Tom Dannenbaum

We have started a multi-phase operation to facilitate the release and transfer of hostages and detainees as part of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. The complex operation, which takes place at the request of the parties, is crucial to reuniting separated families. The ICRC’s role in this operation is that of a neutral intermediary, and is strictly humanitarian. The parties to the conflict determined the terms of the ceasefire agreement, including the individuals to be released and the timeline; the ICRC was not involved in the negotiations. It is the responsibility of the parties to the agreement to ensure these operations are conducted safely and with dignity.

We have started a multi-phase operation to facilitate the release and transfer of hostages and detainees as part of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.

More details here: ms.spr.ly/6182s2AQs

Emotional scenes at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv as the crowds follow the release of the first group of hostages from captivity in Gaza. Credit: Yael Gadot
@allhostages.bsky.social

The Schiff-Kaine resolution is up for a vote in the Senate today. This resolution aims to strip President Trump of his constitutional authority to protect Americans by authorizing military strikes against narco-terrorists, the Houthis, and other Iranian proxies. This is dangerous — it puts our children, citizens, soldiers, and allies at risk.

Complete nonsense from Secretary Rubio.

The Trump administration is engaged in lawless, premeditated killings without any congressional authorization.

Schiff-Kaine resolution moves to stop that lawless killing.

The resolution would not affect authority to defend against real armed attacks.

I wrote about an under-appreciated aspect of AAUP v. Rubio. It is the first case of the Trump Era to explicitly identify and reject the primary and most pernicious form of speech suppression employed by this Administration: Chill.

balkin.blogspot.com/2025/10/aaup...

“The backlash of the powerful”: Two years of Israel’s war in Gaza and the crisis of international law We spoke to legal expert Tom Dannenbaum about accountability efforts and how the US’ response is threatening to break the system of international law.

I spoke to The New Humanitarian about Gaza and the current moment in international law.

www.thenewhumanitarian.org/interview/20...

Judge Immergut in Oregon v Trump now:

"I grant plaintiffs second motion for a TRO."

Federalized Texas and California Guard to Portland is a "DIRECT CONTRAVENTION" of court's TRO from Saturday.

Both on 12406 statute and Tenth Amendment grounds.

This represents a major escalation.

President Trump effort to mobilize TEXAS National Guard for deployment in Portland and Chicago.

Court filing just entered in Oregon v. Trump⬇️

BREAKING: A federal judge has granted a restraining order blocking President Trump's call-up of the National Guard in Portland.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Four more people were killed this morning.

To repeat:

- If it can happen at sea, it can happen anywhere

- Trump has offered no definition or limiting principle for who can be labeled a "terrorist" and summarily killed

- And no plausible legal theory for why an armed conflict exists

What the Senate Judiciary Committee Should Ask A.G. Bondi on Drug Cartel Strikes Annotated questions the Senate Judiciary Committee could ask Attorney General Pam Bondi on lethal strikes against drug cartels.

Mary McCord, former Acting Assistant AG for National Security, and I teamed up on Qs Senators should ask #Bondi at her Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday, on strikes that have killed 17 people to date.

The implications are serious. Consider a few of the Qs:

www.justsecurity.org/121862/ask-b...

Legal Flaws in the Trump Administration’s Notice to Congress on “Armed Conflict” with Drug Cartels Top legal expert analyzes the Trump administration's notice to Congress of an "armed conflict" with drug cartels.

On why Trump's determination that the U.S. is engaged in an armed conflict with drug cartels is (i) wrong; and (ii) insufficient, in any event, to make legal the strikes against vessels in the Caribbean.

www.justsecurity.org/121844/trump...

YouTube video by frontal Hat ein Münchner Scharfschütze in Gaza Zivilisten getötet? | frontal

An IDF sniper from Munich is alleged to have shot unarmed civilians in Gaza, according to an investigation by @zdfde.bsky.social @spiegel.de @arijnetwork.bsky.social @theguardian.com @papertrailmedia.de. Learn more about the #GazaSniper (English subtitles available). www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGDv...

WE WON: "This case -– perhaps the most important ever to fall w/in..this district court squarely presents the issue whether non-citizens lawfully present here in US..have the same free speech rights as the rest of us. The Court answers this Constitutional question unequivocally “yes, they do.”"

Findings of Fact & Conclusions of Law – #261 in American Association of University Professors v. Rubio (D. Mass., 1:25-cv-10685) – CourtListener.com Judge William G. Young: ORDER entered. FINDINGS OF FACT AND RULINGS OF LAW, PURSUANT TO FED. R. CIV. P. 52(A)(Sonnenberg, Elizabeth) (Additional attachment(s) added on 9/30/2025: # 1 Main Document) (J...

BREAKING: WE WON!!!
💥 💥 💥

Federal Judge William G. Young ruled today in our lawsuit against the Trump administration that the policy of arresting, detaining, & deporting noncitizen students & faculty members for their pro-Palestinian advocacy violates the 1st Amendment.

Full ruling here:

Arrest warrant against Bashar al-Assad on charges related to 2011 Daraa incidents - SANA Investigating Judge in Damascus, Tawfiq al-Ali, said on Saturday that an arrest warrant has been issued in absentia against criminal Bashar al-Assad on

Investigating Judge in Damascus, Tawfiq al-Ali has issued an arrest warrant for Bashar al-Assad "on charges related to the 2011 Daraa incidents," specifically: "premeditated murder, torture leading to death, and deprivation of liberty."

sana.sy/en/local/226...

OpinioJuris logo; Faculty in the News: "Not only are the sanctions an indefensible attack on the ICC-a court of last resort for victims and survivors of horrendous atrocities-but the extension to the U.N. Special Rapporteur creates a particularly dangerous precedent that undermines the very architecture of the U.N. human rights system." -PROF. FIONNUALA NÍ AOLAIN'

@niaolainf.bsky.social, and Alyssa Yamamoto, visiting fellow with MN Law’s Human Rights Center, co-authored an article for OpinioJuris discussing the importance of respecting the privileges and immunities of internationally appointed experts.
z.umn.edu/aqmy

A damning investigative piece from Reuters on the IDF's August 25 attack on Nasser Hospital in which Reuters journalist Hussam al-Masri was killed. The piece debunks the IDF's account & poses a series of key unanswered Qs.

I spoke to them about the law.

www.reuters.com/investigatio...

U.K.'s mischaracterization of obligation to prevent genocide in Gaza Legal experts argue that the United Kingdom's government has misconstrued how its duties under the Genocide Convention apply to Gaza.

The UK government is doubling down on "its legally illiterate, morally indefensible attempt to deflect an urgent prevention duty to a court determination that is years away."

@janinadill.bsky.social and I respond in a new post @justsecurity.org

www.justsecurity.org/121169/uk-mi...

In this post @tomdannenbaum.bsky.social & I trace how the Starmer Government's repeatedly misconstrues its obligations under the Genocide Convention in #Gaza, hiding behind a Court judgement that is years away with a position that we call "legally illiterate" and "morally indefensible".

U.K.'s mischaracterization of obligation to prevent genocide in Gaza Legal experts argue that the United Kingdom's government has misconstrued how its duties under the Genocide Convention apply to Gaza.

Yet Again: The U.K. Government Mischaracterizes Its Obligation to Prevent Genocide in Gaza

By Professors @tomdannenbaum.bsky.social and @janinadill.bsky.social

#UnitedKingdom #Gaza #Diplomacy

Reupping this thread in light of the 2-page indictment of Comey.

‘We are at our limit’: Gaza’s last hospitals overwhelmed as thousands flee south ‘Not enough of anything’, says surgeon, as Israel’s assault forces injured, sick and hungry people to leave Gaza City The few remaining hospitals and clinics in central and southern Gaza are being overwhelmed by a “tsunami” of injured and sick patients fleeing a new Israeli offensive in the north of the devastated territory, medics say. At both Nasser medical complex, in the southern city of Khan Younis, and field hospitals in al-Muwasi, the coastal “humanitarian zone” designated by Israel, staff are struggling to cope with large numbers of new arrivals forced out of Gaza City in the north of the devastated Palestinian territory. Continue reading...

‘We are at our limit’: Gaza’s last hospitals overwhelmed as thousands flee south

I'm just gonna keep reposting this inane BS from Justice Kavanaugh's concurrence on the roving immigration patrol case from LA.

As the US government trains its sights on the ICC as a whole, a reminder of a continuing and indefensible failure to protect the institution and its agents:

Exclusive: US could hit entire International Criminal Court with sanctions soon The United States is considering imposing sanctions as soon as this week against the entire International Criminal Court, putting the court's day-to-day operations in jeopardy in retaliation for investigations of suspected Israeli war crimes.

This would be a catastrophic expansion of the disgraceful existing sanctions against 6 ICC judges and 3 prosecutors.

www.reuters.com/world/europe...

Falling Far and Fast

verfassungsblog.de/turn-against...

DEA faced pushback at White House, Pentagon after urging Mexico strikes The suggestion, though not acted upon, was met with alarm from officials who warned that Congress has not authorized such action.

Quoted in this WP story on attacking drug cartels. For a fuller discussion of my views on some of the legal issues, see my @justsecurity.org piece last week. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Quote: “These new modes of silencing are particularly insidious because they are internalized by those concerned and subsequently induce a lot of self-censorship. This is the most brilliant cynicism of all: one does not need to silence or police academics and students, for they internalize these constraints and will censor themselves.”

"I have been deeply disappointed by the great majority of my tenured peers who have disturbingly remained silent and passive".

JEAN D'ASPREMONT in conversation with ANNA SOPHIA TIEDEKE on censorship and learning from oppressed groups how to resist silently

verfassungsblog.de/learning-fro...