08 May 2026
The Dialectic of Viewpoint Discrimination
On the anniversary of Germany’s unconditional surrender, the Bundesrat today held its first reading of a bill that would criminalise certain statements about Israel under a newly created offence. The drafters invoke Germany’s responsibility to protect Jewish life in bold moral terms. Yet, the legislation they propose plainly denies that very responsibility. The political logic of viewpoint discrimination is inescapable, whatever the intentions. Continue reading >>
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08 May 2026
Dialektik des Sonderrechts
Am Jahrestag der bedingungslosen Kapitulation lag dem Bundesrat heute zur ersten Beratung ein Gesetzentwurf vor, der Äußerungen über Israel nach neuen Gesichtspunkten unter Strafe stellen soll. Die Autoren des Entwurfs tragen die Verantwortung der Bundesrepublik für den Schutz jüdischer Menschen zwar wichtigtuerisch vor sich her, weisen sie aber mit dem, was sie regeln wollen, zugleich unbewusst weit von sich. Der politischen Logik des Sonderrechts entkommt man nämlich auch mit den besten Absichten nicht. Continue reading >>
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04 May 2026
Staatsräson als Strafgrund
Wer geglaubt hatte, dass die „Staatsräson“ nach den distanzierten Äußerungen von Kanzler Merz auch bei der Union in Ungnade gefallen ist, sieht sich durch den hessischen Gesetzentwurf vom 23.4.2026 zur Erweiterung des Tatbestands der Volksverhetzung zum Schutz Israels eines Besseren belehrt. Zugleich wird damit die Meinungsfreiheit durch weiteres „Sonder(meinungs)strafrecht“ über die verfassungsgerichtliche Ausnahme des Wunsiedel-Beschlusses hinaus eingeschränkt. Continue reading >>27 March 2026
Tyranny’s Useful Idiot
In the aftermath of the US-Israeli attack on Iran, the US and Israel attempted to portray the attack as the continuation of an ongoing conflict, self-defence, as well as a humanitarian effort. However, most international lawyers condemned the attack as “manifestly illegal”. In response, they argued that the illegality “must be weighed against the principle of reality”, “given the murderous nature of the Iranian regime”. This narrative characterises international law as tyranny’s useful idiot. In reality, it serves as a justification to abandon the law as a practice to legitimise political actions. Continue reading >>
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23 January 2026
Capital Punishment Revivalism
Israel has long been considered abolitionist, having executed only one individual in its history. While past attempts to reinstate the death penalty have proven unsuccessful, the horrendous scale of the October 7 attack and the ensuing traumatic war have been used to generate political momentum. A new bill, which passed its first reading in the Knesset in November 2025, would impose the death penalty for terrorism-related offenses. The bill should be understood as part of a broader capital punishment revivalism trend in populist regimes, with Israel potentially setting a dangerous precedent for attempts to reinstate the death penalty in Europe and beyond. Continue reading >>
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21 November 2025
Israel nach dem Waffenstillstand
Warum die Regierung den Rechtsstaat angreift Continue reading >>
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21 November 2025
Israel after the Ceasefire
Why the Government Is Escalating Its Attacks on the Rule of Law Continue reading >>
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28 October 2025
A Judicial Compromise
On 3 October 2025, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands handed down its judgment concerning the export of parts for the F-35 jet fighter to Israel. We highlight two notable elements. First, the Court did not follow the teleological interpretation typically taken by the ECJ. Another approach to interpretation of international and EU law could have led to a (partly) different outcome of the case. Second, we agree that, given the State’s discretionary power, civil courts must exercise restraint when dealing with foreign policy and national or international security. Continue reading >>
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01 September 2025
Hanan Ashrawi
Few advocates of Palestinian liberation have become as familiar a name as Dr. Hanan Ashrawi. A principled activist and gifted speaker with a formidable academic background, she rose to international prominence during the First Intifada in 1988. Later, with the start of the Madrid Conference in 1991, she caught the world’s attention as the official representative of the Palestinian delegation. Continue reading >>04 August 2025
Behemoth v. The Dual State in the Gaza War
Fraenkel’s The Dual State (1941) and Neumann’s Behemoth (1942) offer two diverging accounts of the legal reality under National Socialism. The controversy between the two is important not only for the Gaza War, but also for the future of international humanitarian law writ large. The picture, according to which if lawyers had more power post-World War I, democracies in Europe would not have collapsed, affected both constitutional and international law. Yet, the claim that Weimar and the world could have been saved if only the law and lawyers had possessed more power is inaccurate. We are now reliving the consequences of this mistake in the Gaza War. Continue reading >>
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