Senior Humanitarian Law and Policy Consultant; Special Advisor @NRC_Norway @NRC_Geneva. All views my own unless expressly stated otherwise.
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Jan 8 • 10 tweets • 4 min read
On Monday, the Nagel Commission (chaired by former National Security Advisor Prof. Jacob #Nagel) presented Israeli PM Netanyahu with its report on building Israeli military power, suggesting an overhaul towards a proactive attack posture and increased budget appropriation. A thread on what a more aggressive #Israel is going to look like:1/6 The report assumes two major threats in the next ten years: A nuclear Iran and conflagration in the West Bank, Lebanon, Gaza, Syria, and Jordan (in that order). The Commission notes that threats in Gaza, Syria, and Lebanon have been addressed since 7 October, while the West Bank (referred to as 'Judea and Samaria') and Jordan, owing to the presence of settlements, pose a critical threat necessitating an increased Israeli military territorial footprint.
Dec 30, 2024 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
ALERT: Next week, the #Israeli parliament will vote on a draft bill (tabled by Moshe Passal, Likud) imposing a 20 percent text on humanitarian relief items destined for Gaza, not specifically designated by the Minister of Defense as 'basic commodities.' The explanatory note reads: "At the onset of the war, Israel declared a total siege on #Gaza, preventing the entry of water, food and humanitarian relief. Following international pressure, Israel permitted the entry of aid [...] however, they include non-basic items, such as cigarettes." 1/3 The draft bill comes after, in October 2024, the Ministry of Economy and Industry exempted from tax international humanitarian aid to Gaza, subject to the approval of the Israeli Civil Administration of Gaza, subordinate to Minster Bezalel Smotrich. The limited exemption led to a political backlash in the form of the proposed tax.
Dec 30, 2024 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
The @washingtonpost and @nytimes report on indiscriminate, disproportionate and reckless patterns of #Israeli attacks on #Gaza, including through the automation of target acquisition, as reported months ago by @972mag @yuval_abraham. My legal reflection follows: 972mag.com/lavender-ai-is…1/3 In a non-international armed conflict (NIAC), an individual whose continuous function involves the preparation,
execution or command of operations amounting to direct participation in hostilities on behalf of an organized armed group is considered a member of that group.
That person is seen to have "continuous combat function" (CCF) and loses his protection against the dangers arising from military operations for the duration of that membership. Persons cease to be civilians within the meaning of IHL for as long as they hold 'CCF'.
CCF equates members of armed
groups in a non-international armed conflict with members of state armed forces in international armed conflicts. Importantly, it refers exclusively to the armed or military wing of a non-state party, not civilian institutions it may oversee.
However, situations of occupation, such as that characterizing #Israeli control of the West Bank and #Gaza are a particular form of
international armed conflict (IAC), not a NIAC.
The ICTY, established in the Tadic case that ‘an armed conflict exists whenever there is a resort to armed force between States or protracted armed
violence between governmental authorities and organized armed groups or between such groups within a State.’
Dec 27, 2024 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
UN Secretary-General @antonioguterres reports on the implementation of the @CIJ_ICJ Advisory Opinion on #Israeli practices in occupied @Palestinian territory, and #UNGA Resolution ES-10/24. A thread outlining key observations: 1/5 Member States have reported legal measures seeking accountability for violations of international law, including supporting the establishment of an “international register of damages” and strengthening legislative frameworks to support Palestinian self-determination.
Dec 23, 2024 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
ALERT: The #Israeli think-tank that outlined the war of aggression laid on #Gaza, Misgav (headed by former National Security Advisor and #Netanyahu confidant, Meir Ben-Shabbat), suggests, in a new white paper, a "reboot of Israel's approach to international law,": 1/3 A procedural change to Israeli constitutional law that will exempt the Israeli military from judicial oversight around, and in connection, with its actions along Israel's borders (e.g., with #Gaza, #Lebanon or #Syria).
Nov 25, 2024 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
ALERT: Time to call #Israel's bluff on domestic investigation and prosecution of war crimes, and argument of complementarity (alleging inadmissibility before the @IntlCrimCourt, and precluding international criminal justice). A short thread based on today's @Haaretz expose: 1/4 In February this year, the Military Advocate General Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi sent a confidential letter to Israeli military commanders in which she writes: "#Israel's use of force, in general, is professional and lawful. However, we have encountered breaches of orders and norms, which include the use of force not justified by military necessity, including against [#Palestinian] detainees; pillage, including seizing private property with no military necessity; and the destruction of civilian property against orders. The instances cross from disciplinary infractions into criminality."
Nov 18, 2024 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
What should the UN Security Council #UNSC do to ensure human security and peace in #Palestine before the Trump inauguration, mid-January? A short thread about how the agenda can be shaped for the next four years: 1/6 The International Court of Justice @CIJ_ICJ called on the Security Council to "consider what further action is required to put an end to the illegal presence of Israel, taking into account the present Advisory Opinion."
Nov 4, 2024 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
BREAKING: Member of #Israel's parliament Zvi Sukkot (Religious Zionism, with Smotrich as party leader) tables a draft bill to formalize (circa) 140 settlement outposts across the unlawfully occupied West Bank. A thread: 1/4 The draft bill, tabled this morning, calls for the formalization of settlement outposts - at the vanguard of settler violence and the corrolary forcible transfer of #Palestinians - within two years, doubling the number of Israeli settlements in the oPt to 280.
Nov 1, 2024 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
BREAKING: #Israel's government adopts the 25'-26' State Budget, with an upsurge of military spending indicative of a protracted, high-intensity, armed conflict in #Gaza, the West Bank and beyond. A thread: 1/3 In 22', Israel allocated 90 billion ILS (24 billion USD) to military and security-related spending, which includes the cost of its belligerent occupation of #Palestinian territory (determined to be unlawful by the @CIJ_ICJ in July 24').
Oct 12, 2024 • 11 tweets • 5 min read
Meir Ben Shabbat, Netanyahu's former National Security Advisor, outlines - one year after the October 23' hostility broke with Hamas's attack - the #Israeli "end game" in occupied #Palestinian territory:
In #Gaza, permanent Israeli military and civil control, with no Palestinian governance (Hamas or the Palestinian Authority).
In the #WestBank, a defeated Palestinian Authority, expanded Israeli settlements and entrenchment of annexation.
This nightmarish vision is diametrically opposed to the recent International Court of Justice @CIJ_ICJ Advisory Opinion determining the illegality of Israeli presence in occupied Palestinian territory, calling on it to withdraw from the West Bank, including Eats Jerusalem, and Gaza unconditionally and immediate.
This vision of continued Israeli aggression is in contravention of the recent UN General Assembly resolution calling on Israel to withdraw within 12 months, opting for the continuation and exacerbation of international crimes.
Oct 3, 2024 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
BREAKING: UK government to complete the decolonization of the Chagos Archipelago and reverse sovereignty to Mauritius. A short thread on how international law, and the International Court of Justice @CIJ_ICJ, in particular, managed the resolution of conflict, and a timely lesson for the decolonization of occupied Palestinian territory.1/3 In February 2019 the #ICJ rendered an Advisory Opinion on the legal consequences of the separation of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in 1965, asserting that the UK was under an obligation to bring its presence to an end "as rapidly as possible," and that all States are under an obligation to cooperate in accomplishing that. Similar language was used in the July 2024 Advisory on Israeli practices in occupied Palestinian territory, calling for Israel to end its unlawful presence.
Sep 27, 2024 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
There is a cynical political calculus behind #Israeli rejection of ceasefire arrangements in #Gaza and #Lebanon. A short thread on how the adoption of Israel's State Budget and #USElection2024 fate these efforts to deescalate: 1/5 Israeli constitutional law provides that a State Budget is tabled by 31 October 24', and approved by 31 March 25', or else the government defaults to general elections. Netanyahu and his coalition partners push for a biannual budget to ensure long-term political survival.
Sep 12, 2024 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
BREAKING: The Government of #Israel submits to the High Court of Justice that after 11 months of - debilitating and atrocious war in #Gaza - it has not accomplished 'effective control' in any part of Gaza, has not displaced any of Hamas's governmental functions, and is therefore not the occupying power (with commensurate obligations under #IHL).
Facts described are either an admission of a colossal military failure that has cost the lives of tens of thousands of Palestinians and the wanton destruction of Gaza, or entirely false. As the International Court of Justice @CIJ_ICJ ruled in July: before October 23' and even more so since, Israel had effective control of Gaza.
Sep 3, 2024 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Last night #Israel's #Netanyahu showcases a map outlining the annexation of the occupied #WestBank, and a similar fate awaiting #Gaza. The @CIJ_ICJ determined Israel's presence in #Palestinian territory to be unlawful, an act of aggression that must end. Israel must be induced to comply.
The assertion that #Israel will maintain alien rule over #Palestinians is matched by an inflammatory battle cry on settlers' social media, targeting the few Israelis in solidarity with Palestinians: "On the path to expel or annihilate all enemies, foreign and domestic."
Aug 26, 2024 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Does #Israel issue 'evacuation orders' to #Palestinians in #Gaza? It does not. What it does is forcibly transfer them, in grave breach of #IHL. A thread to explain the factual and legal inappropriateness of using the term 'evacuation' with respect to Israeli conduct. 1/5 Art. 49 (1) of the Fourth Geneva Convention provides that:
"Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory (...) are prohibited, regardless of their motive."
Aug 18, 2024 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
BREAKING: This afternoon, Bezalel Smotrich - the Minister overseeing #Israel's unlawful occupation of #Palestinian territory - visited the outskirts of Bethlehem, vowing to bring an unprecedented wave of demolitions upon Palestinian homes, livelihoods and donor-funded humanitarian aid.
In its recent Advisory Opinion, the International Court of Justice @CIJ_ICJ determined that #Israel’s planning policy in relation to the issuance of building permits, and in particular its practice of property demolition for lack of a building permit to be in serious breach of international law, and inate to its continued unlawful presence in #Palestinian territory.
Aug 15, 2024 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Settler violence against #Palestinains is attributable to the State of #Israel and its central and local government: 1. Settler violence is instructed, directed, and controlled by the state. 2. Settler violence is committed by persons exercising government authority. 3. Settler violence is aided and supported by State organs, including Ministries, regional and local settlement councils.
The law of State responsibility for internationally wrongful acts attributable to it allows the international community as a whole to employ lawful countermeasures to ensure Israeli compliance with peremptory norms of international law, seriously and systematically breached through settler violence.
Aug 12, 2024 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
BREAKING: This evening (Monday) would-be-settlers plan a massive public prayer in the heart of occupied #Gaza, along the 'Karni-Netzarim Corridor,' a 7 long road severing Gaza controlled by #Israeli armed forces.
In anticipation of settlers coming into occupied #Gaza under the guise of prayer and attempting to stay indefinitely to colonize it, the military commander issued a closed military zone order.
Aug 11, 2024 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
BREAKING: Appearing before the #Israeli Parliament Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee this morning, the Military Advocate General reportedly referred to the investigation of torture of #Palestinian detainees as an "effort to shield them and the armed forces from international tribunals (@IntlCrimCourt, @CIJ_ICJ)."
When the unlawful #Israeli occupation of #Palestinian territory will, one day, end, the final account will show that Israeli government lawyers and judges holding pens did more harm to Palestinians than Israeli soldiers holding guns. Case in point:
Aug 7, 2024 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
I find this picture of #Israeli coordination with humanitarian organizations in #Gaza (posted just now by COGAT) disturbing. Is the very visible presence of #US military personnel - outnumbering their Israeli counterparts - that of humanitarians or that of co-belligerents?
The International Court of Justice @CIJ_ICJ established in past months (through orders of preliminary measures, and recently in an Advisory Opinion) that #Israel is the occupying power in #Gaza, with a responsibility towards its #Palestinian population.
Jul 19, 2024 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
Given its widespread and systematic disregard for international legal norms in its control and
exploitation of #Palestinian territory, #Israel cannot be considered a "lawful occupant," but instead the @CIJ_ICJ should find its prolonged occupation to be in serious breach of peremptory norms of international law.
An @CIJ_ICJ determination later this afternoon that #Israel has become an illegal occupant - whose actions deny #Palestinian self-determination and result in exacerbated humanitarian needs - would elevate the duty of the international community to end the occupation. Such a determination by the #ICJ would re-establish the framework of international law as the guiding path to a just and
durable resolution to the question of #Palestine.