Category: Human Rights

May 4, 2020

Israel’s New Government Is Exploiting Pandemic to Annex 30 Percent of West Bank

After three indecisive elections, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his opponent Benny Gantz agreed to form a unity government in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the central pillars of this new regime is the unlawful annexation of the Jordan Valley and illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. The annexation has the full backing… Read more »

March 5, 2020

Trump’s Afghanistan Deal Prioritizes Bragging Rights Over Lasting Peace

It’s true that the Trump administration signed a “peace deal” with the Taliban — something that eluded both George W. Bush and Barack Obama — but a closer look at the agreement reveals it to be riddled with conditions that are fraught with obstacles. The terms of the deal suggest that Trump is more interested… Read more »

February 28, 2020

If Venezuelan Embassy Protectors Are Retried, Jury Should Hear About US Crimes

On February 28, federal prosecutors will announce whether they plan to retry four people who spent 37 days in the Venezuelan embassy in Washington, D.C., in the spring of 2019 to protect it from an illegal invasion by the U.S. government. The first trial of Adrienne Pine, Margaret Flowers, Kevin Zeese and David Paul, who were charged with “interfering… Read more »

January 2, 2020

Palestinians Decry ICC Prosecutor’s Delay of Israeli War Crimes Investigation

In a significant development for Israeli accountability, Fatou Bensouda, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), seeks to launch an investigation into war crimes committed in Palestine. But she has established an unnecessary and politically suspect condition to slow down the process. Following a five-year preliminary examination, Bensouda found a reasonable basis to mount… Read more »

November 21, 2019

Trump’s New Policy on Israeli Settlements Is Illegal and Self-Serving

Thumbing his nose at the Geneva Convention, the Rome Statute, the UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly and the International Court of Justice, Donald Trump decided that Israel’s unlawful construction of Jewish settlements in occupied Palestinian territory is lawful. This policy change is part of Trump’s pattern of seeking to legalize illegal Israeli practices…. Read more »

September 4, 2019

Amazon Fires Will Have Global Consequences. The UN Must Act.

The Amazon is burning. Nearly 75,000 fires have started in the iconic Brazilian rainforest this year to date, an 84 percent increase from the year before. Since August 10, a spate of intentionally set fires have been raging in the Amazon. But Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro, who took office in January, let them burn for two weeks before sending… Read more »

August 25, 2019

Israel’s Ban on Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar Backfires

During Congress’s August recess, a group of 41 Democratic and 31 Republican congressmembers traveled to Israel on a delegation sponsored by American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). AIPAC subsidizes congressional trips to Israel in order to further the “special relationship” between Israel and the United States. Israel is the largest recipient of U.S. military aid:… Read more »

July 23, 2019

If Left Unchecked, Trump Will Obliterate the Right to Asylum

Since his inauguration, Donald Trump has effectuated 600 unilateral changes in immigration policy, more than any president in recent memory. Pursuant to its “zero tolerance policy,” the administration arrested undocumented immigrants who crossed the border, took thousands of their children away, put them in cages and then lost track of them, in violation of the Constitution’s Due Process Clause and the Convention on the… Read more »