Latest news with #SupremeCourtofIsrael
Calgary Herald
21-06-2025
- Politics
- Calgary Herald
What the world is getting wrong on Israel: An interview with Natasha Hausdorff
Natasha Hausdorff, the British barrister who has become an outspoken defender of Israel's legal rights on global news networks, warns that a 'vicious cycle of disinformation' — fuelled by media self-censorship and terrorist propaganda — has warped the world's understanding of the Gaza conflict, and put Jewish lives at risk. Article content More notably, the expert in international law has popularized one such law, Uti possidetis juris. It states that newly formed sovereign countries should retain the borders that their preceding area had before their independence. Therefore, at the time Israel declared itself a state, Mandatory Palestine – which included what today is known as Israel, Judea and Samaria (a.k.a. the West Bank) and Gaza – would by law be legal territorial boundaries of Israel. It is a lynchpin argument, she believes, against the charges of 'illegal occupation' and 'illegal settlements.' Article content Article content Article content She regularly briefs politicians and international organizations and has spoken at parliaments across Europe. Article content Article content After her law degree at Oxford University, she clerked for the president of the Supreme Court of Israel in Jerusalem in 2016. In 2018, Hausdorff was a Fellow at Columbia Law School in the National Security Law Program. Article content Dave Gordon interviewed Hausdorff prior to a talk she delivered at Toronto's Nova Exhibition on June 12, hosted by StandWithUs Canada. Article content I can fully appreciate that Israel's official stance is constrained by diplomatic operations and political pressures. It's a rule that applies automatically, whatever Israel says about the situation. Article content There are other examples of Israel not standing on ceremony, as far as international law is concerned. One of those relates to Egypt's obligation to open the border to Palestinian civilians, fleeing civil disorder in Gaza. That's in accordance with Egypt's obligation under the Organization of African Unity Convention on (governing the specific aspect of) Refugees, which it signed in 1980. Article content Article content This is a convention that has a much broader definition of refugee than the international convention. Nobody has been calling on Egypt to open the border from October 2023. But Israel can't pressure (that), because Egypt threatened to tear up the peace agreement with Israel. Article content If the BBC were reporting from North Korea, there would be some indication somewhere that we are not free to report without censorship — controlled in what we're able to say by the regime. I have not seen a single piece of reporting from Gaza that has acknowledged that: nothing comes out of the Gaza Strip that is not controlled by Hamas.
Ottawa Citizen
21-06-2025
- Politics
- Ottawa Citizen
What the world is getting wrong on Israel: An interview with Natasha Hausdorff
Article content Natasha Hausdorff, the British barrister who has become an outspoken defender of Israel's legal rights on global news networks, warns that a 'vicious cycle of disinformation' — fuelled by media self-censorship and terrorist propaganda — has warped the world's understanding of the Gaza conflict, and put Jewish lives at risk. Article content More notably, the expert in international law has popularized one such law, Uti possidetis juris. It states that newly formed sovereign countries should retain the borders that their preceding area had before their independence. Therefore, at the time Israel declared itself a state, Mandatory Palestine – which included what today is known as Israel, Judea and Samaria (a.k.a. the West Bank) and Gaza – would by law be legal territorial boundaries of Israel. It is a lynchpin argument, she believes, against the charges of 'illegal occupation' and 'illegal settlements.' Article content Article content Article content She regularly briefs politicians and international organizations and has spoken at parliaments across Europe. Article content Article content After her law degree at Oxford University, she clerked for the president of the Supreme Court of Israel in Jerusalem in 2016. In 2018, Hausdorff was a Fellow at Columbia Law School in the National Security Law Program. Article content Dave Gordon interviewed Hausdorff prior to a talk she delivered at Toronto's Nova Exhibition on June 12, hosted by StandWithUs Canada. Article content I can fully appreciate that Israel's official stance is constrained by diplomatic operations and political pressures. It's a rule that applies automatically, whatever Israel says about the situation. Article content There are other examples of Israel not standing on ceremony, as far as international law is concerned. One of those relates to Egypt's obligation to open the border to Palestinian civilians, fleeing civil disorder in Gaza. That's in accordance with Egypt's obligation under the Organization of African Unity Convention on (governing the specific aspect of) Refugees, which it signed in 1980. Article content Article content This is a convention that has a much broader definition of refugee than the international convention. Nobody has been calling on Egypt to open the border from October 2023. But Israel can't pressure (that), because Egypt threatened to tear up the peace agreement with Israel. Article content If the BBC were reporting from North Korea, there would be some indication somewhere that we are not free to report without censorship — controlled in what we're able to say by the regime. I have not seen a single piece of reporting from Gaza that has acknowledged that: nothing comes out of the Gaza Strip that is not controlled by Hamas.
LeMonde
13-06-2025
- LeMonde
Two Jewish sisters' fight to honor the couple who hid them during the Holocaust
Arlette Testyler often says she was born twice. First in 1933, in Paris, a year after her sister Madeleine. The second time was in Vendôme, in 1942. Their parents, Polish Jews, had come to France to work and start a family, believing they would be safe far from the pogroms already ravaging their homeland. In 1941, their father, Abraham Reiman, who had enlisted in the French army two years earlier, was arrested by the police after being summoned for an identity check. In 1942, he was deported and murdered at Auschwitz. On July 16, Arlette, her sister and their mother were also arrested by the French police and held in inhumane conditions at the Vélodrome d'Hiver stadium in Paris during the mass round-up that led to the arrest of nearly 13,000 people. "It was Dante's inferno," she often says. They remained confined for three days before being transferred to the Beaune-la-Rolande camp, ahead of deportation to Poland. But, by a miracle unique to those tragic times, all three managed to escape and return to Paris before ending up in Vendôme, in central France, where many families had organized to hide Jewish children. It was there that Arlette and her sister found new life, hidden and saved, along with their mother. On Monday, June 16, the town will host a most unusual ceremony. Jeanne and Jean Philippeau, born in 1913 and 1910 and who died in 1992 and 1993, will be honored by the State of Israel. Both will receive the highly prestigious title of Righteous Among the Nations, awarded by the Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem and the Supreme Court of Israel. The couple will be honored for saving the lives of the two girls as well as a boy, Simon Windland, now dead, "without any personal gain," as specified by the French Committee for Yad Vashem – a prerequisite for the award.
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Israeli opposition appeals against intel chief sacking
Israeli opposition parties and a non-governmental organisation launched legal challenges Friday against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to sack the internal security agency chief, a move that has deepened divisions in the country. Opposition leader Yair Lapid's centre-right Yesh Atid party said it had appealed against Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar's dismissal before the Supreme Court of Israel in the name of several opposition movements. Yesh Atid denounced what it called "a decision based on flagrant conflict of interest". The Movement for Quality Government in Israel also appealed against what it said was "an unlawful decision... posing a real risk to the national security of the State of Israel". The NGO was previously very active in the fight against a controversial move by Netanyahu to curb the judiciary's independence. The reform was seen by opponents as a danger to Israel's democracy and the rule of law, and sparked one of the largest protest movements in Israel's history. The separate appeals were launched hours after the government moved to dismiss Bar, with Netanyahu previously citing an "ongoing lack of trust" in him. Netanyahu's office said later the government would meet on Sunday for a no confidence vote on the country's attorney general, a vocal critic of the prime minister. "We resolve to express our lack of confidence in the government's legal adviser, Gali Baharav-Miara, due to her inappropriate behaviour and due to significant and prolonged differences between the government and the government's legal adviser," said a cabinet meeting agenda published on the office's website on Friday. Thousands of Israelis braved cold and rainy weather on Thursday night to protest against the moves against Bar and Baharav-Miara outside Israel's parliament and Netanyahu's home in Jerusalem. - Opposition appeal - The opposition's appeal was filed in the name of Yesh Atid as well as the National Union party headed by former defence minister Benny Gantz, the leftist Democrats alliance and nationalist party Yisrael Beiteinu. Their appeal highlights what critics see as the two main reasons Netanyahu moved against Bar, who had joined the agency in 1993. The first was his criticism of the government over the security failure that allowed Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel to become the deadliest day in the country's history. The second was what media dubbed "Qatargate" -- an investigation into government members paid by Qatar to promote its image. The decision to sack Bar came "as Israel's Security Agency is currently investigating the prime minister's close associates... on suspicion of receiving money from entities directly linked to and acting on behalf of the State of Qatar", the opposition's appeal read. The appeal also mentioned the sacking took place after a Shin Bet investigation highlighting, according to the plaintiffs, "that the political leadership bears responsibility for the October 7 disaster". - Fault lines - Netanyahu's move revived deep divisions within Israeli society, with many concerned by what they see as the latest iteration of Netanyahu's autocratic slip. In a video published Thursday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog deplored the government's "controversial moves" that "deepened divisions" in Israel while it is still at war in the Gaza Strip. A poll by Israel's Channel 12 television network found that 51 percent of Israelis were opposed to Bar's sacking, while 32 percent supported it. A plurality of 46 percent says they trust Bar more than Netanyahu. The crisis comes against the backdrop of new Israeli bombings on Gaza since Tuesday and the reintegration into the government of one of Israel's far-right figures, Itamar Ben Gvir. Ben Gvir had resigned from his position as national security minister to protest the ceasefire with Hamas that came into effect on January 19. "It's impossible not to be deeply troubled by the harsh reality unfolding before our eyes," Herzog said on Thursday night. The president said it was "unthinkable to resume fighting while still pursuing the sacred mission of bringing our hostages home" from Gaza. dms-lba/dv
