Neil Hicks

Moving the Population in Gaza is a Manifest War Crime We wrote this essay to fulfill our human, conscientious, and civic duty, as Israelis – and as Zionists – who have expertise in areas related to the IDF’s order.

"Evacuating the entire population? Call it ethnic cleansing, call it transfer, call it deportation, it’s a war crime.”

Originally published in @haaretzcom.bsky.social

www.justsecurity.org/116459/israe...

Israel’s Military Lawyers Raise Concerns About New Plan to Move Hundreds of Thousands of Gazans The military’s legal branch has questioned whether the plan would expose Israel to accusations of forced displacement, which is illegal under international law

The lawyers are right, the planning, execution or enablement of this plan appears prima facie to be a war crime, and any soldier following it likely has committed a manifestly illegal order, exposing themselves to prosecution.

www.wsj.com/world/middle...

God save Kharkiv from armchair experts in the West Brian Dooley from Human Rights First believes Kharkiv, a city in the northeast of Ukraine, is a blindspot for international community.

My latest for Gwara Media in Kharkiv on the dangers of armchair experts on Ukraine
@barrymalone.bsky.social @glushko.bsky.social @kateinkharkiv.bsky.social @brams884.bsky.social
@humanrightsfirst.org
gwaramedia.com/en/opinion-g...

Danger in the Forest: Human Rights Defenders in Poland Targeted at the Belarus Border - Human Rights First Executive Summary Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) aiding migrants and people seeking asylum at the Poland-Belarus border are facing increasing threats, legal harassment, and diminishing support of their...

Human Rights Defenders at the Poland-Belarus border face harassment, prosecution, & threats for aiding migrants & those seeking asylum. A new report by our Sr. advisor @dooleydooley.bsky.social urges govts, donors & NGOs to stand with HRDs & demand that #Poland restore the right to seek #asylum.

For ti år siden ble flere ansatte i FIFA arrestert mistenkt for bestikkelser og korrupsjon. Arrestasjonene utløste lovnader om reform av FIFA og førte Gianni Infantino til makten i organisasjonen. Ti år senere er det klart at ting har endret seg - til det verre. (1/2)

USAID implosion leaves Middle East activists at mercy of political crackdowns Human rights defenders across Middle East and North Africa were reliant on US for small grants to help them relocate and resettle abroad

"The billions in military aid compared to the pennies in democracy assistance really puts into perspective the priority of US governments, not just this administration who have eliminated even the pennies," MEDC’s @sethbinder.bsky.social tells Middle East Eye.
www.middleeasteye.net/news/usaid-i...

Trump’s Authoritarian World Order: Impacts on the Middle East’s Autocrats United States President Donald Trump is in the Middle East on his first major planned foreign trip, traveling to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. In the shadow of a drastically shifti...

Trump is "emulating a well-developed playbook perfected by the authoritarian leaders he admires, chief among them Russian President Vladimir Putin, to the benefit of the region’s autocracies," writes @neilcihrs.bsky.social, previewing Trump's Middle East trip in DAWN's Democracy in Exile.

Trump’s Authoritarian World Order: Impacts on the Middle East’s Autocrats United States President Donald Trump is in the Middle East on his first major planned foreign trip, traveling to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. In the shadow of a drastically shifti...

"Trump’s favored authoritarian rulers across the region continue to enjoy impunity for their crimes, undermining what remains of the crumbling international human rights system—a boon for their harmful policies targeting the Middle East’s human rights & democracy defenders," @neilcihrs.bsky.social.

One in five people facing starvation …
This is deliberate policy, not a natural disaster
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

Trump’s Authoritarian World Order: Impacts on the Middle East’s Autocrats United States President Donald Trump is in the Middle East on his first major planned foreign trip, traveling to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. In the shadow of a drastically shifti...

My piece on Trump's authoritarian foreign policy.
dawnmena.org/trumps-autho...

Today marks three years since an Israeli soldier shot and killed US citizen and journalist Shireen Abu Akleh while she was wearing her press vest and covering the news.

The IDF has continued to target journalists with impunity. No one has been held accountable for Shireen's killing.

The human rights risks associated with sporting events in the US has dramatically escalated under Donald Trump. Instead of dismissing it, Infantino should make sure FIFA continues to conduct human rights due diligence to identify and address those risks.

Erasing Gaza: Israel’s Military Takeover, Displacement Strategy, and Weaponization of Aid - Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) With Gaza already devastated by relentless, indiscriminate attacks on civilians and infrastructure, obstruction of life-saving aid, imminent famine and the forced displacement of nearly its entire pop...

Our statement on Israel's latest plan to erase Gaza: cihrs.org/erasing-gaza...

Statement by the Humanitarian Country Team of the Occupied Palestinian Territory – on principled aid delivery in Gaza | United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - Occupied Pa... East Jerusalem and Gaza city, 4 May 2025 For nine weeks now, Israeli authorities have blocked all supplies from entering Gaza, no matter how vital to people’s survival. Bakeries have shut. Community k...

“For nine weeks now, Israeli authorities have blocked all supplies from entering Gaza, no matter how vital to people’s survival. Bakeries have shut. Community kitchens have closed. Warehouses stand empty. Children have gone hungry”.

www.ochaopt.org/content/stat...

@humanrightsfirst.org

After meeting with Khalil today, his story reminds us that this betrayal and experience should have never happened. We have a moral obligation to stand with and unequivocally call out the injustices Mahmoud Khalil and too many others are suffering from at the hand of this administration.

Medics killed and wounded in Israeli attack on Gaza hospital Airstrike prompts UN warning that humanitarian crisis is at its worst since fighting broke out 18 months ago

Again and again
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Not just morally wrong but terrible negotiating strategy — senseless and nihilistic.

Autopsies of Slain Gaza Medics Show Some Were Shot in the Head The New York Times obtained autopsy reports for 14 of the 15 people killed in a March 23 attack on an ambulance and fire truck.

The forensics don’t lie. Medics shot in the head, at close range, and more. Prima facia has to be considered a war crime.

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/15/w...

Sudan’s Counterrevolutionary War: The Systematic Targeting of Pro-Democracy Activists The war in Sudan is not only a power struggle between military factions, but also an attempt at silencing those who dare envision a different future for Sudan—one rooted in democracy and justice.

"The systematic and persistent targeting of pro-democracy actors is a defining feature of Sudan’s war, exposing its deeper nature as a counterrevolution against Sudan’s democratic aspirations"
A must-read by @timep.bsky.social former nonresident fellow @hamidmkk.bsky.social timep.org/2025/04/15/s...

Almost impossible to exaggerate what bad faith this administration pretending there’s a peace process is.

Video of arrest, new details in Trump administration’s case targeting Georgetown postdoctoral fellow Dr. Khan Suri for speech on Palestinian rights “In my work, I’ve seen lots of injustice. I just didn't think it would happen to me here," says Dr. Khan Suri.

This is how ICE is treating Dr. Badar Khan Suri in custody. A scholar of religion and peace processes who has 3 children under 10 and who moved to the US to raise those children "in a society that values religious tolerance."

ICE is torturing America's best www.acluva.org/en/press-rel...

Today marks one month since US greencard holder Mahmoud Khalil was ripped apart from his US citizen pregnant wife, forcibly disappeared, and taken into ICE custody thousands of miles away, all for exercising his constitutionally-protected rights.

#FreeMahmoudKhalil

Gaza medic deaths just the latest in Israel’s long history of changing its story over civilian killings After 15 Palestinian medics and civil defence workers were killed by Israeli forces late last month, Israel began a familiar pattern of denial

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

As Eid el-Fitr nears, I urge leaders of Bahrain, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Türkiye & others to use traditional feast pardons based on the Islamic values of mercy & compassion to free detained human rights defenders.

I've read that Rumeysa Ozturk is a Turkish student at Tufts on a Fulbright.

I was a Fulbright Scholar in Turkey from 2009-10. If Turkish police had disappeared me from Bogazici University for criticising Ankara's treatment of Kurds, Fulbright would've likely discontinued there for years. 🧵

Must-read 🧵 on where the Trump administration’s Middle East policy stands by one of the top experts in the field, The Economist’s MENA correspondent Gregg Carlstrom.

A hawkish but disengaged DC means regional actors (primarily an unrestrained Israel, secondarily Iran & Turkey) will drive events.

A few months ago it seemed as if Gulf states might try to counterbalance Israel's influence. But Saudi mostly wants to shield itself from the fallout, the UAE is aligned with Israel and Qatar is discredited in much of DC. Arab influence will remain limited.

On Syria, there's little appetite for lifting sanctions. Sebastian Gorka (improbably) has a lot of influence on Syria policy, which is being viewed solely through a counter-terrorism lens—and the view is that Ahmed al-Sharaa and HTS are terrorists.