic organization, Aqsah Nigeria, has called on world leaders, especially African governments, to take decisive action in enforcing the July 19th, 2024 ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which declared Israel’s war on Palestinian territories unlawful.
The organization also urged mass mobilization and continuous public awareness to uphold this “landmark judgment” in hopes of ending the ongoing killing of women and children and the displacement of Palestinians by Israeli forces.
“The US and Iraq are also seeking to establish a new advisory relationship that could see some US troops remain in Iraq after the drawdown,” the sources affirmed.
“An official announcement was initially scheduled for weeks ago but was postponed due to regional escalation related to Israel‘s war in Gaza and to iron out some remaining details.”
The plan agreed by Iraq and the US says that all US-led coalition forces will leave Ain al-Asad airbase in western Anbar province and significantly reduce their presence in Baghdad by September 2025.
US and coalition soldiers will stay in Erbil, in the Kurdish semi-autonomous region, for just one more year.
(March 30, 2023)
The strike on Monday of Israel‘s largest worker‘s union, the Histadrut Labor Federation, was coordinated with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s inner circle, a senior member of the coalition confirmed on Thursday.
(10 Dec 2019)
אני מודה ל @noamr ו- @GilBahat על ה-peer review
With gang violence intensifying, and the national police unable to counter it, so-called “self-defence brigades” have continued to emerge and take justice into their own hands, the report said. At least 528 cases of lynching were reported in 2023 and a further 59 this year.
Additionally, despite an arms embargo, there is a reliable supply of weapons and ammunition for the gangs coming through porous borders, resulting in the groups often having superior firepower to the police.
The report calls for tighter national and international controls to stem weapons and ammunition trafficking into Haiti and reiterates the need for the urgent deployment of a multinational security support (MSS) mission to back up the police force.
The UN Security Council authorised the mission’s deployment in October 2023, and Kenya has offered to lead it.
(January 15, 2024)
The United States must now be held accountable for the crimes it committed,‘ says Van Rensburg, who is leading the 47-lawyers team.
“We intend to bring legal proceedings against the U.S. Government based on overwhelming evidence that the U.S. Government has, and is, aiding, abetting and supporting, encouraging or providing material assistance and means to Israel and the Israeli Defense Forces. This conduct by the U.S. Government has enabled and continues to enable Israel to engage in international crimes against the Palestinian people,” the South African lawyers said in a letter sent to US President Joe Biden on January 2.
(20.10.2023)
After Hamas’s brutal massacre of over a thousand Israel civilians and Israel’s massive military response, peace may appear inconceivable. Certainly, few would blame those unwilling to forgive the shocking violence of days past. Yet peace does not demand forgiveness of the unforgivable—and shattering events have a way of producing unanticipated consequences.
A prisoner exchange—which historical patterns suggest is likely—could, despite it all, reopen a path to peace.