Middle East

[Otto Spijkers is Assistant Professor in the field of constitutional and administrative law at Erasmus School of Law, and lecturer of international and European law at Leiden University College, Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs of Leiden University.] You can find Part I of this post here. In this post, I explain why the Netherlands fails to comply with its “duty to...

[Otto Spijkers is Assistant Professor in the field of constitutional and administrative law at Erasmus School of Law, and lecturer of international and European law at Leiden University College, Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs of Leiden University.] The State of the Netherlands is not obliged to stop the supply of F35 fighter plane parts to Israel. This follows from a...

[I serve as Special Adviser to the ICC Prosecutor on War Crimes. This post is written solely in my academic capacity.] Introduction A few weeks ago, I wrote a long response to an Open Letter calling on the Assembly of States Parties to interfere in the Prosecutor's investigation into the situation in Palestine. Opinio Juris has now published a new attack on...

[Dr Mara Tignino is Lead Legal Specialist at the Geneva Water Hub and Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Law and the Institute for Environmental Sciences at the University of Geneva. Dr Tadesse Kebebew is post-doctoral researcher at the Geneva Water Hub.] Introduction  On 7 October 2023, Hamas launched an unprecedented ‘‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’’ against Israel from Gaza. Following the attack, Israel declared...

[Dr. Mais Qandeel is a Senior Lecturer of International Law at Örebro University, Sweden. She holds a Ph.D. in international humanitarian law from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland.] Introduction On 7 October 2023, in the wake of Hamas’ attack, Israel declared a ‘state of war’ and invoked its ‘right to self-defence’. Israel launched heavy retaliatory military attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip,...

[Alonso Gurmendi Dunkelberg is a Lecturer in International Relations at King’s College London’s Department of War Studies. I wish to thank Ntina Tzouvala for her comments on previous versions of this post] For the past few months, in the context of the horrific attacks of October 7th and the subsequent Israeli military retaliation, it has become almost a ritualised incantation for...

[As stated on the Contributors page and in my full profile, I serve as Special Adviser to the ICC Prosecutor on War Crimes. This post is written in my personal academic capacity.] Introduction A group of scholars and practitioners have published an open letter to the Assembly of States Parties (ASP) expressing their "grave concern over the integrity of the Office of...

[Mohammad H. Zakerhossein is an Assistant Professor at the University of Tehran, Iran] In recent times, the Gaza Strip has become the center of a devastating humanitarian crisis that only worsens by the hour, leaviång the world dismayed. The Palestinian people in Gaza have suffered immensely, with widespread destruction, loss of life, and unimaginable suffering. The conflict has reduced homes, schools,...

[Dr David Keane is Assistant Professor in Law at Dublin City University, Ireland. His research is in international human rights law with a particular focus on the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.] On 27 October 2023, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD/the Committee) acted under its Early Warning and Urgent Action...

[Michelle Burgis-Kasthala is a Senior Lecturer in Public International Law at the University of Edinburgh. Her work explores practices of statehood, territoriality and criminal accountability across the Middle East.] Turning and turning in the widening gyreThe falcon cannot hear the falconer;Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere   The ceremony of...