The Sunday Subject: November 24, 2024
The ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister Yoav Gallant, accusing them of war crimes in Gaza.
The International Criminal Court unanimously said it found reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant were responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, including using starvation as a method of warfare and directing attacks against civilians. The Court also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas commander Mohammed Deif for crimes against humanity committed during the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. Other leaders who face ICC arrest warrants include Russian President Vladimir Putin and former Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir.
President Biden authorized Ukraine to launch strikes inside Russia using US-supplied long-range missiles.
Previously hesitant to make the authorization for fear of Russian escalation, the Biden administration’s shift follows the deployment of North Korean troops to fight for Russia, and comes two months before Donald Trump takes office. France and Germany backed America’s decision. After the announcement, Vladimir Putin signed an order that lowers the threshold for Russia’s use of nuclear arms – the new doctrine allows Russia to launch nuclear missiles at a nuclear-armed country that merely supports any other country’s attack on Russia.
The Alliance of Small Island States pulled out of negotiations at COP29, saying they “haven’t been heard.”
Delegations representing the small island states criticized the negotiations for not including the nations most at risk from climate change. AOSIS issued a statement after the walkout saying it wanted “nothing more than to continue to engage,” but the discussions “were not offering a progressive way forward” and “the process must be INCLUSIVE” – as opposed to rich countries largely talking amongst themselves. “Talks were put on the verge of collapse, as rich countries had already been widely criticized for not offering enough to the developing world to help them prepare for and mitigate climate change, while countries cannot agree on how to make the transition from fossil fuels. Last week, UN leaders and climate experts called for an urgent overhaul of the UN climate talks process, calling COP summits “no longer fit for purpose.”
Texas has offered thousands of acres of land to Donald Trump to construct deportation facilities.
The Texas land commissioner, Dawn Buckingham, wrote in a letter to Trump that her office is prepared to enter into an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or the US border patrol “to allow a facility to be built for the processing, detention, and coordination of the largest deportation of violent criminals in the nation’s history.” Last week Trump confirmed he plans to declare a national emergency and activate the US military to carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, who he said are “poisoning the blood of our country.”
Judges in Hong Kong sentenced 45 pro-democracy activists and former politicians to between four and ten years in prison.
The group had organized an unofficial primary in 2020 that aimed to identify and advance pro-democracy candidates for the official legislative election. The state called this subversion, and the case has marked the largest single prosecution so far under the national security law imposed by China four years ago, which criminalizes dissent. The US and the EU condemned the case as politically motivated.
