This Holocaust survivor recommends warrant for Netanyahu – The Forward

By the age of 14, he had survived the Holocaust; by 44, he was an Israeli diplomat; now, at the age of 94, Theodor Meron recommended the International Criminal Court seek arrest warrants of Israeli and Hamas leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Meron, a New York University professor emeritus who has served as legal counsel for both the U.S. and Israeli governments, was one of eight legal and academic experts who were convened in January at the request of ICC prosecutor Karim Khan to review evidence of possible crimes during the ongoing Hamas-Israel conflict.

Based on the panel’s unanimous findings, Khan decided that he would seek charges against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, along with three Hamas leaders, including Yehiya Sinwar. Khan’s announcement on Monday caused an uproar.

President Biden called it “outrageous,” and Netanyahu has named Khan as one of the “great antisemites in modern times.” The support for the arrest warrant of Amal Clooney, a human rights lawyer and George Clooney’s spouse, has received much attention; that of Meron, the only panel member to have served in the Israeli military, has barely been noted.

Meron was born in 1930 into a middle-class Jewish family in Kalisz, Poland.

“By the age of 9, I was out of school,” he said in a 2008 speech for the American Council of Learned Societies. “Ghettos and work camps followed, with most of my family falling victim to the Holocaust.”

After the war, Meron emigrated to Israel, where he finished high school. He did his military service before studying law at the University of Jerusalem, Harvard University and Cambridge University.

“The imprint of the war made me particularly interested in working in areas which could contribute to making atrocities impossible and eliminating the horrible chaos, the helplessness, and the loss of autonomy which I remembered so well,” he said in the 2008 speech.

In Israel, Meron climbed the foreign service ranks, and eventually, in 1971, he became Israel’s ambassador to Canada. In 1977, he began teaching international law at New York University. His family moved to New York, and he became a U.S. citizen the following year.

As a lawyer and judge, Meron gained a reputation for a clear-eyed reading of international law regardless of political pressure. In 2012, as president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, he oversaw the unpopular overturning of convictions of  Serbian and Croatian commanders.

In 2006, it was revealed that after the 1967 War, as legal adviser for the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Meron issued a secret memo that the construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank or other territories Israel had captured was illegal under international law. In 1968, he declared in another secret legal memo that the demolition of Arab houses would be considered a form of unlawful collective punishment

His opinions were largely ignored by Israeli governments and prime ministers of both the Labor and Likud parties, who all oversaw the building of settlements in the West Bank; Netanyahu has also increased house demolitions as a form of punishment.

Meron, who spent two decades as a judge in U.N. crime tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, has been involved with the court in The Hague for decades. Since 2022, he has served as a pro-bono special adviser to the court, and in 1998, he was part of the U.S. delegation to Rome that led to the establishment of the ICC. Neither the United States nor Israel has ratified the statute that set up the court.

“The attacks by Hamas in Israel on October 7 and the military response by Israeli forces in Gaza have tested the system of international law to its limits,” Meron and other members of the panel wrote in a May 20 op-ed published in the Financial Times. “This is why, as international lawyers, we felt compelled to assist,”

The panel found “reasonable grounds” that the Hamas leaders had committed war crimes and crimes against humanity by killing hundreds of civilians, taking 245 hostages and committing acts of sexual violence against the hostages. It also found reasonable grounds that Israel had committed war crimes, including “intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare.”

Netanyahu denounced Khan, the ICC prosecutor, for creating “a false moral equivalency between the leaders of Israel and the henchmen of Hamas.” He compared him to judges in Nazi Germany who denied Jews basic rights and accused him of “callously pouring gasoline on the fires of antisemitism that are raging around the world.” The prime minister did not mention Meron.

In the Financial Times piece, the panel members emphasized that they focused on how the war is waged, not why or by who. “It is important to understand that the charges have nothing to do with the reasons for the conflict,” they wrote.

But for Meron, the context might be hard to ignore. He was in Israel for its birth in 1948 and was working for Israel’s permanent mission to the United Nations in New York when the 1967 War started. “The future and the survival of Israel were very much at stake,” he said in his 2008 speech.

It was directly after the war that he became the legal adviser for Israel’s Foreign Ministry and gave vital, but unheeded, advice regarding its actions in the newly seized territories…

Source: This Holocaust survivor recommends warrant for Netanyahu – The Forward

People have observed animals self-medicate with plants for millennia – UPI.com

A remarkable body of accounts from ancient to medieval times describes self-medication by many different animals. The animals used plants to treat illness, repel parasites, neutralize poisons and heal wounds. Photo by Karolina Grabowska/Pexels
A remarkable body of accounts from ancient to medieval times describes self-medication by many different animals. The animals used plants to treat illness, repel parasites, neutralize poisons and heal wounds. Photo by Karolina Grabowska/Pexels

Source: People have observed animals self-medicate with plants for millennia – UPI.com

Gaza war: ICJ orders Israel to stop Rafah offensive

EPA Judge Nawaf Salam delivering ruling in ICJEPA

The UN’s top court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), has issued a dramatic ruling, ordering Israel to “immediately halt its military offensive in Rafah”.

It acted in support of a South African application last week which sought a number of measures against Israel, accusing it of stepping up what it says is a genocide.

Presiding judge Nawaf Salam said the situation in Gaza had deteriorated since the court last ordered Israel to take steps to improve it.

Israel has vehemently denied the allegation and signalled it would ignore any order to halt its operation.

Reading the court’s ruling on Friday, Nawaf Salam said “Israel must immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate” which could bring about “the physical destruction” of the Palestinians – alluding to what constitutes genocide under international law.

Israel, he added, must also allow unimpeded access to Gaza to any UN body investigating allegations of genocide.

The ruling also reiterated a requirement for Israel to enable “unhindered provision at scale” of basic services and humanitarian aid for Gaza.

“The humanitarian situation [in Gaza] is now to be characterised as disastrous,” the ruling said.

Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer called the ruling “public suicide”, adding “there is no power in the world that will push us” to that.

And war cabinet minister Benny Gantz said Israel would continue its offensive “wherever and whenever necessary – including in Rafah”.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, hailed the ruling and called for Israel to abide by it.

“We expect that resolutions of the ICJ be implemented without hesitation,” he said. “That’s mandatory. And Israel is party to the convention.”

Source: Gaza war: ICJ orders Israel to stop Rafah offensive

Vinicius de Moraes – Pensamentos.me/VEM comigo!

” Nada renasce antes que se acabe. E o sol que desponta tem que anoitecer.

 

Vinicius de Moraes

Álbum ” 10 anos de Toquinho e Vinicius “

Nota: Trecho da música  Sei lá… a vida tem sempre razão.

https:www.pensador.com

 

Marii Freire

https://Pensamentos.me/VEM comigo!

Imagem: pinterest/eBiografia

Santarém, Pá 24 de maio de 2024

Source: Vinicius de Moraes – Pensamentos.me/VEM comigo!

Second Look Behind the Headlines – News you can use…

Baldacchino di Perla

"Luce di parole, ombra di sogni."

Northern Desert Photography

Living on the Edge of the Sagebrush Ocean

Susana Cabaço

Spiritual Insights & Personal Empowerment

Barbara Picci

Artist & Art Blogger

craft journey

Furnicraft, woodwork, and art

musings corner

reveries and rants

Japão para Românticos

Bem Vindos a este espaço onde compartilhamos um pouco da realidade do Japão à todos aqueles que desejam visitar ou morar no Japão. Aqui neste espaço, mostramos a realidade do Japão e dos imigrantes. O nosso compromisso é com a realidade. Fique por dentro do noticiário dos principais jornais japoneses, tutoriais de Faça você mesmo no Japão e acompanhe a Série Histórias de Imigrantes no Japão. Esperamos que goste de nossos conteúdos, deixe seu like, seu comentário, compartilhe e nos ajudar você e à outras pessoas. Grande abraço, gratidão e volte sempre!

Leben als Mensch

Willkommen auf Elke´s Glücks-Blog

Sharpshot Nature .Com

- Specializing in the great outdoors, capturing nature at its finest!

Diane Ravitch's blog

A site to discuss education and democracy

Expansão e Percepção

Seu Guia de Inspirações e Reflexões Diárias

noga noga.

my-health-and-beauty.com/

Uğurcan'ın Ütopyası

Benim Gezegenime Hoş geldiniz !!!

AKILS

Blog de viajes y lugares

Ed Mooney Photography

The official blog of Ed Mooney Photography. Dad of 3, Photographer, Blogger, Powerlifter. Exploring the historical sites of Ireland.

everything Explored on the earth

It has new aidias,news, about education , motivation, social, historical, culture, marketing creation new aidias education of language science culture and history

Born to die

L'unico modo sensato di vivere è senza regole

Early Morning Memories

by Anuran (A) & Sayoni (S)

My thoughts

Fun for the Brain

Neo Vision College

An exemplary learning community.

Anthony’s Crazy Love and Life Lessons in Empathy

Loves, lamentation, and life through prose, stories, passions, and essays.

Episodic Squalid Rants

public tantrums by a non-two-year-old

The Street Art Directory

Public, street and urban art worldwide

Artie & Stu

all the rules of free form

Everyone read that they fell in love first

<script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-2937106805202763" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>

davidscottmoyer

Lapsed Painter, Occasional Photographer, Compulsive Writer

Health & Fitness

Health Blogs

Buildings Tell Tales

Exploring the hidden architectural heritage of Budapest

Divit kalem

Yaşamdan

Roy's Weblog

The third incarnation...

Thought Pukes

More than a thought less than a question

"بوصلة الحياة"

"بوصلة الحياة: مدونة متعددة المجالات، من السياسة إلى الرومانسية، ومن تطوير الذات إلى الأدب وأكثر!" بقلم مشاعر بنت عبدالرحمن

parallax

The view from here ... Or here!

ClearingSpace4Joy

Bringer and seeker of joy

Belladonna’s Flashlight

The One Where She Stumbled Through Her 40's and Faced Her Demons

~ Trivial Music Silliness ~

Baw wit da baw. Just sayin'.

mo mnsoor blog

Website storys

Chronicles of an Anglo Swiss

Welcome to the Anglo Swiss World

gnaddrig ad libitum

Querbeet und ohne Gewähr

Peace & Truth

KINDNESS IS FREE, sprinkle it all over the world, and 😁 smile

Ética de la vida diaria

Nuestra ética de todos los días...

Elizabeth Gauffreau

Fiction Writer in Poet's Clothing