More than 800 civil servants from the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union released a statement on Friday criticizing their governments’ support of Israel in its war in Gaza, warning that such policies could be contributing to war crimes and violations of international law.
As Israel’s military continues its deadly offensive in Gaza, the officials emphasized that western governments risk being complicit in “one of the worst human catastrophes of this century” by failing to hold Israel to the same international humanitarian aid and human rights standards they apply to other countries. The officials say they privately expressed concerns about Israel’s military operations to leaders of their governments and institutions but have been ignored.
“Our governments’ current policies weaken their moral standing and undermine their ability to stand up for freedom, justice and human rights globally,” the statement says. “There is a plausible risk that our governments’ policies are contributing to grave violations of international humanitarian law, war crimes and even ethnic cleansing or genocide.”
The statement marks the first display of coordinated transatlantic dissent since Israel’s war against Hamas began nearly four months ago, when the Israeli military launched an air and ground operation in Gaza after Hamas fighters killed 1,300 people in southern Israel and took more than 240 hostage. More than 27,000 people in Gaza have been killed and nearly 2 million have been displaced since the war began, according to the health ministry in Gaza and the United Nations.
The signatories called on their governments to “stop asserting to the public that there is a strategic and defensible rationale behind the Israeli operation and that supporting it is in our countries’ interests.” They also urged western governments to halt military support and secure a ceasefire that will increase aid for Palestinians and ensure the release of Israeli hostages captured by Hamas.
The statement says that it was coordinated by civil servants in European Union institutions, the Netherlands, and the U.S. and was endorsed by civil servants in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The names of the civil servants are not listed, but the effort reveals that the current pro-Israel policies have generated dissent among some who work in government.
The statement comes a week after the International Court of Justice (ICJ)—the highest court of the United Nations—ordered Israel to do all it can to prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in Gaza caused by its military campaign. Israel has denied accusations of genocide in Gaza.
The signatories to the new letter demanded that Israel comply with the ICJ order. “Our governments have provided the Israeli military operation with public, diplomatic and military support,” the statement reads. The officials said they are concerned “that this support has been given without real conditions or accountability” as western governments “have failed to call for an immediate ceasefire and an end to blockages of necessary food/water/medicine in Gaza” in light of the war’s death toll.
Former President Donald Trump may be closing in on the Republican presidential nomination. But his campaign is bleeding millions in donor money to cover his mounting legal expenses stemming from multiple lawsuits and four criminal cases.
New campaign finance records filed Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission revealed that the main super PAC supporting Trump’s campaign spent more than it raised in the last six months of 2023—in large part to pay for his lawyers and other investigation-related expenses. The legal bills are likely to increase President Joe Biden’s cash advantage over Trump in a general election rematch if both candidates secure their party’s nominations.
Meanwhile, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley continued to raise substantial money for her campaign despite early losses to Trump in Iowa and New Hampshire, even as he threatens to blacklist her donors.
Here are five takeaways from the new filings.
Biden‘s cash advantage
The Biden for President committee raised $33 million in the third quarter and had about $46 million in cash on hand at the end of 2023, giving him a slight edge over the Trump campaign’s $33 million in cash on hand, according to the reports.
While Biden’s fundraising advantage is notable, it’s not overwhelming for an incumbent. In 2019, then-President Trump and the Republican National Committee raised a whopping $154 million during the fourth quarter.
Biden has been ramping up his campaign operation in recent months, spending nearly $19.3 million in the final quarter of 2023 after spending roughly $14 million over the previous nine months. Payroll more than doubled as his campaign staff had grown to more than 70, the campaign disclosures showed, while advertising and media production grew to roughly $12 million in the final quarter.
However, Trump has faced more robust primary challengers than Biden, likely contributing to the President’s reelection campaign’s slow spending. Biden only faces opposition from Democratic candidates Rep. Dean Phillips and self-care author Marianne Williamson, both of whom are polling in single digits.
Trump’s fundraising and mounting legal expenses
The Trump campaign raised more than $19 million in the fourth quarter, which is less than Biden’s $33 million raised in the same quarter. Trump had more than $33 million in cash on hand at the end of last year, though his Trump Save America joint fundraising committee brought in a whopping $75 million in the second half of the year, once again showcasing the former President’s strong fundraising ability. His strength continues to be among small-donor donors, who accounted for more than one third of that total.
But at the same time, Trump’s campaign has been burning through cash at an even faster rate. Two of his political committees spent a combined $50 million on legal expenses in 2023—more than he’s spending on advertising, payroll, and other typical campaign expenses. Trump’s legal woes have also required him to take time off the campaign trail and into courtrooms after he became the first former President of the United States to be criminally indicted—and has since broken that record three more times. Trump, who has turned his legal troubles into a fundraising tool, is currently battling four separate criminal cases that carry a total of 91 felony counts, as well as other lawsuits.
Haley’s big donors keep her in the race
Haley’s long-shot bid for the GOP nomination continues to bring in enough money for her to stay in the race against Trump. Her campaign raised more than $17 million in the fourth quarter of 2023, and had $14.5 million in cash on hand at the end of the year. Trump’s available cash was more than double the amount she held.
Haley has also spent conservatively in recent months, spending just $14.3 million in the final quarter of last year. That has likely helped her campaign stay afloat, especially as she faces calls from MAGA Republicansto drop out of the race. Haley has centered herself as the Republican best positioned to unseat Biden in the fall.
Her campaign has so far attracted big donors, including billionaire hedge-fund manager Paul Singer and Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, both of whom donated $5 million to her allied super PAC. Haley has also drawn support from prominent Jewish donors given her support for Israel, including WhatsApp Founder Jan Koum, who contributed $5 million last year.
DeSantis’ spending spree
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis dropped out of the Republican primary race in January after he failed to close the gap with Trump’s campaign despite the initial hype surrounding his presidential bid. DeSantis’s failed campaign wound up costing more than $160 million in total, an enormous sum considering he ended his bid before the New Hampshire primary.
According to campaign finance reports, the Never Back Down super PAC amassed $130 million in the first half of 2023 compared to just $14.5 million in the second half of the year.
The Kennedy factor
Robert F. Kennedy, an independent candidate mounting a bid for the presidency, spent more money than his campaign raised last year and had just $5.4 million in the bank at the end of 2023.
Wednesday’s fundraising reports show that Kennedy’s campaign committee raised an impressive $7 million over the last three months of 2023, more than DeSantis raised over that same period while he was an active candidate. But Kennedy’s cash reserves are sinking as he spent $7.7 million in the final quarter.
BRUSSELS — The leaders of the 27 European Union countries sealed a deal Thursday to provide Ukraine with a new 50-billion-euro ($54 billion) support package despite Hungary’s weeks of threats to veto the move.
European Council President Charles Michel announced the agreement about only an hour into the leaders’ summit in Brussels.
“We have a deal,” Michel said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. He said the agreement “locks in steadfast, long-term, predictable funding for Ukraine,” and demonstrated that the “EU is taking leadership and responsibility in support for Ukraine; we know what is at stake.”
It was not immediately clear if any concessions were made to secure Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s approval. He raised staunch objections to the financial aid package in December and in the days leading up to Thursday’s summit in Brussels.
On their way into their meeting, several fellow leaders had lashed out at Orban, accusing him of blackmail and playing political games that undermined support for Ukraine and the country’s war-ravaged economy.
Almost two years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the war has ground to a halt and Ukraine’s economy desperately needs propping up. But political infighting in the EU and in the United States has held up a long-term source of funding.
Concern has mounted that public support to keep pouring money into Ukraine has started to wane, even though a Russian victory could threaten security across Europe.
“There is no problem with the so-called Ukraine fatigue issue. We have Orban fatigue now in Brussels,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told reporters Thursday. “I can’t understand. I can’t accept this very strange and very egoistic game of Viktor Orban.”
In December, the 26 other leaders agreed on an aid package worth 50 billion euros ($54 billion) for this year through 2027. They also agreed to make Ukraine a candidate for EU membership, which Orban reluctantly accepted.
But the financial package was part of a review of the EU’s continuing seven-year budget, which requires unanimous approval.
Orban, the EU leader with the closest ties to Russia, is angry at the European Commission’s decision to freeze his government’s access to some of the bloc’s funds. The EU’s executive branch did so over concerns about possible threats to the EU budget posed by democratic backsliding in Hungary.
In response, Hungary vetoed statements at the EU on a range of issues. Orban’s also exported the problem to NATO, by blocking high level meetings with Ukraine until only recently. Budapest is also holding up Sweden’s bid for membership in the military organization.
“I don’t want to use the word blackmail, but I don’t know what other better word” might fit, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas told reporters as she arrived at EU headquarters.
“Hungary needs Europe,” she said, highlighting the country’s own economic problems and high interest rates. “He should also look into what it is in it for Hungary, being in Europe.”
Tusk insisted that there could be “no room for compromise on our principles, like rule of law. And for sure there is no room for compromise on the Ukraine question.” The recently elected Polish leader added: “If his position will dominate in Europe, then Ukraine will lose for sure.”
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said it was important for the leaders to try to seal a deal supported by all 27 member countries but that in any case “we can’t go away without an agreement.”
“That war is now raging for two years. Ukraine will not be able to continue to defend itself without the support of the European Union, and we can’t leave them short,” Varadkar told reporters.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that “we want to finish what we started in December” and stressed that the planned 50 billion euros for Ukraine is “urgently necessary.”
“I will make a great deal of effort, together with many others, to make a decision by 27 (member states) possible,” Scholz said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was scheduled to address the leaders via video link.
The chief minister of India’s Jharkand state and leader in the opposition coalition was arrested Wednesday, just months before the country’s elections.
Hemant Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate, the nation’s federal anti-money laundering agency, relating to a case of alleged land fraud, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified as the details aren’t public. A charge sheet hasn’t yet been filed, according to the person.
Soren’s Jharkhand Mukti Morcha party governs the north-eastern state in a coalition with the Indian National Congress. His party is also a member of the opposition coalition known by the acronym I.N.D.I.A, which was formed last year to fight Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party in national elections, expected to take place in April and May.
Soren resigned as chief minister on Wednesday after he was questioned by the investigative agency.
On Thursday, Soren petitioned the country’s Supreme Court challenging his arrest. Requesting an urgent hearing, his lawyer Kapil Sibal said Soren’s arrest is “a very serious matter.” The court is scheduled to hear the case Friday.
While there have been several chief ministers who have resigned in the past while facing legal charges, Soren is the first sitting head of a regional party to be arrested without any formal charges brought against him.
Leaders from Soren’s party and the opposition alliance said the arrest was politically motivated, with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party seeking to intimidate the opposition.
“As part of the conspiracy, BJP’s work to destabilize opposition parties one by one continues,” Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, said in a post on social media platform X.
The BJP denied that opposition groups are being targeted in any way. Sudhanshu Trivedi, the national spokesperson for the ruling party, reiterated on a local news channel Wednesday that the government was pursuing allegations of corruption or fraud against any politician, irrespective of their political allegiances.
Soren nominated veteran party leader, Champai Soren, as his replacement as chief minister after a session with legislative members of his party. The two aren’t related.
Speculation has been swirling for months that the Enforcement Directorate may also target Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of India’s capital Delhi over a bribery scandal. Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party, or Common Man’s Party, is also competing in the upcoming polls against the BJP.
The paper napkin that secured a deal between international soccer star Lionel Messi and FC Barcelona’s team will be auctioned at a starting price of £300,000 ($381,500).
The artifact was offered to international auction house Bonhams on behalf of Argentine agent Horacio Gaggioli. Fans will be able to participate in the online auction from March 18-27.
At age 13, Messi moved from Argentina to Barcelona to play in FC Barcelona’s under-14 soccer team. Agents and coaches were initially hesitant to sign Messi due to a number of things, including his young age, height, and the fact that he was not European.
“In Barcelona, on 14 December 2000 and the presence of Messrs Minguella and Horacio [Gaggioli], Carles Rexach, FC Barcelona’s sporting director, hereby agrees, under his responsibility and regardless of any dissenting opinions, to sign the player Lionel Messi, provided that we keep to the amounts agreed upon,” the napkin reads in blue ink.
The contract outlined on the small 16.5 x 16.5 cm napkin was officially transferred to a real document later that night, bringing Messi to the squad, Bonhams’ press release says.
The napkin was not signed by Messi himself, but rather, includes signatures by Gaggioli, Rexach, a technical director, and Josep Maria Minguella, a transfer advisor to the club. The three men agreed to sign Messi in 2000 after the young teen impressed coaches and staff during a two-week trial run in Barcelona.
Just three years after the contract, Messi had an informal debut with FC Barcelona and later went on to become one of the best players in the sport’s history.
“This is one of the most thrilling items I have ever handled. Yes, it’s a paper napkin, but it’s the famous napkin that was at the inception of Lionel Messi’s career. It changed the life of Messi, the future of FC Barcelona, and was instrumental in giving some of the most glorious moments of football to billions of fans around the globe,” Ian Ehling, Head of Fine Books and Manuscripts at Bonhams New York, said in a statement.
Messi’s leadership helped Argentina secure their first World Cup win since 1986. That win, along with numerous other accolades, secured the Inter Miami star the title of the 2023 TIME Athlete of the Year.
A collection of eight robots designed by PAL Robotics and trialed by researchers collaborating across multiple universities in Europe and the Middle East have successfully passed the testing phase with patients. The robots, referred to as SPRING (Socially Assistive Robots in Gerontological Healthcare), are designed to provide comfort to elderly patients and alleviate their anxiety, while reducing the burden placed on nursing staff in busy environments.
“We believe that the SPRING project marks a significant milestone in the development of interactive robotics, and we are proud of its achievements, while recognising the exciting challenges that lie ahead,” Oliver Lemon, a professor of AI and academic co-lead at the National Robotarium stated in a press release.
The results of the tests showed that robots were able to perform routine tasks like greeting patients, provide directions, and answer questions during the initial trials in Assistance Publique Hopitaux de Paris in France. They were also able to understand group conversations and facilitate assistance based on what patients asked of them. These advances were made possible by the progress seen in large language models in recent years, the type of artificial intelligence technology that powers ChatGPT.
The use of robots also reduced the amount of physical contact healthcare workers had with patients, which could help reduce the spread of infections in hospital settings.
The SPRING project began nearly four and half years ago and is funded by Horizon 2020, a research and innovation initiative by the European Union.
“The prospect of robots seamlessly collaborating with hospital staff to enhance the patient experience is now closer to reality” said Lemon.
The latest conviction and sentencing were Khan’s third since 2022 when he was ousted from power.
Khan and his wife were accused in the most recent case of retaining and selling state gifts when the former premier was in power.
The court also disqualified Khan for years from holding any public office, ahead of Pakistan’s Feb. 8 parliamentary elections. Khan’s lawyer Babar Awan said the former prime minister was convicted and sentenced in such a hurry that the judge did not wait for the arrival of his legal team.
He said Khan’s basic human and fundamental rights had been violated, and that the latest conviction and sentencing would be challenged in higher courts.
“It seems the judge was in a hurry to announce the verdict,” he said.
Zulfiqar Bukhari, the chief spokesperson for Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI, also confirmed the conviction and sentencing.
The latest development came three weeks after Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, were indicted on graft charges for retaining state gifts including jewelry and watches from Saudi Arabia’s government, authorities said.
The latest court order was another blow to Khan. He and Bibi had pleaded not guilty when the charges were read out at a court at the prison in the garrison city of Rawalpindi earlier this month.
Khan briefly attended the court hearing when the judge announced the verdict.
Khan was ousted from power in a no-confidence vote in Parliament in April 2022. Despite his conviction and sentencing, he remains popular and is currently serving time on a corruption conviction and has multiple other legal cases hanging over him.
Amid an “in-flight emergency,” a U.S. F-16 fighter jet crashed in waters off South Korea’s west coast Wednesday morning, the U.S. Air Force said in a statement, adding that the pilot had “ejected safely” and was transported conscious to a medical facility for assessment.
“We are very thankful to the Republic of Korea rescue forces and all of our teammates who made the swift recovery of our pilot possible,” Matthew C. Gaetke, commander of the 8th Fighter Wing, said in the statement. The 8th Fighter Wing, which was the first overseas unit to receive the F-16 platform in 1981, operates from Kunsan Air Base, about 115 miles south of Seoul.
“Now we will shift our focus to search and recovery of the aircraft,” Gaetke said. Information on the cause of the emergency would not be made available until investigation has concluded, the statement said.
This is the second time in less than two months that the U.S. Air Force has experienced incidents with its F-16s. In December, another F-16 fighter jet from the 8th Fighter Wing crashed into the Yellow Sea off South Korea’s southeastern coast, with the pilot also having ejected safely before the crash. At the time, Gaetke ordered a two-day pause on flights for investigation and recovery of the aircraft. It’s unclear if that investigation has concluded.
Jan. 20 marked the 50th anniversary of the first F-16 flight. Since 1974, the aircraft has been used in “every major American conflict,” including to “maintain peace on the Korean Peninsula,” according to the 8th Fighter Wing.
“The fight is evolving, the threat is evolving, and fortunately, so is the F-16,” Gaetke said earlier this month.
(CHICAGO) — Illinois’ election board on Tuesday kept former President Donald Trump on the state’s primary ballot, a week before the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments on whether the Republican’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol disqualifies him from the presidency.
The board’s unanimous ruling comes after its hearing officer, a retired judge and Republican, found that a “preponderance of the evidence” shows Trump is ineligible to run for president because he violated a constitutional ban on those who “engaged in insurrection” from holding office. But the hearing officer recommended the board let the courts make the ultimate decision.
The eight-member board, composed of four Democrats and four Republicans, agreed with a recommendation from its lawyer to let Trump remain on the ballot by determining it didn’t have the authority to determine whether he violated the U.S Constitution.
Board member Catherine McCrory prefaced her vote with a statement: “I want it to be clear that this Republican believes that there was an insurrection on Jan. 6. There’s no doubt in my mind that he manipulated, instigated, aided and abetted an insurrection on Jan. 6.”
But McCrory said she agreed the board doesn’t have jurisdiction to enforce that conclusion.
Trump’s attorney urged the board not to get involved, contending the former president never engaged in insurrection but that wasn’t something it could determine. “We would recommend and urge the board to not wade into this,” attorney Adam Merrill said.
Trump cheered the decision in a post on his social media network, Truth Social. “The VOTE was 8-0 in favor of keeping your favorite President (ME!), on the Ballot,” Trump wrote.
An attorney for the voters who objected to Trump’s presence on the ballot said they’d appeal to Cook County circuit court. “What’s happened here is an avoidance of a hot potato issue,” attorney Matthew Piers told reporters after the hearing. “I get the desire to do it, but the law doesn’t allow you to duck.”
The issue will likely be decided at a higher court, with the U.S. Supreme Court scheduled next week to hear arguments in Trump’s appeal of a Colorado ruling declaring him ineligible for the presidency in that state.
The nation’s highest court has never ruled on a case involving Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which was adopted in 1868 to prevent former confederates from returning to office after the Civil War but has rarely been used since then. Some legal scholars say the post-Civil War clause applies to Trump for his role in trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election and encouraging his backers to storm the U.S. Capitol after he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
Dozens of cases have been filed around the country seeking to bar Trump from the presidency under Section 3. The Colorado case is the only one that succeeded in court. Most other courts and election officials have ducked the issue on similar grounds to Illinois, contending they don’t have jurisdiction to rule on the obscure constitutional issue.
Maine’s Democratic Secretary of State also ruled that Trump violated the 14th Amendment and is no longer eligible for the White House, but her ruling is on hold until the Supreme Court issues a decision.
Trump’s critics argue he’s disqualified by the plain language of Section 3, which forbids those who swore an oath to “support” the Constitution, then “engaged in insurrection” against it from holding office. They contend the former president is ineligible just as if he didn’t meet the constitutional threshold of being at least 35 years old.
But Trump’s attorneys have argued that the provision is vague and unclear and that Jan. 6 doesn’t meet the legal definition of an insurrection. Even if it did, they argue, that Trump was simply exercising his First Amendment and isn’t liable for what occurred and that the bar on office shouldn’t apply to presidents.
Section 3 was heavily used immediately after the Civil War, but after Congress granted an amnesty to most former Confederates in 1872 it fell into disuse. Legal scholars can only find one example of it being deployed in the 20th century — against a socialist who was not seated in congress because he objected to U.S. involvement in World War One — and only used a handful of times since Jan. 6.
The Illinois board members ducked the issue by concluding that, under state law, all they can do is assess whether the basic paperwork candidates fill out is true. The only way to remove Trump would be by concluding he made a false statement when he swore under oath in that paperwork that he was eligible for the office he sought.
Board member Jack Vrett, a Republican, warned that would create a dangerous precedent, given the dozens of election boards in the state that follow the main one’s lead. “If we allowed them to say, ‘Don’t just look at the papers, look at the underlying allegations,’ that would open a floodgate,” Vrett said.
“Every possible school board candidate would seek to challenge the qualification” of their rival, Vrett added, “based on some alleged criminal conduct.”
Three men are suing the Japanese government, citing a pattern of racially motivated police harassment and asking for improved practices and about ¥3 million ($20,330) each in compensation.
The suit is unusual in Japan, a historically homogeneous place with little precedent for punishing racial discrimination. The plaintiffs—two permanent residents and one a foreign-born Japanese citizen—are seeking to show that disparate treatment based on race violates the constitution and international human rights agreements.
Plaintiffs say they have been repeatedly stopped for questioning by police for no apparent reason, and had their belongings searched, according to a summary of the case provided by lawyers. One, an African American who has lived in Japan for more than a decade and has a Japanese family, said he’d been stopped more than 15 times before he decided to join the suit. Another, a Pacific Islander, said he’d been questioned about 100 times.
“If police officers are allowed to discriminate, then it creates this image from the top to the citizens that discrimination is OK,” said Moe Miyashita, one of the lawyers for the plaintiffs. “On the other hand, if the police, the national government and other public organizations tell people that they can’t do this, it sends a strong message to the general public that discrimination is wrong.”
The suit names the Japanese government and the Tokyo Metropolitan and Aichi prefecture governments. All three declined to comment on the case.
The National Police Agency said in an email that officers do not question people on the basis of race or nationality, and they are not aware of such cases of discrimination. The agency added it would refrain from commenting on the lawsuit because it has not received details.
The lawsuit adds to simmering questions about how Japan will manage the growing diversity of its population. To make up for its shrinking workforce, the country is increasingly reliant on immigrants. Foreign workers now number a record-high 2 million, according to the most recent government data.
Awareness of racism and racial profiling has been rising since a 2021 viral video showed a police officer admitting he’d searched a mixed-race man because “many people with dreadlocks carry drugs.” The U.S. Embassy in Tokyo warned U.S. citizens about racial profiling by Japanese police on their X account.
The U.S. Embassy has received reports of foreigners stopped and searched by Japanese police in suspected racial profiling incidents. Several were detained, questioned, and searched. U.S. citizens should carry proof of immigration and request consular notification if detained. pic.twitter.com/a8BkAU7eCR
Japan’s constitution explicitly bans race-based discrimination, and the country is a signatory to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
Nevertheless, a study by the Tokyo Bar Association showed that among 2,000 respondents of foreign background, over 60% said they had been questioned by police and about 77% of those questioned said there was no apparent reason other than the fact they appeared foreign.
“More people are starting to recognize that these issues are happening,” Miyashita said. “I think this is just the beginning.”
The U.K. government announced a plan on Monday to ban the sale of disposable vapes, in an attempt to curb the rise in vaping among children. The plan would also force companies to use plain packaging and place restrictions on flavors sold in an effort to make the products less appealing to children. It would also place restrictions on how vapes are advertised in shops.
“The long-term impacts of vaping are unknown and the nicotine within them can be highly addictive, so while vaping can be a useful tool to help smokers quit, marketing vapes to children is not acceptable,” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in a statement. He stressed that adult smokers aiming to quit would still be able to access vape kits.
A spring 2023 report from Action on Smoking and Health found that the proportion of children experimenting with vaping had grown by 50 percent year-over-year. The proportion of 11 to 17-year-old people who vape has increased almost nine times in the last 2 years, the government says, noting that disposable vapes have been a “key driver” in the rise.
The change is expected to go into effect by the end of this year or early 2025, and is the latest effort by the government to bring about “the first smokefree generation.” In October, the government announced plans to pass a law that would prevent those born on or after Jan. 1, 2009 from legally buying tobacco in their lifetime.
The U.K. is not the first country to introduce the idea of banning disposable vapes. Australia began banning the import of disposable e-cigarettes earlier this month, citing concerns over teens’ health. In December, France’s National Assembly unanimously approved a bill to ban the products to protect young people and reduce environmental impacts.
In December, the World Health Organization (WHO) urged all governments to ban the sale of vapes or impose measures that would make them less appealing to the general population—banning flavors, limiting the concentration of nicotine, or taxing the product.
“There is an alarming increase in the use of e-cigarettes among children and young people with rates exceeding adult use in many countries,” said Dr. Ruediger Krech, WHO Director for Health Promotion.
Four men Iran believed to be linked to Israeli spyagency Mossad were executed on Monday, Iranian state media reported, amid escalating tensions between the longtime foes and concerns of a widening conflict in the Middle East as the Israel-Hamas war rages on.
The state-controlled Islamic Republic News Agency described the four people—who were presumably hanged (Iran’s default method of execution) and who have been previously identified as Mohsen Mazloum, Pejman Fatehi, Vafa Azarbar, and Hajir Faramarzi—as “terrorists.”
Iranian security forces arrested the four men in mid-2022, claiming that they were suspected of a plot to bomb a factory that was affiliated with the defense ministry in the city of Najafabad. The four were convicted of “forming and managing a terrorist group with the aim of disrupting the country’s security” and were sentenced to death last September for “espionage cooperation in favor of the Israeli regime,” IRNA reported, adding that their convictions were subsequently upheld by an appeal court.
Iran Human Rights, however, claimed that the four men were Kurdish political prisoners and were denied a fair judicial process. The wife of one of the men told the advocacy group that they had traveled to Urmia city in June 2022 for “political activities” on behalf of the Komala party, a social democratic Kurdish party, when they were arrested.
“The Islamic Republic aired their forced confessions after 80 days in which they were tortured to say they were Mossad agents and Israeli spies and had planned to blow up an industrial centre in Isfahan,” she told Iran Human Rights.
The Komala party confirmed the men’s executions on Monday in a post on X.
The executions on Monday are the latest in a crackdown against individuals who authorities claim are colluding with Israeli intelligence. Another four people—three men and one woman—were executed in December for their alleged links to Mossad after they were charged with arson and kidnapping Iranian security personnel. And in December 2022, another four people were hanged after being convicted of working with Israeli intelligence.
Iran and Israel’s bitter bilateral relations, in part due to tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, have dipped even further since the Israel-Hamas war that broke out on Oct. 7 and has since seen the rise of proxy conflicts between each side’s allies.
China Evergrande Group received a liquidation order from a Hong Kong court, setting off what’s likely to be a daunting process to carve up one of the biggest victims of a years-long and nationwide property debt crisis.
A wind-up will end up in the company being managed by provisional liquidators and addressing issues, including control by founder and Chairman Hui Ka Yan, Judge Linda Chan said in the city’s High Court on Monday morning. Trading in Evergrande shares was suspended after the stock tumbled 21%, giving it a market value of just HK$2.15 billion ($275 million).
The ruling cements the homebuilder — carrying 2.39 trillion yuan ($333 billion) of liabilities — as the most prominent symbol so far of China’s real estate crisis, which has crimped economic growth and hurt consumer confidence. The developer had failed to reach an agreement with creditors even after years of negotiations, with Hui placed under police control in September on suspicion of committing crimes.
The order “is a milestone for the restructuring of China’s property sector, and how the authorities draw the line between offshore and onshore stakeholders will be a crucial issue to watch for investors,” said Homin Lee, an Asia macro strategist at Lombard Odier Singapore.
Most of Evergrande’s dollar notes were traded at around 1.5 cents on the dollar as of last Friday, according to Bloomberg-compiled data.
While creditors weren’t seeking a wind-up order, Judge Chan noted the lack of progress. “The company said it will do one, two, three,” she said. “None of that has been done.”
Still, “even after a wind-up, it’s still possible for the company to put forward a scheme of arrangement,” said Judge Chan.
Evergrande, which first defaulted on a dollar bond in December 2021, was for a time in the last decade the country’s largest builder by sales. The petition for liquidation was filed in June 2022 by Top Shine Global Limited of Intershore Consult (Samoa) Ltd., which was a strategic investor in the homebuilder’s online sales platform.
Judge Chan, who has presided over a string of developer hearings, will conduct a hearing on a potential regulating order at 2:30pm Monday, according to information on the city’s judiciary website. Such orders mean that the court would regulate the winding-up process, potentially including appointing a liquidator.
Since its default in 2021, Evergrande has proposed several restructuring plans. But the process has run into various troubles. It scrapped its creditor meetings at the last minute in late September, saying the latest plans requires reassessment.
The company has proposed its last restructuring plan in January and aims to present new term sheets by March, according to participants in the Monday hearing that included legal representatives from Evergrande and its ad hoc bondholder group. But that effort failed to buy Evergrande more breathing room.
Even with the wind-up order, the liquidator is likely to face a tricky process in dealing with Chinese developers. Most Evergrande projects are operated by local units, which could be hard for the offshore liquidator to seize. And construction work, housing delivery and other activities in mainland China likely will continue while the process unfolds.
The property market has continued to sag even as China introduced a slew of new measures to stem sinking prices and sluggish demand.
Evergrande’s winding-up petition case number is HCCW 220/2022.
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Dorothy Ma, Alice Huang and Lorretta Chen / Bloomberg
Social media platform X, formerly Twitter, has blocked searches of Taylor Swift’s name to crack down on the proliferation of sexually explicit deepfakes of the pop star, revealing the challenges of tackling such content.
“This is a temporary action and done with an abundance of caution as we prioritize safety on this issue,” Joe Benarroch, head of business operations at X, tells TIME in an email Sunday. At the time of publication, searches of Taylor Swift’s name on X were still inaccessible.
On Friday, X’s Safety account on the platform posted that non-consensual nudity is strictly prohibited and the company has a “zero-tolerance policy towards such content.” Teams were “actively removing all identified images and taking appropriate actions against the accounts responsible for posting them,” the statement read. “We’re committed to maintaining a safe and respectful environment for all users.”
TIME has reached out to Swift’s publicist for comment.
The Swift deepfakes have spotlighted the issue of AI-generated pornography, where the face of an individual is superimposed onto an explicit picture or video without their consent, and the need for more legal protections as regulation struggles to keep pace with technology. As X acknowledged, banning searches is a stopgap measure. Although it has been used to effect in this particular case, it’s not a long-term fix for the wide-reaching problem.
This is the message X users currently receive when inputting “Taylor Swift” in the search box.Screenshot via TIME
Ninety-six percent of all deepfakes online in 2019 were nonconsensual pornography, almost all of women, media analyst Sensity found, and the FBI warned last year that this content can be used for sextortion and criminal financial gain.
“It is alarming,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Friday when asked about the Swift deepfakes. “While social media companies make their own independent decisions about content management, we believe they have an important role to play in enforcing their own rules to prevent the spread of misinformation and non-consensual intimate imagery of real people.”
While 10 states criminalize deepfakes, federal law does not, and legislators in Congress are stepping up to try to outlaw the content.
Rep. Joe Morelle, a Democrat from New York, introduced the Preventing Deepfakes of Intimate Images Act last year, but the bill has not moved forward yet. Another New York Democrat, Rep. Yvette Clarke, introduced the DEEPFAKES Accountability Act last year to protect against national security threats and provide legal recourse to victims.
In response to a reporter’s question about proposed law, Jean-Pierre said “there should be legislation, obviously, to deal with this issue,” but pointed out that President Joe Biden already took action by authoring an executive order on how his administration would govern generative AI and creating a task force to tackle online harassment.
How rich is former president Donald Trump? The interest in that question—debated in court, on the campaign trail, and by the media over the years—resurfaced this week after a jury ordered Trump to pay $83.3 million to journalist E. Jean Carroll, who said he damaged her reputation by saying she lied when accusing him of sexual assault.
Another jury awarded Carroll $5 million earlier this year after finding Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming her by claiming she invented the story. Trump is appealing.
The hefty sums incited renewed interest over the 2024 presidential candidate’s net worth. Reports on how much Trump is worth vary. Forbes estimated Trump’s net worth as $2.6 billion in September 2023, while Bloomberg pegged it at $3.1 billion in November 2023.
The main sources of Trump’s wealth reportedly stem from New York City real estate holdings, golf clubs and resorts, in addition to cash and personal assets.
Forbes estimated that Trump’s net worth peaked in 2015, the year before he was elected president, at $4.5 billion, then dropped or remained the same annually during and after his presidency, except for a jump to $3.2 billion in 2022.
In 2021, the two publications estimated around the same net worth—$2.5 billion for Forbes compared to $2.6 billion by Bloomberg.
The true number of Trump’s wealth is central to a $370 million civil lawsuit, filed against him by New York Attorney General Letitia James, that accused him of deceiving banks and insurers by inflating the value of his assets. Trump has denied any wrongdoing. A ruling is expected in that case by the end of the month.
The United Nations fired several staffers at its Palestinian refugee agency over Israeli allegations that they took part in the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, news that prompted the U.S., the U.K. and other countries to suspend funding.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “is horrified by the news” that workers with the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, or UNRWA, may have been involved in the attack by Hamas militants on southern Israel, and urged the agency’s chief to refer the accused for potential prosecution, his office said in a statement Friday. According to the statement, there will be an “urgent and comprehensive independent review” of the agency.
The claims come as a black eye for UNRWA, which provides humanitarian assistance and protection to Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank. It has long been regarded with suspicion by Israel and Republicans in the U.S., who argue that it only fuels the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and money going to food, education and health care frees up Hamas to fund hostilities against Israel.
“These shocking allegations come as more than 2 million people in Gaza depend on lifesaving assistance that the agency has been providing since the war began,” UNRWA Director-General Philippe Lazzarini said in a statement Friday. “Anyone who betrays the fundamental values of the United Nations also betrays those whom we serve in Gaza, across the region and elsewhere around the world.”
Israel said it will seek U.S. and European Union support to halt UNRWA operations in Gaza. Foreign Minister Israel Katz wrote in a post on X that his ministry wants to ensure the agency “will not be part of the day after.”
He urged the U.N. to take “immediate personal actions” against the UNRWA leadership.
While criticism over UNRWA’s role in the Israel-Palestinian conflict became even more charged after Hamas launched its surprise attack on Israel, the group has also paid a heavy price in Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, with more than 150 of its staff killed in the violence.
A vast majority of UNRWA’s 30,000 staff is Palestinian, with 13,000 of those in Gaza. The U.S. State Department said in a statement Friday that 12 UNRWA staff had been accused of links to the attacks.
The U.S. — UNRWA’s main donor — also announced Friday it was suspending additional funding for the organization in the wake of the allegations. “There must be complete accountability for anyone who participated in the heinous attacks of Oct. 7,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in the statement. The US contributed more than $296 million to the group in 2023.
The U.K., Australia, Canada, Italy and Finland also said they are pausing additional funding to UNRWA.
Senator James Risch, an Idaho Republican who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he had warned the Biden administration for years about funding the agency, which he said “has a history of employing people connected to terrorist movements like Hamas.”
Despite the recent allegations, the U.S. signaled it continues to support the agency. UNRWA plays “a critical role in providing lifesaving assistance to Palestinians, including essential food, medicine, shelter, and other vital humanitarian support,” Miller said in the statement.
The EU also expressed concern over the allegations, and said it expects UNRWA “to provide full transparency on the allegations and to take immediate measures against staff involved.”
MIAMI — The world’s largest cruise ship is set to begin its maiden voyage Saturday as it gets underway from the Port of Miami.
Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas, which runs nearly 1,200 feet (365 meters) from bow to stern, is roughly as long as the Empire State Building is high: 1,250 feet (381 meters) – not counting the spire and antenna.
The ship, which is leaving South Florida for its first seven-day island-hopping voyage through the tropics, was officially christened Tuesday with help from soccer legend Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami teammates.
“Icon of the Seas is the culmination of more than 50 years of dreaming, innovating and living our mission – to deliver the world’s best vacation experiences responsibly,” Royal Caribbean Group President and CEO Jason Liberty said earlier this week. “She is the ultimate multigenerational family vacation, forever changing the status quo in family travel and fulfilling vacation dreams for all ages on board.”
When the Icon of the Seas was first revealed in October 2022, the ship spurred the single largest booking day and the highest volume booking week in Royal Caribbean’s then 53-year history, according to the cruise line.
The Icon of the Seas is divided into eight neighborhoods across 20 decks. The ship includes six waterslides, seven swimming pools, an ice skating rink, a theater and more than 40 restaurants, bars and lounges. The ship can carry up to 7,600 passengers at maximum capacity, along with 2,350 crew members.
Deepfake pornographic images of Taylor Swift have been shared across the social media platform X, highlighting the lack of digital privacy protections for victims across the globe.
It isn’t known who generated the fake images of Swift, which have been viewed tens of millions of times since Wednesday. On Friday, X said their team was working to remove all non-consensual nudity from their site, which is “strictly prohibited.”
“We’re committed to maintaining a safe and respectful environment for all users,” the company said. Swift has not publicly commented on the matter.
Swift may be the latest celebrity target of deepfakes, but Carrie Goldberg, a New York City based lawyer who works with victims of tech abuse, says that she’s seen an increase in children and non-celebrities falling victim to this form of online abuse over the past decade. “Our country has made so much progress in banning the non-consensual dissemination of nude images, but now deepfakes are sort of filling in that gap [of legal protections],” Goldberg says.
Deepfakes—manipulated media files that depict a false image or video of a person—have been increasing in popularity over the past few years. Previous estimates by Wired show that in the first nine months of 2023, at least 244,635 deepfake videos were uploaded to the top 35 websites that host deepfake pornography.
Ten states—like Virginia and Texas— have criminal laws against deepfakes, but there is currently no federal law in place. In May 2023, Rep. Joe Morelle, a Democrat from New York, introduced the Preventing Deepfakes of Intimate Images Act to criminalize the non-consensual sharing of sexual deepfake images online.The bill was referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary, but has not seen any progress since. In January, legislators also introduced the No Artificial Intelligence Fake Replicas And Unauthorized Duplications (No AI Fraud) Act, which would protect Americans from having their images and voice manipulated.
Advocates warn that this issue especially poses a risk for young women, who are overwhelmingly the victims of deepfakes. “Deepfakes are a symptom of a broader problem [of] online violence against women and girls that has historically not been prioritized by tech companies and society,” says Adam Dodge, founder of Endtab (Ending Tech-Enabled Abuse), a digital safety education and training company for victims of online harassment. “I’m hopeful that this Taylor Swift attack shines a bright enough light on an issue that’s been around for years that we actually see action to prevent and hold accountable the people that are creating and sharing these images.”
Legal protections for victims
Deepfakes, which Dodge describes as a “form of face-swapping,” are alarmingly easy to make. Users don’t need any experience with coding or AI to generate them. Instead, online platforms can generate them for online users with just a few clicks and the submission of a photo or video. Deepfakes can be used for explicit content, but can also be used to generate false audio messages which have the potential to disrupt elections, for instance.
Experts warn that there is an expansive system of companies and individuals that benefit from and could be liable for deepfakes. “Starting at the very top, there’s a search engine where you can search ‘How do I make a deepfake’ that then will give you a bunch of links,” Goldberg says. “There’s the products themselves which exist just for malicious purposes…the individual who’s actually using the product to create the database, and then the viewers who might be [sharing] it.”
Dodge says that because the internet facilitates the spread of content so quickly—Swift’s deepfakes, for instance, had more than 27 million views and 260,000 likes in 19 hours, NBC Newsreports—its nearly impossible to remove all fake content from the internet. “It’s deeply concerning when time is of the essence and every second that that image is up it’s getting shared and downloaded at an exponential rate,” he says. Companies like Google and X ban the sharing of any misleading media, but may still be slow to act or take down the media files.
Holding social media platforms legally liable for the dissemination of deepfakes is difficult due to protections under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The law says that “no provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider,” meaning platforms like Instagram or Facebook are not responsible for the third-party content uploaded on their site.
Goldberg, however, says it’s possible to hold a company responsible if there’s a unique feature that allows that platform to perpetuate harm. It’s how Goldberg won a case to shut down Omegle, an online chat room that allowed for anonymous video streaming, in Nov. 2023 for facilitating child sex abuse.
Still, Dodge warns that the U.S. lacks infrastructure needed to properly help victims of deepfakes. “Law enforcement is not properly trained or staffed to go after these anonymous attackers and as a result, victims who experienced this meet roadblocks to justice really quickly,” he says. Part of that is because investigators may not understand how deepfakes function; Dodge says that many victims he’s spoken to have to take on the burden of figuring out how to remove the images themselves.
The solution, experts say, would require the law to stop protecting companies that profit off of these sorts of images and videos, especially since they are so easy to generate. “We can’t keep somebody from taking our photograph…you can’t blame the victim here,” Goldberg says. “All they’ve done is exist.”
The world watched closely as a panel of 17 judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ)—the highest court of the United Nations—heard arguments earlier this month over whether Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza, in a case brought forward by South Africa. Today, in a landmark interim order, the court determined that South Africa has legal standing and ordered Israel to “take all measures within its power” to prevent acts of genocide.
Justice Joan E. Donoghue, the presiding judge of the ICJ, began a public sitting at the Peace Palace in the Hague by saying that “the court is acutely aware of the extent of the human tragedy that is unfolding in the region and is deeply concerned about the continuing loss of life and human suffering,” before acknowledging that both parties have “clearly opposite views” on the matter.
In the court’s view, however, “at least some of the acts and omissions alleged by South Africa to have been committed by Israel in Gaza appear to be capable of falling within the provisions of the [Genocide] Convention,” Justice Donoghue said.
While the court did not order Israel to cease its attacks, it has nevertheless asked the Israeli military to adhere to the Genocide Convention by preventing and punishing incitement to genocide, as well as by providing humanitarian aid.
The judge also reminded the courtroom that the Jan. 26 decision is only an interim order, part of a wider, pending case that will likely not see a ruling for years. However, “the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is at serious risk of deteriorating further before the court renders its final judgment,” she added.
It’s unclear whether Israel will comply with the order—while the court’s decisions are binding, it has few means of enforcing the order. On Thursday, Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy told reporters that Israel expected the court to toss out the “spurious and specious charges.” But legal experts believe that Israel’s defense in court could make it difficult for the country to now dismiss court orders.
Nonetheless, it’s “a very significant finding from both a legal and political perspective,” Zinaida Miller, a Professor of Law at Northeastern University, tells TIME. She adds that it will most likely increase international pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to curb the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, and that the Israeli government might “quietly comply” with certain measures because it will “see it as a way of heading off an unfavorable decision on the merits later on.”
What was South Africa’s case against Israel?
During a two-day hearing held on Jan. 11 and 12, South Africa told the ICJ that Israel’s actions in the Gaza strip violated the U.N.’s 1948 Genocide Convention, to which Israel is a party.
Lawyers for the South African government argued that Israeli leaders have intended to “create conditions of death” for Palestinians in Gaza. In court, they offered videos and public statements made by Israeli officials as evidence, including a statement made by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in October, that Israel would impose a complete siege on the territory because it was fighting “human animals.”
Israel’s lawyers have categorically denied the genocide accusation, arguing that in late October, the country’s military gave civilians adequate notice to leave before the invasion. They also said that Israel enabled the supply of aid delivery after freezing it at the start of the war. As part of its defense, Israel declassified more than 30 secret orders made by government and military leaders to show Israeli efforts to limit harm to civilians.
The court, in deciding whether to impose some or all of the emergency measures requested by South Africa, needed to determine if Israel’s alleged actions were covered under the Genocide Convention, and whether the measures requested were indeed needed to protect the rights of Palestinians in Gaza.
Does the ICJ ruling matter if it’s non-binding?
The ruling has direct consequences on the assault that was launched by Israel in response to a Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, where around 1,200 people were killed and some 240 were taken as hostages, according to Israeli officials. 25,000 people have been killed in Israel’s military operation since, Gaza’s health authorities say. More than 70% of casualties have been women and children, according to the U.N.
“Having the World Court say to the state of Israel that it is plausible that Israel is committing genocide will be heard by the rest of the international community, even if Netanyahu doesn’t want to hear it,” Zaha Hassan, a Middle East Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, tells TIME. Not only will it embolden international civil society in their calls for a ceasefire, it will also put pressure on the U.S. and President Biden to support a ceasefire or suspend military aid to Israel, she says.
In light of this, Millers adds that if “countries are sending weapons to Israel, or are in any way facilitating the mass atrocities in Gaza, they will have to consider their commitment under the 1948 Genocide Convention to prevent the crime from happening and to avoid complicity in it.”
The ICJ case, and today’s order, are also significant for other reasons. “It’s a moment when Palestinians have had a public airing of the structural violence and oppression they have long faced,” says Hassan, “and it holds the prospect of accountability for victims, something that has always eluded Palestinians.”
Both Miller and Hassan also nod to the fact that the case was brought by South Africa—a country that has its own history of race-based violence and apartheid.
A federal court case filed against President Joe Biden and two U.S. cabinet officials for allegedlybeing complicit in Israel’s genocide against Gazans will move forward with a hearing on Friday.
The case, which names Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin as defendants, was filed by Palestinian human rights groups and individuals with help from the nonprofit Center for Constitutional Rights. Defense for Children International–Palestine v. Biden seeks to stop the U.S. from supporting Israel, which plaintiffs say has cost them the lives of family members, and will be heard in Oakland, Calif.
“We have lost so many people, but there are still many more who are living, and we owe it to them to do everything possible to stop this genocide,” said Mohammad Herzallah, a plaintiff in the case who has family in Gaza. “I have done everything in my power: I have participated in protests, sit-ins, wrote letters to my representatives, civil disobedience. Now I am asking the courts to end this ongoing genocide.”
More than 25,000 people in Gaza have died since the beginning of the war on Oct. 7, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry. The military offensive campaign in Gaza began after Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped another 240.
Throughout the conflict, the U.S. has supported their Middle-Eastern ally, vetoing United Nations resolutions calling for an immediate ceasefire, affirming support for Israel and its right to self-defense, and providing financial and military aid to the countrysince last fall.
The Biden Administration is seeking to dismiss the case.“This suit raises quintessential political questions because Plaintiffs seek to have this Court superintend the Executive Branch’s foreign policy and national security judgment and compel the government to prevent Israel from purportedly committing genocide in Gaza,” the defendants said in their motion to dismiss.
The lawsuit is unusual, experts say.“In the past, when such complaints have been filed with an American court, usually the courts tended to throw them out… because of issues of national security,” says George Washington University professor Michael Barnett. “That said, the fact that you have complaints filed in an American court brings attention to the very support that the U.S. continues to give to Israel.”
Israeli forces’ flares light up the night sky in Gaza City, Monday, Nov. 6, 2023. Abed Khaled—AP
‘What really matters is that you make noise’
On Nov. 13, Palestinians filed a lawsuit against Biden, Blinken, and Austin to prevent them from providing more “arms, money, and diplomatic support” because they allege Israel is committing genocide “against the civilian population of Gaza.”
The U.S. government previously filed a motion to dismiss, saying that plaintiffs lacked jurisdiction, the complaint presents a “nonjusticiable political question,” and that the Genocide Convention does not “create a private right of action.”
But the case is still moving forward to a public hearing on Jan. 26, after which plaintiffs hope the court issues a preliminary injunction that will force the U.S. to “take all measures within their power to prevent Israel from committing genocide,” the complaint says.
Plaintiffs include Omar Al-Najjar, Ahmed Abu Artema, and Mohammed Ahmed Abu Rokbeh—all currently in Gaza; Mohammad Monadel Herzallah, Laila Elhaddad, Waeil Elbhassi, Basim Elkarra, and “A.N.”—all U.S. citizens with family members in Gaza; and human rights groups Defense for Children International–Palestine and Al-Haq. Seventy-seven international human rights organizations, bar associations and lawyers filed an amicus brief in favor of the plaintiffs.
Plaintiffs have spoken out about the emotional toll the Israel-Hamas war has taken on them and their families. “To be honest, it’s difficult to revisit all the scenes of the past weeks. They open a door to hell when I recall them,” said plaintiff Al-Najjar, a 24-year-old intern physician at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis. “I’ve lost five relatives, treated too many children who are the sole survivors of their families, received the bodies of my fellow medical students and their families, and seen the hospital turn into a shelter for tens of thousands of people as we all run out of fuel, electricity, food, and water. The U.S. has to stop this genocide. Everyone in the world has to stop this.” (Khan Younis, which houses thousands of displaced citizens and health workers, has recently been under attack after Israel Defense Forces increased their military operations in southern Gaza.)
The legal grounding for the case is based in part on the 1948 Genocide Convention, which the U.S. signed along with 152 other countries. Every signatory to that treaty is obligated to not commit genocide, as well as punish and prevent genocide. Barry Trachtenberg, one of three genocide scholars who submitted a declaration in favor plaintiffs’ motion, will speak at Friday’s hearing.
U.S. officials have previously denounced genocide allegations against Israel, with John Kirby, the strategic communications coordinator for the National Security Council, calling them “unfounded.”
“That’s not a word that ought to be thrown around lightly. And we certainly don’t believe that it applies here,” Kirby said during a Jan. 11 press briefing.
As part of its defense, the Biden Administration says Israel is a sovereign nation that controls its own operations. It claims the plaintiffs have not done enough to show that “their alleged injuries” can be traced specificallyto U.S. support of Israel. Defendants also note that the U.S. has provided aid “while complying with international humanitarian law.” One example their filing points to includes the Administration’s work to “mitigate the humanitarian crisis” in Gaza, as U.S. officials helped facilitate a seven-day pause in fighting. The Administration also citesthe political question doctrine, which limits federal courts ability to answer some questions that are best resolved by the political branches of government.
Even if the court does decide to throw out the case, it could have political effects rather than legal ones. “What really matters is that you make noise, raise the attention and volume,” Barnett says. “You get the ability to stand in court, and register your overall concerns and make your case.”
Public opinion on U.S. involvement in the war has been controversial. Only 35% of adults approve of the Biden Administration’s response to the Israel-Hamas war, according to a Pew Research Center survey published in December.
“The fact that the U.S. is being charged with actual complicity in these crimes against its longtime ally and friend, Israel, is extraordinary,” Barnett adds. “I think it’s worth pausing and taking in this moment because you’re beginning to see American politicians and people in the executive wing begin to reconsider that relationship.”
