Palestine

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CERD’s May 2026 Statement on Israel’s Death Penalty Law: On the Silence of Other Treaty Bodies and On a Missed Rendez-Vous with The Hague

June 11, 2026

On 29 April 2026, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) expressed alarm at Israel’s “Death Penalty for Terrorists Law,” urging its immediate repeal, and situating the rolling back of a long-standing de facto moratorium on executions within a broader framework of racial discrimination. CERD’s statement is significant per se, but also for what it draws attention to: the silence of other treaty bodies. By the time CERD acted, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights had warned that the legislation was inconsistent with Israel’s international legal obligations, including the right to life. The UN Special Procedures had denounced the law as a grave setback perpetuating racial discrimination against Palestinians, and as incompatible with the absolute prohibition of torture (allegation letter , May 11, 2026).

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Eurovision, Non-Recognition and Bangaranga?!

June 2, 2026

Bulgaria won the 70th Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna with Dara’s “Bangaranga”; Israel finished second; and five countries, Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Iceland, stayed away in protest at Israel’s participation. That combination, spectacle, boycott and contested belonging, is a useful entry point into a wider legal problem. Eurovision is not the United…

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Domestic Courts and the States’ Obligation to Prevent Genocide and Serious Violations of IHL: The Brussels Court of Appeal’s Interlocutory Judgment of 16 March 2026

May 26, 2026

On 16 March 2026, the Brussels Court of Appeal (hereafter, the “Court”) issued an interlocutory judgment in summary proceedings (référé) concerning the alleged failure of the Belgian State to comply with its international obligations in relation to the risk of genocide and serious violations of international humanitarian law (“IHL”) in Gaza (hereafter, the “Judgment”).  The…

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Two(ish) Weeks in Review: 6 April—1 May 2026

May 3, 2026

In a slightly extended version of Two Weeks in Review, we take in fundamental questions about what happens when law and lawyers seek or refuse to justify illegal actions, “relocation orders” issued by Israel in Gaza and Lebanon, the closing of the Strait of Hormuz, Australian soldiers and Belgian consular officials in domestic courts for international crimes, the…

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From Gaza to Lebanon: Forcible Displacement Dressed in Humanitarian Garb

April 17, 2026

In recent hostilities, first in the Gaza Strip and now in Lebanon, the Israeli military has adopted a new modus operandi: issuing blanket relocation directives instructing millions of people to indefinitely leave their places of residence (evacuation orders in Lebanon were discussed here). The apparent objective is to enable Israel to engage an enemy embedded in densely…

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