23 July 2025
Respect for International Law in Gaza
Since October 2023, a group of eminent Israeli international law scholars has written numerous letters and memos expressing concerns over many aspects of the Gaza war. Given the importance of these documents both in doctrinal terms and in highlighting the work of these colleagues, we have asked to publish them. So far, only one of the letters has been officially published. Readers interested in more detail can access the full text of the respective documents, which are hyperlinked and archived on Verfassungsblog. Continue reading >>
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22 July 2025
Halbherziger Schutz für Gaza
Nach einem anderthalbjährigen Entscheidungsstopp aufgrund einer „ungewissen Lage“ im Gazastreifen gab das Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge (BAMF) am 18. Juli 2025 bekannt, wieder über Asylanträge zu entscheiden. Schutzsuchende werden nun also voraussichtlich subsidiären Schutz erhalten. Ein richtiger Schritt, allerdings werden ipso-facto Schutz und Flüchtlingseigenschaft in der behördlichen und verwaltungsgerichtlichen Praxis bislang zu Unrecht weitgehend ausgeblendet. Continue reading >>20 June 2025
Democracy Washing
The Israeli Supreme Court has recently adopted a highly activist approach in rulings that claim to strengthen the structural foundations of democracy, while neglecting its role in protecting the basic human rights of Palestinians. The stark contrast between the Court’s handling of cases involving Palestinians detained incommunicado and its swift intervention in the dismissal of the Shin Bet Director reflects a deeper pattern in the Court’s recent jurisprudence, one that can be described as “democracy washing”. Continue reading >>
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16 May 2025
Auf dem Friedhof des Völkerrechts
Von Straußen, Eulen und Oktopussen Continue reading >>16 May 2025
In the Graveyard of International Law
Ostriches, Owls, and Octopuses Continue reading >>
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12 October 2024
The ICJ’s Treatment of Questions of Occupation in Gaza
The ICJ’s treatment of the state of occupation in Gaza is questionable. While it rightly accepted the functional approach to occupation, I doubt whether Israel was indeed capable of exercising its authority in Gaza sufficiently for its occupation to be found as having continued post-2005. The Court should have relied on Israel’s continued exercise of administrative authority vis-a-vis Gaza residents to find the existence of a state of occupation. Continue reading >>
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12 October 2024
The Functional Approach as Lex Lata
The ICJ has de facto adopted the functional approach to occupation with regard to Gaza. The Opinion is thus a critical point in the development of the law of occupation, in that it transcends a binary approach to the question of the existence of occupation, in favour of a more nuanced approach that enables holding that a territory is occupied, but not in an “all or nothing” way. More generally, the Opinion as rejects a more restrictive approach to the question of whether occupation exists in a territory or not in favour of a more flexible approach. Continue reading >>
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03 May 2024
From Gaza to Manhattan and Back
The real protectors of the universities. Continue reading >>
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03 May 2024
Von Gaza nach Manhattan und zurück
Die wahren Beschützer der Universitäten. Continue reading >>15 March 2024