To annex or not to annex. That’s not the question.

The new Israeli government intends to extend Israeli sovereignty to parts of Judea and Samaria (the so-called West Bank). The media cry out ‘illegal annexation’ but is this a question of annexation? How can one annex what you’re entitled to?

Report to the UN: Ritual Slaughter Ban – a Violation of Religious Freedom

Together with the International Legal Forum, thinc. has made a submission to the ‘Report to the UN General Assembly on Eliminating Intolerance and Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief’ to report that the Ban on Ritual Slaughter as recently issued in Belgium violates the Freedom of Religion and threatens the existence of Jewish and Muslim communities in Europe and beyond.

San Remo – the Zionist Vision becomes International Law

It is widely believed that the State of Israel was born as a result of UN Resolution 181 of 1947. The truth is that the legal rights of the Jewish people and Israel as a nation were founded in international law well before the very existence of the United Nations, dating back to international legal instruments agreed shortly after World War I, at Villa Devachan in San Remo, Italy, on 25 April 1920.

Palestine vs. Israel before the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD)

The lawfare against Israel has many faces. Next to the case pending before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) (Palestine vs. USA) and the investigation started by the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC), a communication has been submitted by Palestine against Israel to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). In […]

ICC Examination of Israeli Settlement Policies as War Crimes in “Palestine”: a Grave Mistake

On 5 December 2019 the Office of the Prosecutor of the
International Criminal Court issued its annual Report on Preliminary Examination Activities 2019. In this report, the Prosecutor, Ms. Fatou
Bensouda, gave a summary of the status of the twelve “situations” under examination by her office. She has indicated strongly that the Office intends to move forward soon to officially investigate Israeli leaders for war crimes and possibly also crimes against humanity relating to the “situation in Palestine”. In our view, the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC is making a grave mistake.

BDS, anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism

The Israeli government has called the BDS movement the second most serious existential threat to Israel. Second only to the threats issued by Iran to destroy Israel. Israel is not overreacting. The BDS movement is both dangerous and misleading. As Canadian PM Trudeau recently remarked, it is also anti-Semitic.

The Gaza Flotilla Case Continues

In a Judgment of 2 September 2019 the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court orders the Prosecutor to reconsider her decision not to investigate the Gaza flotilla case. The wanderings of this case through the avenues and alleys of the procedural provisions of the Rome Statute of the ICC seems to become a journey without end.

Rebuttal to the Article: “THE IGNORANCE OF TRUMP ENVOY GREENBLATT” by Col. Res. Shaul Arieli, published on August 9, 2019 by HAARETZ.com

Senior Fellow Dr. Cynthia Day Wallace challenges the many misquotes, misrepresentations and misinterpretations by Israeli author Shaul Arieli critiquing U.S. presidential envoy Jason Greenblatt’s address to the UN Security Council. If untruths (or half truths, which are in fact untruths) are allowed to go unchallenged, and the distortion of international law to continue unchecked, a just solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict risks being seriously impeded.

ACLJ to International Criminal Court: Jewish Settlements in Judea and Samaria Are Not “War Crimes”

On May 20, 2019 we reported that the ICC is considering looking into whether Israel has committed war crimes in its dealings with Palestinians. Now, the ICC is even considering initiating an investigation into the legality of Jewish settlements in the so-called “West Bank”, suggesting that such settlements constitute a war crime against Palestinians. The fact is, but for political motives, the ICC would not even be considering these issues.

Lord Denning, Donald Trump and the Golan Heights

In today’s society, there is a prevalent trend when it comes to “equity and justice” as regards the nation of Israel. There is a widespread predisposition against any act or situation involving Israel, which is invariably portrayed in a negative light and all too readily pre-judged as contrary to international law, often with no supporting evidence. Looking at the age-old ties of Israel with the Golan, and considering that the Heights are a strategic necessity for the national defense of Israel, justice would require that Israel’s ancient territory of the Golan be reconstituted under Israeli sovereignty.

Jerusalem and the future of the Two-state Solution

From 8 – 9 January 2019, a seminar has taken place in the House of Parliament of the Czech Republic in Prague about the role and policies of the EU vis-a-vis the status of Jerusalem and the future of the Two-state Solution under international law. The Proceedings of the seminar are available from this site.

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