Donald Trump’s 50-year mission to discredit the justice system

Donald Trump’s 50-year mission to discredit the justice system

Michael Kruse writes: What happened in Room 300 of the New York County Courthouse in lower Manhattan in November had never happened. Not in the preceding almost two and a half centuries of the history of the United States. Donald Trump was on the witness stand. It was not unprecedented in the annals of American jurisprudence just because it was a former president, although that was totally true. It was unprecedented because the power dynamic of the courtroom had been…

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Don’t turn away from the charges of genocide against Israel

Don’t turn away from the charges of genocide against Israel

Megan K. Stack writes: The word genocide rings loudly in our imagination. We think of Rwanda, Bosnia, the Armenians, the Trail of Tears and, of course, the Holocaust. I have heard many people balk at the suggestion that Gaza could be experiencing genocide. The Holocaust, after all, wiped out over 60 percent of European Jews. Israel’s war — instigated, no less, by the murder of Jews — has killed about 1 percent of the Palestinians in Gaza. One percent is…

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World Food Programme: Gaza is on the brink of famine

World Food Programme: Gaza is on the brink of famine

  Gazans are facing a desperate humanitarian crisis, with food shelves empty, and around 85% of the enclave’s population displaced since October 7 according to the U.N. The World Food Programme’s executive Cindy McCain says we’re at a tipping point. She speaks to Walter Isaacson about the dire situation and why food insecurity is a global concern.

Israel will lose genocide case at The Hague, human rights lawyer predicts

Israel will lose genocide case at The Hague, human rights lawyer predicts

  Professor Francis A. Boyle, Human Rights Professor and Lawyer who was the first to win a genocide case at the International Court of Justice spoke to Andrew Marr on Thursday, praising South African lawyers performance in rebutting Israeli defences. South Africa has formally accused Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians and pleaded with the United Nations’ top court to order an immediate halt to Israeli military operations in Gaza. Israel, which was founded in the aftermath of the Holocaust,…

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Can South Africa’s court case against Israel end war in Gaza?

Can South Africa’s court case against Israel end war in Gaza?

  The eyes of the world are on Israel as it stands accused of genocide in the International Court of Justice. It’s being forced to answer for its actions in Gaza. Israeli forces have killed more than 23-thousand Palestinians. Most of the population has been forced from their homes, and a blockade is depriving them of basic necessities. The case was launched by South Africa – and it’s calling on the court to issue a provisional order for Israel to…

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Will the ICJ find Israel guilty of genocide?

Will the ICJ find Israel guilty of genocide?

The Israeli human rights lawyer Michael Sfard, says: Contrary to what many people think, the Nazis were not tried for genocide. The crime of genocide did not exist in the “London Agreement,” which is the charter of the Nuremberg Military Tribunal. They were tried instead for the crime of extermination. But after Nuremberg, the argument arose that the crime of extermination was not enough, and that it did not grasp the peculiarity of mass extermination designed to wipe out a…

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Russia finds way around sanctions on battlefield tech, report finds

Russia finds way around sanctions on battlefield tech, report finds

Politico reports: Russia has largely succeeded in finding ways to get around sanctions on the technology it needs to fight its war against Ukraine, and that means the West needs to make the trade curbs more effective if it is to restrict Vladimir Putin’s aggression. That’s the main takeaway of an in-depth report by a U.S.-Ukrainian research team, which found that Russian imports of “battlefield goods” sanctioned by Washington and its allies totaled nearly $9 billion from January to October…

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January 6 is exactly what the Fourteenth Amendment was talking about

January 6 is exactly what the Fourteenth Amendment was talking about

Quinta Jurecic writes: The second impeachment trial of Donald Trump, concerning his role in the January 6 coup attempt, began on February 9, 2021. Almost exactly three years later, on February 8, 2024, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments over whether that last, desperate effort to illegally hold on to power might now disqualify Trump from returning to the Oval Office. Many commentators have argued that the nine justices should overturn the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision barring Trump’s candidacy…

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Why South Africa has asked the ICJ to order an immediate suspension of Israel’s military operations in and against Gaza

Why South Africa has asked the ICJ to order an immediate suspension of Israel’s military operations in and against Gaza

  Addressing the International Court of Justice, Professor Vaughan Lowe KC said: First, some will ask why South Africa does not seek any court order against Hamas. This case concerns Israel’s action in Gaza, which is territory that, three weeks ago in Resolution 2720, the Security Council stressed is “an integral part of the territory occupied in 1967” by Israel. As the court will understand, Hamas is not a State and cannot be party to the Genocide Convention; and it…

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U.S. and Britain escalate Middle East conflict with massive strike on Houthi targets in Yemen

U.S. and Britain escalate Middle East conflict with massive strike on Houthi targets in Yemen

The Associated Press reports: The U.S. and British militaries bombed more than a dozen sites used by the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen on Thursday, in a massive retaliatory strike using warship and submarine-launched Tomahawk missiles and fighter jets, U.S. officials said. The military targets included logistical hubs, air defense systems and weapons storage and launching locations, they said. President Joe Biden said the strikes were meant to demonstrate that the U.S. and its allies “will not tolerate” the militant group’s…

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Self-defense can never justify genocide

Self-defense can never justify genocide

In an editorial, The Guardian says: The definition of genocide is simple: a crime committed with the intent to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, in whole or in part. Its determination is much more complex. The legal threshold is high. Nonetheless, judges at the international court of justice (ICJ) in The Hague could issue an interim ruling on the charges against Israel within weeks. A decision on which of the provisional measures requested by South Africa should…

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ICJ case against Israel could finally empower the genocide convention

ICJ case against Israel could finally empower the genocide convention

Julian Borger writes: Just a month after its 75th anniversary, the genocide convention could be entering a new age of greater relevance as the international court of justice convenes in The Hague to consider the Israel-Gaza war. South Africa has brought a case to the ICJ accusing Israel of committing genocide in its military response to the 7 October Hamas attack that killed hundreds of Israeli civilians. The South African case includes references to the Israeli use of blanket bombing…

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Nelson Mandela’s support for Palestinians endures with South Africa’s genocide case against Israel

Nelson Mandela’s support for Palestinians endures with South Africa’s genocide case against Israel

The Associated Press reports: Barely two weeks after he was released from prison in 1990, Nelson Mandela flew to Zambia to meet with African leaders who had supported his fight against South Africa’s apartheid system of forced racial segregation. One figure stood out among the men in dark suits eagerly waiting to greet Mandela on the airport tarmac: Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, wearing his black and white checkered keffiyeh headdress, had traveled to see the newly freed Mandela. He grabbed…

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Emissions from Israel’s war in Gaza have ‘immense’ effect on climate catastrophe

Emissions from Israel’s war in Gaza have ‘immense’ effect on climate catastrophe

The Guardian reports: The planet-warming emissions generated during the first two months of the war in Gaza were greater than the annual carbon footprint of more than 20 of the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations, new research reveals. The vast majority (over 99%) of the 281,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2 equivalent) estimated to have been generated in the first 60 days following the 7 October Hamas attack can be attributed to Israel’s aerial bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza,…

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