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Hamas ominously released what it called a “parting image” Saturday of the remaining 48 Israelis being held captive in Gaza, as the Jewish state’s ground troops prepare to close in on Gaza City. The image is a compilation of the faces of the captives, with the name Ron Arad inscribed below each one. Arad was an Israeli air force pilot who went missing during a 1986 bombing mission in southern Lebanon, who is believed to have been captured and since died. He is still officially classified as missing. The terror group blames Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for rejecting a...

Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has been charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The 80-year-old is accused of being criminally responsible for dozens of murders that allegedly took place as part of his so-called war on drugs, during which thousands of small-time drug dealers, users and others were killed without trial. The ICC's charge sheet, which includes several redactions, dates from July but was only made public on Monday. ICC deputy prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang said Duterte was an "indirect co-perpetrator" in the killings, which the court alleges were carried out by others, including police....

The United States is considering imposing sanctions as soon as this week against the entire International Criminal Court, putting the court's day-to-day operations in jeopardy in retaliation for investigations of suspected Israeli war crimes. Washington has already imposed targeted sanctions on several prosecutors and judges at the court, but naming the court itself in the sanctions list would be a major escalation. Six sources with knowledge of the matter, all speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive diplomatic issue that has not been publicly announced, said a decision on such "entity sanctions" was expected soon. A source said...

The British Government has determined that Israel is not committing genocide in Gaza, Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy told the chair of the international development committee in a letter on September 1. This differs significantly from the government’s previous position, which was that only courts can decide whether Israel is or is not committing genocide. It also marks the first time the UK government has stated explicitly that Israel’s actions in Gaza do not count as genocide. In the letter to Sarah Champion, Lammy, who was foreign secretary at the time of writing, acknowledged that the UK government has the...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video statement revealing new information regarding the International Criminal Court's (ICC) controversial decision to seek arrest warrants against Israeli leaders, calling it a "travesty of justice." "Last year, false charges of Israeli war crimes surfaced in the international media," Netanyahu began. "The ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, said he planned to come to Israel to see things for himself. Before he came, he praised Israel's independent judicial system that investigates allegations of war crimes on its own." According to Netanyahu, Khan cancelled his scheduled visit to Israel on the very day of his planned arrival...

No one has ever heard of Western flotillas headed to Nigeria, Congo, or Syria, where Christians and Druze are slaughtered like chickens.

A federal judge in Maine on Friday barred the Trump administration from enforcing sanctions on two U.S. citizens and human rights advocates who work with the International Criminal Court (ICC).On April 11, Matthew Smith and Akila Radhakrishnan, a human rights nonprofit leader and lawyer, respectively, filed a 39-page lawsuit against President Donald Trump and several other members of his administration over an executive order that imposes sanctions on the ICC, prohibits certain interactions with designated ICC officials, and threatens both civil and criminal penalties for any such violations.The lawsuit was premised on the idea that the sanctions "violate their First...

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The United Nations’ top court in a landmark advisory opinion Wednesday said countries could be in violation of international law if they fail to take measures to protect the planet from climate change, and nations harmed by its effects could be entitled to reparations.Advocates immediately cheered the International Court of Justice opinion on nations’ obligations to tackle climate change and the consequences they may face if they don’t.“Failure of a state to take appropriate action to protect the climate system ... may constitute an internationally wrongful act,” court President Yuji Iwasawa said during the hearing....

The most recent protests, from Friday, were led by Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA). Beyond the pickets, the group, along with a lawyer, have referred Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck, minister for space and for defence Judith Collins and others to the office of the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. Why? Because PSNA believes that Rocket Lab activities may have intentionally contributed to war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed by Israel.In a statement provided to The Spinoff, a Rocket Lab spokesperson said the company “strongly refutes PSNA’s false and irresponsible claims” and that it is considering its...

New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, a candidate in the 2025 New York City mayoral race, has sparked intense debate with a striking pledge: if elected mayor, he would order the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should he set foot in the city. In a recent interview, Mamdani articulated a vision for New York City that aligns its actions with international law, even in the face of federal resistance and the United States’ non-signatory status to the International Criminal Court (ICC). When pressed by the interviewer on what he would do if Netanyahu visited New York City during...

The State Department on Thursday announced sanctions on four judges on the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Netherlands, over their roles in investigating the United States and Israel. Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed that two of the justices approved the court's arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The other two authorized the ICC’s investigation into U.S. personnel in Afghanistan. The sanctions target judges Solomy Balungi Bossa of Uganda, Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza of Peru, Reine Adelaide Sophie Alapini Gansou of Benin and Beti Hohler of Slovenia. "As ICC...

The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Thursday blasted the decision by the Trump administration to sanction four of its judges. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the sanctions in a statement, saying they target Solomy Balungi Bossa of Uganda, Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza of Peru, Reine Adelaide Sophie Alapini Gansou of Benin and Beti Hohler of Slovenia. Two of the sanctioned judges authorized the arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant which the court issued last November. The others authorized an ICC investigation into abuses by US personnel in Afghanistan. The ICC said...

SummarySanctions target ICC judges over Afghanistan, Israel cases ICC condemns sanctions as undermining judicial independence Sanctions complicate financial transactions for targeted judges WASHINGTON/THE HAGUE, June 5 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's administration on Thursday imposed sanctions on four judges at the International Criminal Court, an unprecedented retaliation over the war tribunal's cases regarding alleged war crimes by U.S. troops in Afghanistan and over the court's issuance of an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Washington designated Solomy Balungi Bossa of Uganda, Luz del Carmen Ibanez Carranza of Peru, Reine Adelaide Sophie Alapini Gansou of Benin, and Beti Hohler...

The following is an excerpt of the book description written for The National Security Constitution in the 21st Century which Professor Harold Hongju Koh published on June 25, 2024.If re-elected, could President Trump, by a single tweet, withdraw America from the United Nations, NATO, and every treaty and international organization to which the U.S. belongs? Or if re-elected, could President Biden gradually take us to war throughout the Mideast—Gaza, Yemen, Iran, the Red Sea—by supplying weapons and ordering drone strikes, cybercommands and Special Forces without congressional approval?SNIPThis increasing imbalance of foreign affairs power has intensified across recent administrations of both...

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — The leader of Armenia on Wednesday declared his intention to pull out of a Russia-dominated security alliance of several ex-Soviet nations as tensions rise between the two allies. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said his government will decide later when to leave the Collective Security Treaty Organization, or CSTO, a grouping that includes Russia and the former Soviet Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Amid the widening rift with Russia, Armenia earlier froze its participation in the alliance, canceled its involvement in joint military drills and snubbed CSTO summits. Pashinyan said Wednesday for the...

Karim Khan was accused of serious sexual crimes by an assistant less than 3 weeks before his surprise announcement of the cancelation of a fact-finding trip to Israel and the seeking of warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant, raising concerns the warrants are meant to protect him. The International Criminal Court (ICC) announced that it would file arrest warrants against Israeli leaders less than three weeks after ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan was accused of sexual assault, the Wall Street Journal reported. According to the report, Khan responded to the international pressure to criminalize Israel's response to the October 7 massacre...

In December the Obama Administration pushed a UN resolution that banned criticism of Islam. The Obama Administration helped the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) push through their resolution condemning the stereotyping, negative profiling and stigmatization of people based on religion. Team Obama led the way for the resolution to pass through the General Assembly. Now the Iranian Regime is threatening to sue Barack Obama using that same blasphemy law. Press TV reported: A senior Iranian official says US President Barack Obama could face legal action in connection with the production of an anti-Islam movie by an American Jew. “A complaint...

A short time after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu landed in Hungary last week, a representative of the International Criminal Court sent a request to the Hungarian government asking it to extradite him. The request, which was revealed by Channel 12, included a demand for the Prime Minister to be temporarily detained per the Treaty of Rome under which the court operates with a series of unfounded accusations including "use of starvation as a weapon of war," "crimes against humanity," and "attacking civilian areas." The court emphasized that the request is top-secret to protect the process that would allow for the...

UN investigators examining allegations of sexual misconduct by International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Karim Khan are also looking into alleged retaliation for the accusations, five sources briefed on the matter tell Reuters. The allegations being examined are that Khan retaliated against staff who reported allegations of sexual misconduct towards a female lawyer reporting to him or were critical of his handling of the matter, say three sources with direct knowledge of the UN investigation. The five sources, all of whom asked not to be named due to concerns of reprisals, say Khan, who is British, had demoted at least four...

The Trump administration and its Republican allies in Congress say they will fully enforce sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) and are prepared to expand them in response to recent efforts from top ICC officials to evade the measures. Earlier this month, Judge Tomoko Akane, the ICC’s president, petitioned the European Union to invoke what is known as the blocking statute, a legal maneuver that shields EU members from sanctions issued by third-party countries such as the United States. Akane told the EU’s parliament "it is obvious the court cannot survive alone," warning them that "the time to act...