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Adil Haque Profile picture
Adil Haque
@AdHaque110
Professor, @RutgersLaw. Executive Editor, @just_security. Author, Law and Morality at War.
2 subscribers
Jun 18 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
Israel's Deputy Attorney General repeats a longstanding confusion. 🧵

1. An 'armed conflict' triggers the application of protective rules of IHL to both sides of the conflict.

It does not authorize the use of force by either side of the conflict (let alone by both sides). Image
Image 2. Only an 'armed attack' within the meaning of the UN Charter can authorize one State to use force against another in self-defense.

While 'armed conflict' and 'armed attack' sound similar they mean different things and serve different purposes.
Jun 9 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
UK: "a blockade is prohibited if it is intended to starve the civilian population; or to deprive [it] of objects essential to its survival,"

"or if the suffering of the civilian population is excessive in relation to the military advantage to be gained from the blockade"

1/🧵 Image "if the civilian population of the blockaded
territory is inadequately provided with food and other objects essential for its survival, the blockading party must allow the free passage of such items"

2/🧵 Image
Jun 2 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
Last year, Germany told the ICJ it transferred €255M of arms to Israel from 10/23 to 3/24; the transfers reduced over time; and 98% were not "war weapons."

Today, Germany indicates that it transferred another €230M since then, possibly including "war weapons." 1/🧵 Image
Image Germany appears to think the ICJ endorsed its "practice of careful case-by-case examination" of potential arms transfers in the case brought against it by Nicaragua.

This is a serious mistake. 2/🧵 Image
May 27 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
This Reuters piece contains useful information.

But it makes a serious analytical error when it implies that most of the 25,211 boys over 15 and men under 65 killed by the IDF as of March were fighters.

The IDF itself says that 2/3 to 3/4 of those it kills are civilians.

1/🧵 Image
Image 2. Assuming MoH records include all Hamas fighters (more on that later), that would mean the IDF killed between 12,630 and 16,672 fighters while killing between 12,581 and 8,539 civilian teenage boys and men.
May 27 • 15 tweets • 5 min read
Over at the ICC, Israel has filed its appeal of the Pre-Trial Chamber's decision that art. 18(1) of the ICC Statute did not require the Prosecutor to open a new investigation after 10/7 and notify Israel to that effect.

It's so dumb.

Technical 🧵 below for the hardcores. 1/🧵 Image 2. In 2021, the Prosecutor notified Israel that she had opened an investigation into alleged crimes committed in Palestine "since 13 June 2014."

She found a reasonable basis to believe the IDF and Hamas had committed war crimes in the context of the 2014 hostilities in Gaza. Image
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May 23 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Over at the ICC, Hungary has submitted its response in the noncompliance proceedings arising from its failure to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu during his recent visit.

Hungary's response is legally flawed and will not avoid a noncompliance finding.

Short 🧵 below. Image 1. Hungary says it hasn't incorporated the ICC Statute into its national law.

Doesn't matter.

A party to a treaty may not invoke the provisions of its internal law as justification for its failure to perform a treaty.

Basic stuff. Image
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May 21 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
The ICC Prosecutor has responded to Israel's request that the Pre-Trial Chamber withdraw or vacate the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant.

The OTP argues that Israel's request should be denied, mostly for reasons anticipated in the 🧵 QTed below.

Some odds and ends. 1/🧵 Image As expected, the OTP explains that the arrest warrants rest on the PTC satisfying itself that it has jurisdiction under art. 19(1).

The warrants remain valid pending resolution of Israel's challenge under art. 19(2).

2/5 Image
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May 20 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
Netanyahu's response to the UK, Canada, and France is deranged but revealing.

They demand that Israel cease its military offensive, allow humanitarian aid, refrain from permanent forced displacement, and accept a ceasefire deal that frees all hostages and ends Hamas’ rule. 1/🧵 Image 2. But Netanyahu starts with their last sentence, where they commit to recognize a Palestinian State at some point in the future.

Obviously, a State of Palestine with fixed 1967 borders alongside Israel is not what Hamas wants and is not a "prize" for 10/7. Image
May 12 • 11 tweets • 5 min read
Over at the ICC, Israel has requested that the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant be withdrawn or vacated pending a ruling on Israel’s jurisdictional challenge.

This request rests on some basic mistakes.

Technical 🧵 below for the hardcores. 1/ Image 2. Under art. 19(1) of the ICC Statute, the Pre-Trial Chamber must satisfy itself that it has jurisdiction before issuing arrest warrants.

Art. 19(2) allows certain persons and States to challenge its jurisdiction.

Typically, the warrant comes first, then the challenge. Image
Apr 26 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Many mistakes here.

1. The Pre-Trial Chamber made a determination with respect to jurisdiction.

2. The Appeals Chamber instructed the PTC to revisit a technical question of standing.

3. The warrants were issued lawfully. They remain in effect and legally binding.

🧵 Image 1. Under art. 19(1), "[t]he Court shall satisfy itself that it has jurisdiction in any case brought before it."

The PTC did so here, with respect to both Israeli and Hamas leaders.

It did so after receiving dozens of amicus briefs by States, scholars, and NGOs. Image
Mar 18 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
"My name is Mahmoud Khalil and I am a political prisoner. I am writing to you from a detention facility in Louisiana where I wake to cold mornings and spend long days bearing witness to the quiet injustices underway against . many people precluded from the protections of the law" Image
Image documentcloud.org/documents/2559…
Mar 14 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Note that Israel's official legal position is that Hamas's 10/7 attack did not trigger its right of self-defense.

Instead, Hamas's attack and Israel's response are part of an ongoing armed conflict.

On this view, self-defense is relevant only to the initial resort to force. 1/ Image This view is false. Force may only be used to halt or repel an ongoing (or maybe imminent) armed attack. And the requirements of necessity and proportionality internal to self-defense apply throughout an armed conflict.

3/
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…
Dec 5, 2024 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
On the ICJ's standard of proof for genocide:

1. At the ICJ, an applicant must show that the only reasonable inference from the evidence is that the respondent acted with genocidal intent.

The applicant need not show that the respondent acted with *only* genocidal intent. 2. Put the other way around, an applicant must show that it is unreasonable to infer from the evidence that the respondent acted *without* genocidal intent.

The applicant must exclude any reasonable inference that the respondent acted exclusively with non-genocidal aims.
Jun 11, 2024 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
Good piece. A few more thoughts. 🧵

1. IHL rules still apply when troops are under fire, including distinction, precautions, and proportionality.

Serious violations still constitute war crimes.

Baruch is wrong to suggest otherwise.

Image
Image 2. In applying the proportionality rule, force protection does not carry infinite value.

Like any other military advantage, it must be weighed against foreseeable civilian harm.

Otherwise the proportionality rule would collapse anytime ground forces enter an urban area.
May 26, 2024 • 6 tweets • 4 min read
Niche IHL 🧵:

1. The United States takes the idiosyncratic view that precautions is an implication of proportionality, not a fundamental principle in its own right.

On Friday, it claimed that "Most States do not recognize an IHL 'principle of precaution.'"

Unlikely.

Image
Image 2. In the Security Council, in the last few months alone, Ecuador, France, Guayana, Malta, Mozambique, and Switzerland have specifically described precautions as a basic principle.


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May 23, 2024 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
Thoughts before tomorrow's order 🧵

1. The Court will no doubt find that the assault on Rafah and the resulting mass displacement change the situation since its March order and create a further risk of irreparable prejudice to rights under the Genocide Convention. 2. In a more rational world, this finding alone would dominate the news, set off alarm bells throughout the international system, and trigger immediate action by the UN Security Council. Alas, that is not our world.

May 22, 2024 • 7 tweets • 4 min read
Thread on starvation, extermination, and genocide 🧵

1. The war crime of starvation is about depriving civilians of objects indispensable to their survival as a method of warfare, that is, as a means to achieve war aims.
Image
Image 2. The ICC prosecutor alleges that Netanyahu and Gallant starved Gazan civilians as a means of defeating Hamas, recovering hostages, and collectively punishing civilians. Image
May 20, 2024 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Technical point:

1. The ICC Prosecutor argues that there is an international armed conflict between Israel and Palestine, due to Israel's use of force and belligerent occupation in Palestine, alongside the non-international armed conflict between Israel and Hamas. 2. This is important because, under the ICC Statute, the starvation war crime would only apply in the context of an international armed conflict.
May 17, 2024 • 27 tweets • 4 min read
And we're off. Gilad Noam striking a more combative different tone than in January.
Objects to the short timeline. Says the rest of the legal team was unavailable today. Asked to reschedule, was denied. Notes that SA changed its first request. Image Opens by reframing facts. Israel is fighting a war of self-defense, rocket fire ongoing. Rafah is a Hamas stronghold. 120 rockets fired last two weeks, hostages likely held. Says Palestinians will be "liberated" only if Hamas is defeated in Rafah.
May 17, 2024 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Not bad. My take:

1. In January, the ICJ found a real and imminent risk of irreparable prejudice to the right of the Palestinians to be protected from acts of genocide.

In March, seven judges found there is a risk to their very existence.

bbc.com/news/articles/… 2. The Court found "plausible" the rights claimed by South Africa.

For some judges, that just means it's plausible that the rights exist under international law (obvi).

For other judges, that also means it's plausible that the rights have been violated.
May 14, 2024 • 11 tweets • 5 min read
Quick 🧵 on the new ICJ hearings on Gaza:

1. The Court faces two basic questions:

- Has the situation changed since March 28, creating further risk of irreparable prejudice that its prior orders do not fully address?

- If so, what should the Court order now? 2. South Africa argues:

- Rafah is the last refuge for civilians. An attack will kill thousands. So will mass expulsion (from starvation and disease).

- Israel now controls all land crossings.

- New evidence of IDF practices indicates further risk of genocidal killing.
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