"Evacuating the entire population? Call it ethnic cleansing, call it transfer, call it deportation, it’s a war crime.” Originally published in @haaretzcom.bsky.social www.justsecurity.org/116459/israe...
Moving the Population in Gaza is a Manifest War Crime
We wrote this essay to fulfill our human, conscientious, and civic duty, as Israelis – and as Zionists – who have expertise in areas related to the IDF’s order.
justsecurity.org
The lawyers are right, the planning, execution or enablement of this plan appears prima facie to be a war crime, and any soldier following it likely has committed a manifestly illegal order, exposing themselves to prosecution. www.wsj.com/world/middle...
Israel’s Military Lawyers Raise Concerns About New Plan to Move Hundreds of Thousands of Gazans
The military’s legal branch has questioned whether the plan would expose Israel to accusations of forced displacement, which is illegal under international law
wsj.com
My latest for Gwara Media in Kharkiv on the dangers of armchair experts on Ukraine @barrymalone.bsky.social @glushko.bsky.social @kateinkharkiv.bsky.social @brams884.bsky.social @humanrightsfirst.org gwaramedia.com/en/opinion-g...
God save Kharkiv from armchair experts in the West
Brian Dooley from Human Rights First believes Kharkiv, a city in the northeast of Ukraine, is a blindspot for international community.
gwaramedia.com
Human Rights Defenders at the Poland-Belarus border face harassment, prosecution, & threats for aiding migrants & those seeking asylum. A new report by our Sr. advisor @dooleydooley.bsky.social urges govts, donors & NGOs to stand with HRDs & demand that #Poland restore the right to seek #asylum.
Danger in the Forest: Human Rights Defenders in Poland Targeted at the Belarus Border - Human Rights First
Executive Summary Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) aiding migrants and people seeking asylum at the Poland-Belarus border are facing increasing threats, legal harassment, and diminishing support of their...
humanrightsfirst.org
For ti år siden ble flere ansatte i FIFA arrestert mistenkt for bestikkelser og korrupsjon. Arrestasjonene utløste lovnader om reform av FIFA og førte Gianni Infantino til makten i organisasjonen. Ti år senere er det klart at ting har endret seg - til det verre. (1/2)
FairSquare@fairsq.bsky.social · last yr.FIFA says that "football unites the world" but ten years on from the most serious scandal in its history it has succeeded in uniting expert opinion on its unfitness to govern world football and the need for meaningful reform of the organisation. fairsq.org/fifa-joint-s...
"The billions in military aid compared to the pennies in democracy assistance really puts into perspective the priority of US governments, not just this administration who have eliminated even the pennies," MEDC’s @sethbinder.bsky.social tells Middle East Eye. www.middleeasteye.net/news/usaid-i...
USAID implosion leaves Middle East activists at mercy of political crackdowns
Human rights defenders across Middle East and North Africa were reliant on US for small grants to help them relocate and resettle abroad
middleeasteye.net
Trump is "emulating a well-developed playbook perfected by the authoritarian leaders he admires, chief among them Russian President Vladimir Putin, to the benefit of the region’s autocracies," writes @neilcihrs.bsky.social, previewing Trump's Middle East trip in DAWN's Democracy in Exile.
Trump’s Authoritarian World Order: Impacts on the Middle East’s Autocrats
United States President Donald Trump is in the Middle East on his first major planned foreign trip, traveling to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. In the shadow of a drastically shifti...
dawnmena.org
"Trump’s favored authoritarian rulers across the region continue to enjoy impunity for their crimes, undermining what remains of the crumbling international human rights system—a boon for their harmful policies targeting the Middle East’s human rights & democracy defenders," @neilcihrs.bsky.social.
Trump’s Authoritarian World Order: Impacts on the Middle East’s Autocrats
United States President Donald Trump is in the Middle East on his first major planned foreign trip, traveling to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. In the shadow of a drastically shifti...
dawnmena.org
One in five people facing starvation … This is deliberate policy, not a natural disaster www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...
theguardian.com
My piece on Trump's authoritarian foreign policy. dawnmena.org/trumps-autho...
Trump’s Authoritarian World Order: Impacts on the Middle East’s Autocrats
United States President Donald Trump is in the Middle East on his first major planned foreign trip, traveling to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. In the shadow of a drastically shifti...
dawnmena.org
Today marks three years since an Israeli soldier shot and killed US citizen and journalist Shireen Abu Akleh while she was wearing her press vest and covering the news. The IDF has continued to target journalists with impunity. No one has been held accountable for Shireen's killing.
The human rights risks associated with sporting events in the US has dramatically escalated under Donald Trump. Instead of dismissing it, Infantino should make sure FIFA continues to conduct human rights due diligence to identify and address those risks.
Ali Walker@aliwalker.bsky.social · last yr.🚨 SCOOP: In a private meeting today, FIFA President Gianni Infantino dismissed fears that Donald Trump's tough border policies will hurt the 2026 World Cup. He also slammed the media for its reporting around the issue of fans entering the United States for the tournament, and leaving at the end.
Our statement on Israel's latest plan to erase Gaza: cihrs.org/erasing-gaza...
Erasing Gaza: Israel’s Military Takeover, Displacement Strategy, and Weaponization of Aid - Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)
With Gaza already devastated by relentless, indiscriminate attacks on civilians and infrastructure, obstruction of life-saving aid, imminent famine and the forced displacement of nearly its entire pop...
cihrs.org
“For nine weeks now, Israeli authorities have blocked all supplies from entering Gaza, no matter how vital to people’s survival. Bakeries have shut. Community kitchens have closed. Warehouses stand empty. Children have gone hungry”. www.ochaopt.org/content/stat...
Statement by the Humanitarian Country Team of the Occupied Palestinian Territory – on principled aid delivery in Gaza | United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - Occupied Pa...
East Jerusalem and Gaza city, 4 May 2025 For nine weeks now, Israeli authorities have blocked all supplies from entering Gaza, no matter how vital to people’s survival. Bakeries have shut. Community k...
ochaopt.org
After meeting with Khalil today, his story reminds us that this betrayal and experience should have never happened. We have a moral obligation to stand with and unequivocally call out the injustices Mahmoud Khalil and too many others are suffering from at the hand of this administration.
Not just morally wrong but terrible negotiating strategy — senseless and nihilistic.
The Kyiv Independent@kyivindependent.com · last yr.⚡️ US blocking G7 statement denouncing Russia's Sumy strike, Bloomberg reports. The U.S. has told the other G7 members it would not support a joint statement condemning Russia's deadly attack on Sumy last week so as not to disrupt peace efforts, Bloomberg reported on April 15.
The forensics don’t lie. Medics shot in the head, at close range, and more. Prima facia has to be considered a war crime. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/15/w...
Autopsies of Slain Gaza Medics Show Some Were Shot in the Head
The New York Times obtained autopsy reports for 14 of the 15 people killed in a March 23 attack on an ambulance and fire truck.
nytimes.com
"The systematic and persistent targeting of pro-democracy actors is a defining feature of Sudan’s war, exposing its deeper nature as a counterrevolution against Sudan’s democratic aspirations" A must-read by @timep.bsky.social former nonresident fellow @hamidmkk.bsky.social timep.org/2025/04/15/s...
Sudan’s Counterrevolutionary War: The Systematic Targeting of Pro-Democracy Activists
The war in Sudan is not only a power struggle between military factions, but also an attempt at silencing those who dare envision a different future for Sudan—one rooted in democracy and justice.
timep.org
Almost impossible to exaggerate what bad faith this administration pretending there’s a peace process is.
This is how ICE is treating Dr. Badar Khan Suri in custody. A scholar of religion and peace processes who has 3 children under 10 and who moved to the US to raise those children "in a society that values religious tolerance." ICE is torturing America's best www.acluva.org/en/press-rel...
Video of arrest, new details in Trump administration’s case targeting Georgetown postdoctoral fellow Dr. Khan Suri for speech on Palestinian rights
“In my work, I’ve seen lots of injustice. I just didn't think it would happen to me here," says Dr. Khan Suri.
acluva.org
Today marks one month since US greencard holder Mahmoud Khalil was ripped apart from his US citizen pregnant wife, forcibly disappeared, and taken into ICE custody thousands of miles away, all for exercising his constitutionally-protected rights. #FreeMahmoudKhalil
As Eid el-Fitr nears, I urge leaders of Bahrain, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Türkiye & others to use traditional feast pardons based on the Islamic values of mercy & compassion to free detained human rights defenders.
I've read that Rumeysa Ozturk is a Turkish student at Tufts on a Fulbright. I was a Fulbright Scholar in Turkey from 2009-10. If Turkish police had disappeared me from Bogazici University for criticising Ankara's treatment of Kurds, Fulbright would've likely discontinued there for years. 🧵
All In with Chris Hayes@allinwithchris.bsky.social · last yr."A terrified young student, snatched off the street by a masked police force taken thousands of miles across the country without anyone knowing. It is as flatly authoritarian as anything we have ever seen in this country," says @chrislhayes.bsky.social on Tufts student Rumeysa Ozturk's detention.
Must-read 🧵 on where the Trump administration’s Middle East policy stands by one of the top experts in the field, The Economist’s MENA correspondent Gregg Carlstrom. A hawkish but disengaged DC means regional actors (primarily an unrestrained Israel, secondarily Iran & Turkey) will drive events.
Gregg Carlstrom@glcarlstrom.bsky.social · last yr.Back to work after a week off and wanted to belatedly share thoughts on America's Middle East policy after a trip to DC this month. The first of which is that Trump has a skeleton crew: if personnel is policy, there's almost no policy because there are almost no personnel. 🧵
A few months ago it seemed as if Gulf states might try to counterbalance Israel's influence. But Saudi mostly wants to shield itself from the fallout, the UAE is aligned with Israel and Qatar is discredited in much of DC. Arab influence will remain limited.
On Syria, there's little appetite for lifting sanctions. Sebastian Gorka (improbably) has a lot of influence on Syria policy, which is being viewed solely through a counter-terrorism lens—and the view is that Ahmed al-Sharaa and HTS are terrorists.
