In a landmark ruling in mid-February, the Hague Court of Appeal ordered the Dutch government to stop exporting parts for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II to Israel, citing the risk of serious violations of international humanitarian law if the F-35 were used for airstrikes in Gaza. Although it seems unlikely that the court order will have any significant impact on Israeli air operations, it raises a number of legal and political challenges to the global F-35 program, the U.S. Department of Defense’s most ambitious and most expensive weapons program to date.
Author: Elisabeth Hoffberger-Pippan
Dr. Elisabeth Hoffberger-Pippan ist wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin am Programmbereich „Internationale Sicherheit“ und im Projekt CBWNet. Sie forscht zu Fragen der Verifikation und Einhaltung von Verbotsnormen in Bezug auf biologische und chemische Waffen sowie zur Rolle von Künstlicher Intelligenz im militärischen Bereich. // Dr Elisabeth Hoffberger-Pippan is a Senior Researcher at the research department “International Security” and in the CBWNet project. She conducts research on issues of verification and compliance with prohibition norms related to biological and chemical weapons on the role of artificial intelligence in the military domain. | Twitter: @EHoffbergerP
Mass Evacuations in Israel’s War Against Hamas: Taking Precautions in Attack or Forced Displacement?
The attacks of Hamas against Israel were deeply shocking. Israel has a right to defend itself against Hamas and at the same time it is obliged to protect the civilian population of Gaza as far as possible from harm and injury. But Israel is currently facing a true dilemma. While Israeli Defense Forces try to evacuate as many residents as possible, Hamas uses civilians as human shields, including hostages. The humanitarian situation in Gaza is dire and mass evacuations further exacerbate the problem.
Chemical Attacks under the Convention against Torture: A New Possible Avenue?
On the 8th of June 2023, Canada and the Netherlands initiated proceedings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Syria for violating the Convention against Torture (CAT) by inter alia using chemical weapons against the civilian population. This would be the first time ever that the ICJ had the opportunity to deal with chemical weapons in contentious proceedings. This blog post will briefly summarize the most pertinent legal questions and political implications that arise in the context of the ICJ proceedings. It will be demonstrated that the prohibition of chemical weapons is not based on a single legal framework. Rather, we need to look at the chemical weapons taboo comprehensively and from a perspective of multi-normativity.
