Hasnain says:

“Washington’s unwavering devotion to its current approach to the region has produced a vicious cycle: By committing itself to the root of regional instability, the United States repeatedly finds itself having to confront challenges that are largely the product of its own presence and policies in the Middle East.

The human and material costs of Washington’s Middle East policy have been immense. What will billions more in military aid and an expansive U.S. presence in the Middle East accomplish in the years to come? History suggests that it will produce continued damage to U.S. interests and regional stability.

It is past time to change course in the Middle East. Failure to do so risks formalizing Washington’s commitment to a cycle of instability that will continue to impact the region—and undermine U.S. interests—for generations.”

Hasnain says:

Insert meme about “I can excuse genocide, but I draw the line at stopping efforts to refuel the genocide”

“"A brutal aggression against our country, for which they will pay absolutely," Nasr Aldeen Amer, vice president of the Houthi Media Authority, said Thursday. "Without hesitation, and we will not back down from our position in supporting the Palestinian people, whatever the cost.”

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak urged Houthi rebels to cease their aggression.

“Despite the repeated warnings from the international community, the Houthis have continued to carry out attacks in the Red Sea,” he said in a statement Thursday confirming the strikes.

“This cannot stand. The United Kingdom will always stand up for freedom of navigation and the free flow of trade,” he said.”

Hasnain says:

Her argument today at the ICJ was sobering (due to the nature of the genocide) and inspirational (seeing the moral clarity with which people were fighting for human rights). Reading this interview on the other hand was just inspirational - I wish more people took action like this.

“Something that she says had a big impact on her life was discovering the story of Majella O’Hare, a young girl of 12 from County Armagh who was shot in the back and killed by a British soldier in 1976.

Ms Ní Ghrálaigh says: “I was 12 years old myself when I found a pamphlet about Majella O’Hare in one of my mother’s bookcases. I saw the picture of the young girl on the front, and saw her age, and I read it from cover to cover. I read about how she died in the arms of her father after he heard the shot and went running to her. I think it was her age, the fact that nobody had been held accountable, and the circumstances of the killing – that she had been shot as she walked along a country road with a group of other children, going to Confession at the local chapel – that particularly outraged my convent schoolgirl sensibilities at the time.”

Ms Ní Ghrálaigh went to her mother in tears and asked how such a terrible thing could be allowed to happen. Her mother’s response to her young daughter was: “Do something about it”. Ms Ní Ghrálaigh says: “I often think about my mother’s response. Her words struck a very profound chord. And I’ve hung on to that pamphlet over all these years. It’s now framed above my work desk as a reminder of what brought me here.””

Hasnain says:

Powerful words.

““Better late than never,” a kind audience member said to me after the talk.

It was late then; it’s later still now. But it’s not too late. Not too late for all of us to create our own foreign policy from below, one that intervenes in the culture and economy in intelligent and strategic ways – ways that offer tangible hope that Israel’s decades of unchecked impunity will finally come to an end.

As the BDS national committee asked last week: “If not now, when? The South African anti-apartheid movement organized for decades to gain broad international support leading up to the fall of apartheid; and apartheid did fall. Freedom is inevitable. The time is now to take action to join the movement for freedom, justice and equality in Palestine.”

Enough. It’s time for a boycott.”

Hasnain says:

“In the amicus brief, which is an avenue for groups not directly involved in a lawsuit to give the court information to consider in its ruling, the organizations argue that the plaintiffs establish that a genocide, or serious risk of genocide, of Palestinians in Gaza is occurring. They also argue that the U.S. is violating its duties under international law to prevent and not be complicit in genocide, and that those U.S. failures contribute to the erosion of “long and widely-held norms of international law,” including the Genocide Convention and Universal Declaration of Human Rights, both established in 1948 in the wake of World War II.”

Hasnain says:

I really applauded the questioning and pushback here. Late but better than never (especially since this would sadly never happen in the states). It was painful to watch Cameron try to weasel out of yes or no questions with 3-4 minute answers.

“Challenged about whether Israel had a legal duty as the occupying power to supply water to Gaza, Cameron conceded Israel ought not to have turned supplies off, and should restore water.”

Hasnain says:

“If Israel and its western allies fail to bludgeon the court into submission, and South Africa’s case is accepted, it will not only be Israel in legal difficulties.

A genocide ruling from the court will impose obligations on other states: both to refuse to assist in Israel’s genocide, such as by providing arms and diplomatic cover, and to sanction Israel should it fail to comply.

An interim order halting Israel’s attack will serve as a line in the sand. Once made, any state that fails to act on the injunction risks becoming complicit in genocide.

That will put the West in a serious legal bind. After all, it has not just been turning a blind eye to the genocide in Gaza; it has been actively cheering it on and colluding in it. “

Hasnain says:

“I read an interview with Mike Perham, the creator of Sidekiq, that sat with me. I encourage you to check it out, but these two quotes stuck in my mind

“in the end, OSS burnout will kill any free project which gets traction”

I’d certainly felt this. I don’t want the project to die, and I know just how great it can be with proper care and attention. But without change, I’d probably give up to spend more time on other projects or pursuits.”

Hasnain says:

“Member of the Hadash-Ta'al party, Ofer Cassif announced on Sunday that he would be joining the lawsuit against Israel in the Hague.

In his announcement, he claimed, "My constitutional duty is to Israeli society and all its residents, not to a government whose members and its coalition are calling for ethnic cleansing and even actual genocide."”

Hasnain says:

“After Hamas’s sadistic attack on Israel on Oct. 7, Israel was justified in retaliating; any country would have. But there is a difference between the war Israel’s liberal supporters want to pretend that the country is fighting in Gaza, and the war Israel is actually waging.

Pro-Israel Democrats want to back a war to remove Hamas from Gaza. But increasingly, it looks as if America is underwriting a war to remove Gazans from Gaza. Experts in international law can debate whether the forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza can be classified as genocidal, as South Africa is claiming at the International Court of Justice, or as some lesser type of war crime. But whatever you want to call attempts to “thin out” Gaza’s population — as the Hebrew newspaper Israel Hayom described an alleged Netanyahu proposal — the United States is implicated in them.”