David Bernstein is in high-dudgeon mode again about Human Rights Watch's fundraising in Saudi Arabia. This time, he is up in arms about a statement Ken Roth made to The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg during a recent email exchange. Goldberg asked Roth if his "staff person attempt[ed] to raise funds in Saudi Arabia by advertising your organization's opposition to the pro-Israel...
[Kenneth L. Gartner is a partner with Lynn & Gartner in Mineola, New York and an adjunct professor at Touro Law School. He has served as a New York State District Court judge] The classic formulation of the basic premise underlying the Arab-Israeli “peace process” is “land for peace.” Its proponents thus categorize the so-called peace process as...
Related to Ken's earlier post, Amos Guiora has a piece up at Foreign Policy describing the legal analysis he applied when advising the Israeli Defense Forces on targeted killings of terrorists. He argues that international law permits targeted killing when certain conditions are met: The decision to use targeted killing of terrorists is based on an expansive articulation of the concept...
Two updates of note. First, the Ugandan government has said in no uncertain terms that it will arrest Bashir if he enters the country: Henry Oryem Okello, Uganda's minister for international affairs, spoke after meeting with the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, in Kampala. Police "will ensure that he is arrested" if al-Bashir arrives, Okello said. Ocampo added: "It is...
Yesterday the Obama Administration released the report of the Intelligence Community Inspectors General. It is an important and interesting story about the Bush Administration's Presidential Surveillance Program (PSP). Jack Balkin has more here and here and Andy McCarthy here. The most gripping story in the report is the fight between the White House and the Department of...
PBS will be airing an important documentary about the ICC, The Reckoning, on July 14. Here is PBS's description of the film, which is directed by Pamela Yates, who received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2008: Over 120 countries have united to form the International Criminal Court (ICC) — the first permanent court created to prosecute perpetrators, no matter how powerful, of...
Thanks, Eugene, for the thoughtful reply. I look forward to your subsequent posts and will leave a more substantive reply until then. For now, I just wanted to offer a few thoughts. 1. I don't think anyone should feel "better" if removing the settlers qualified "only" as a crime against humanity, instead of as genocide. Both are incredibly grave crimes, and...
[Rene Uruena is Assistant Profesor and Director of the international law program at the Universidad de Los Andes in Bogota, Colombia. He is also a Fellow at the Centre of Excellence in Global Governance Research, University of Helsinki.] Last year, Colombian armed forces bombed a guerrilla camp a couple of miles into Ecuadorian territory. After some diplomatic tension at the OAS, everyone made...
First of all, welcome back! I always enjoy your contributions to OJ (and your scholarship generally), even when I disagree with you. So I hope you won't think me too ungracious a host if I raise some (pointed) questions about your most recent post. I would be genuinely curious to hear your responses. I am, as I have pointed out ad...
The President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus, has signed the act of Parliament ratifying the Rome Statute, thus completing the Czech Republic's accession to the ICC. All of the members of the EU have now joined the Court. Congrats, Czech Republic!...
The U.S. and Europe have been vigorously insisting that Israel stop all "settlement growth," including "natural growth." There has been some question as to what those terms mean. In a June 16 press briefing, Sen. George Mitchell said that Israel must stop “natural growth” in settlements, and specified that he means “births” as well. Here is the State Department's transcript...
The case of Diallo v. Maryland presents a tragic story of a diplomat father and his prodigal son. In October 2006, David Reeves left a party in suburban Baltimore looking for drugs. He approached Abdel Diallo and asked if he had drugs for sale. Diallo said no. Reeves became angry and aggressive, and a struggle ensued. Both Diallo...
