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Itay Epshtain

@EpshtainItay

Dec 10

https://twitter.com/NRC_Norway/status/1998689104519696756

Malicious #Israel|i obstruction of relief to #Gaza, including critical shelter winterization, is in breach of interntional humanitarian law as determined by the @CIJ_ICJ in the October 25' Advisory Opinion.

https://twitter.com/NRC_Norway/status/1998689104519696756

At the core of the Court’s reasoning lies Article 59 of the Fourth Geneva Convention: Israel, as an occupying Power, must agree to and facilitate all humanitarian relief schemes whenever the local population is inadequately supplied. The Opinion rejects Israel’s invocation of “security” as a general justification for restricting access, reaffirming that limitations must be narrowly tailored, temporary, and applied in good faith.

The Court underscores that humanitarian relief, when impartial in nature, can never constitute unlawful interference. The judicial articulation, therefore, closes avenues for States to manipulate humanitarian consent regimes for political ends or military gains.

Humanitarian Access Is Not Optional: The ICJ 2025 Verdict on Israel’s Obligations in Gaza and Beyond linkedin.com/pulse/humanita…

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Itay Epshtain

@EpshtainItay

Nov 19

The peak of legal inconsistency?

The @UN General Assembly #UNGA80 adopts - with near universal endorsement - a resolution recalling the advisory opinion rendered in July 2024 by the International Court of Justice @CIJ_ICJ on the legal consequences arising from #Israel’s policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and from the illegality of its continued presence in the oPt, and reaffirms the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, including the right to their independent State of #Palestine. Many of the States that voted in favour adopted earlier this week #UNSC Resolution 2803 that aims to extinguish, suspend, or condition such a right.

To resolve this tension we have to recall the International Law Commission (ILC) 2022 conclusions on identification and legal consequences of
peremptory norms of general international law (jus cogens). The ILC determined that peremptory norms - including, inter alia, the prohibition on aggression, the basic rules of IHL, and the right to self-determination - are "hierarchically superior to other rules of international law." That would include the rules of the UN Charter governing the functions and powers of the Security Council.

At the entrance to @UN Headquarters in NY rest two monuments - one in honor of the victims of slavery, the other marking non-violence. The Security Council cannot reverse the prohibition on slavery, and in the same vein, cannot endorse aggression, including annexation of occupied territory.

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Itay Epshtain

@EpshtainItay

Sep 15

1/3 While the suspension of privileges or expulsion of #Israel from @UN membership is contingent on action by the Security Council (and subject to the veto power of its permanent members), there is an underlying condition to Israel's membership. One that must be invoked.

2/3 Former @CIJ_ICJ President Salam noted in the 2024 Advisory Opinion that “resolution [181] forms a whole, whose terms must be read together and inseparably. In other words, neither Israel nor Palestine can claim to derive rights from the resolution while rejecting or ignoring the rights of the other party enshrined in the same text.” Thus, he concluded, “having undertaken to implement resolution 181, Israel is under a legal obligation not to hinder the exercise of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, or to oppose the proclamation of a Palestinian State by the representatives of the Palestinian people, and indeed it cannot do so without undermining its own rights, the existence of the two States being inextricably linked in the same legal instrument.”

2/3 bis. By suppressing the political independence and territorial integrity of #Palestine, #Israel is undercutting the basis of its admission to the @UN, and its duty to comply with the decisions of the Security Council according to Article 25 of the Charter. In May 1949, when it admitted Israel as a Member State of the United Nations, the General Assembly recalled resolution 181 and took note of Israel’s declarations “in respect of the implementation of the said resolution.”

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Itay Epshtain

@EpshtainItay

Sep 2

Too often we hear that #Israel's pending announcement of annexation of occupied Palestinian territory, in whole or in part, is the inadvertent result of recognition of the State of #Palestine, an initiative led by @KSAmofaEN and @francediplo_EN, and perhaps best avoided. Nothing is further from the truth, Here are the temporal and substantive arguments:

1/3 On 28 December 2022, #Israel’s 37th Government was formed on the basis of a policy platform (enshrined as law), declaring that “the Jewish people has an inalienable right to the land of Israel. Following from the belief, the Prime Minister will formulate and promote a policy to apply sovereignty to Judea and Samaria, identifying the timing of which, according to Israeli national and international interests.”
Well before @NorwayMFA , @SpainMFA , @IrelandMFA_RBLX , and @MZEZ_RS recognized the State of #Palestine, and the @FCDOGovUK and @BelgiumMFA announced a similar intention, Israel decided to permanently acquire the West Bank, to the detriment of the Palestinian right of self-determination.
This has always been the plan, and the timing reflects Israel’s rejection of international law, not its upholding by third states.

2/3 In its 2024 Advisory Opinion, the International Court of Justice @CIJ_ICJ noted that all forms of annexation are equally prohibited, amounting to an act of aggression—the acquisition of territory by the threat or use of force —and concluded that Israel's presence in the oPt is unlawful.

The Court concluded in July of last year that the ”violations by Israel of the prohibition of the acquisition of territory by force and of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination have a direct impact on the legality of the continued presence of Israel, as an occupying Power, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The sustained abuse by Israel of its position as an occupying Power, through annexation and an assertion of permanent control over the Occupied Palestinian Territory and continued frustration of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, violates fundamental principles of international law and renders Israel’s presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory unlawful.”
Short of unconditionally and rapidly withdrawing its unlawful presence, nothing Israel does now would change the fact that it is committing an internationally wrongful act.
The legal maxim actus legis nemini facit injurium ("the act of the law does injury to no one") best describes the decision to recognize Palestine. No harm comes from it (and yet, harm was already caused by Israel).

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Itay Epshtain

@EpshtainItay

Sep 1

In a statement issued last month, #Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs @IsraelMFA made two of its tired and erroneous legal claims to the occupied #Palestinian territory of the West Bank and #Gaza (as was parroted by the ‘GREAT Trust’ exposed by @washingtonpost @catebrown12): The Uti Possidetis Doctrine and the Missing Reversioner Doctrine. Both were rejected by the International Court of Justice 2024 Advisory Opinion, as I will show in this thread:

1/6 In the context of international law, uti possidetis initially described the situation on the ground after an armed conflict, and the right to territory acquired through conflict. This notion of uti possidetis is no longer admissible since the established peremptory norm on aggression precludes the use of force for any acquisition of territory. Nevertheless, Israel knowingly bases itself on antiquated law.
The @CIJ_ICJ noted that following WWI, the territorial boundaries of Mandatory Palestine were laid down by various instruments. However, in November 1947, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 181, which included a “Plan of Partition” for the territory between two independent States, one Arab and the other Jewish, as well as the creation of a special international regime for the City of Jerusalem.

2/6 In reverting to uti possidetis and rejecting Resolution 181, Israel is undercutting the basis of its admission to the @UN, and its duty to comply with the decisions of the Security Council according to Article 25 of the Charter. In May 1949, when it admitted Israel as a Member State of the United Nations, the General Assembly recalled resolution 181 and took note of Israel’s declarations “in respect of the implementation of the said resolution.” Moreover, in November 1967, the Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 242, which “emphasized the inadmissibility of acquisition of territory by war” and called for the “withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict.”

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Itay Epshtain

@EpshtainItay

Aug 31

BREAKING: The #Gaza Reconstruction Acceleration and Transformation Trust (GREAT), exposed by @washingtonpost, is the twisted brainchild of @BCG, commissioned by @POTUS and @SecRubio to design a great breach of peremptory norms of international law. A short thread:

1/4 The @UN International Law Commission codified in 2022 the peremptory norms of international law (jus cogens), from which no derogation is permitted, to include the prohibition of aggression and genocide, the basic rules of IHL, and the right of self-determination of peoples. The 'GREAT' aims to systemically breach these sacrosanct norms.

@UN 2/4 The foremost aim of 'GREAT' is the the acquisition of Gaza's territory by the use of force - by Israel and the US as co-conspirators - and the suppression of Palestinian political independence and territorial integrity.

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