Universal jurisdiction is a legal principle that allows states or international organizations to claim criminal jurisdiction over an accused person regardless of where the alleged crime was committed, and regardless of the accused's nationality, country of residence, or any other relation to the prosecuting entity. Crimes prosecuted under universal jurisdiction are considered crimes against all, too serious to tolerate jurisdictional arbitrage. The concept of universal jurisdiction is therefore closely linked to the idea that some international norms are erga omnes, or owed to the entire world community, as well as to the concept of jus cogens – that certain international law obligations are binding on all states.
Rachel Aliene Corrie was an American activist and diarist. She was a member of the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and was active throughout the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories. In 2003, Corrie was in Rafah, a city in the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli military was demolishing Palestinian houses at the height of the Second Intifada. While protesting the demolitions as they were being carried out, she was crushed to death and killed by an Israeli armored bulldozer.
The IDF Caterpillar D9 —nicknamed Doobi — is a Caterpillar D9 armored bulldozer used by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The Israeli armored CAT D9 was heavily modified by the Israel Defense Forces, Israeli Military Industries and Israel Aerospace Industries to increase the survivability of the bulldozer in hostile environments and enable it to withstand heavy attacks, thus making it suitable for military combat engineering use. The IDF Caterpillar D9 is operated by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Combat Engineering Corps for combat engineering and counter-terrorism operations.
The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) is a progressive non-profit legal advocacy organization based in New York City, New York, in the United States. It was founded in 1966 by Arthur Kinoy, William Kunstler and others particularly to support activists in the implementation of civil rights legislation and to achieve social justice.
Shurat HaDin is an Israeli non-governmental organization (NGO) founded in Tel Aviv in 2003. Shurat HaDin has been described by some as a civil rights organization and others as a pro-Israel lawfare-waging NGO.
Nitsana Darshan-Leitner is an Israeli attorney, human rights activist, and the founder of Shurat HaDin – Israeli Law Center. As the president of the Shurat HaDin, she has represented hundreds of terror victims in legal actions against terror organizations and their supporters. Darshan-Leitner initiated a legal campaign to deprive terrorists of social media resources such as Facebook and Twitter. Darshan-Leitner assisted in blocking the Gaza Freedom Flotilla.
Sokolow v. Palestine Liberation Organization was a civil case considered by US federal courts, against the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority. The plaintiffs were US citizens injured in terrorist attacks in Israel and US citizens who are relatives of those who were killed by these attacks. They sued Palestine Liberation Organization and Palestinian Authority under the Antiterrorism Act of 1991, demanding $1 billion or more in damages. On 31 August 2016, the Second US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan dismissed the lawsuit on the grounds that US federal courts lacked overseas jurisdiction on civil cases, and the 2nd Circuit decision was effectively upheld on appeal when the Supreme Court of the United States refused to hear an appeal of the Sokolow decision, sending the case back to the trial court for dismissal.
The Presidential Memorandum on Military Service by Transgender Individuals, officially the Presidential Memorandum for the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security, is the 27th presidential memorandum signed by U.S. President Donald Trump on August 25, 2017. The intent was to prevent transgender people from serving in the U.S. military, on the basis that they would be a financial burden due to sex reassignment procedures and associated costs. Federal courts delayed the implementation of this rule by issuing four injunctions. On January 22, 2019, however, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration's ban to take effect.
The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, on 20 December 2019 announced an investigation into war crimes allegedly committed in Palestine by Israeli personnel or members of Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups since 13 June 2014. The allegations include the establishing of illegal West Bank settlements and violations of the law of war by personnel of the Israeli Defence Forces during the 2014 Gaza War, including claims of targeting Red Cross installations. Members of armed Palestinian organizations, including Hamas, were accused of deliberately attacking Israeli civilians and using Palestinians as human shields. Israel is not a member of the ICC and disputes its jurisdiction on the basis that Palestine is not a sovereign state capable of being a party to the Rome Statute, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly condemned the allegations and investigation. According to ICC chief prosecutor Karim Ahmad Khan, suspected war crimes by Israelis on Palestinian territory and by Palestinians on Israeli territory during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war are within the jurisdiction of the Palestine investigation.
Following the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel and outbreak of the Israel–Hamas war, the United States began to send warships and military aircraft into the Eastern Mediterranean and began sending Israel more military supplies. The US stated that Israel would receive "whatever it needs" to support its offensive against the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. On 20 October, President Biden announced that he had asked Congress for $14 billion in additional aid.
An armed conflict between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups has been taking place chiefly in and around the Gaza Strip since 7 October 2023. It began when Hamas militants launched a surprise attack on southern Israel from the Gaza Strip. After clearing Hamas militants from its territory, the Israeli military embarked on an extensive aerial bombardment of the Gaza Strip followed by a large-scale ground invasion beginning on 27 October. Clashes have also occurred in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and with Hezbollah along the Israel–Lebanon border. The fifth war of the Gaza–Israel conflict since 2008, it is part of the broader Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and the most significant military escalation in the region since the Yom Kippur War 50 years earlier.
Israeli war crimes are the violations of international criminal law, including war crimes and crimes against humanity, which the Israel Defense Forces, the military branch of the state of Israel, has been accused of committing since the founding of Israel in 1948. These have included murder, intentional targeting of civilians, killing prisoners of war and surrendered combatants, indiscriminate attacks, collective punishment, starvation, the use of human shields, sexual violence and rape, torture, pillage, forced transfer, breach of medical neutrality, targeting journalists, attacking civilian and protected objects, wanton destruction, incitement to genocide, and genocide.
The State of Israel has been accused of carrying out or inciting genocide against Palestinians during the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. This accusation has been linked to the conceptualization of Israel as a settler colonial state. Those who believe Israel's actions constitute genocide typically point to the phenomena of anti-Palestinianism, Islamophobia, anti-Arab racism in Israeli society, and they cite the Nakba, the Sabra and Shatila massacre, the blockade of the Gaza Strip, the 2014 Gaza War and the 2023 Israel–Hamas war as instances of genocide.
The outbreak of the Israel–Hamas war led to an increased dislike of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the government from Israeli citizens due to a perceived failure of leadership on the issue, with increased calls for Netanyahu's resignation.
Since the start of the Israel–Hamas war on 7 October 2023, the UN Human Rights Council has identified "clear evidence" of war crimes by both Hamas and the Israel Defense Forces. A UN Commission to the Israel–Palestine conflict stated that there is "clear evidence that war crimes may have been committed in the latest explosion of violence in Israel and Gaza, and all those who have violated international law and targeted civilians must be held accountable." On 27 October, a spokesperson for the OHCHR called for an independent court to review potential war crimes committed by both sides.
The Israel–Hamas war sparked a major diplomatic crisis, with many countries around the world reacting strongly to the conflict that affected the momentum of regional relations. At least nine countries took the drastic step of recalling their ambassadors and cutting diplomatic ties with Israel. The conflict has also resulted in a renewed focus on a two-state solution to the ongoing conflict.
Protests, including rallies, demonstrations, campaigns, and vigils, relating to the Israel–Hamas war have occurred nationwide across the United States since the conflict's start on 7 October 2023, occurring as part of a broader phenomenon of the Israel–Hamas war protests around the world.
The State of Israel has been accused of genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip during the Israel–Hamas war. Various scholars, and the United Nations Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, have cited statements by senior Israeli officials, which they argue demonstrate an "intent to destroy" the population of Gaza, a necessary condition for the legal threshold of genocide to be met.
Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip is a case brought before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on 29 December 2023 by South Africa regarding Israel's conduct in the Gaza Strip as part of the Israel–Hamas war.
Israel has been accused of committing genocide in the Gaza war and the Biden administration has been accused of complicity in the genocide. The complicity accusation has been made in court, as well as by federal staffers. As well as Human rights organizations and academic figures around the world.
