Trump says US has begun ‘major combat operations’ in Iran after Israel launches strikes - live

Why is it always those who set the house on fire are the first to ask why everyone is screaming? Politicians can’t inflame tensions in Australia by inviting President Herzog and then feign ignorance and shock at the public reaction.

According to Trump "Greatest and Most Prestigious Board ever assembled at any time, any place". Let’s like the Avengers if the Avengers were modern day colonizers. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Absolutely worth the read

Trump posted that Rubio should be president of Cuba. The next episode of ‘what did he do now?!’ www.bbc.com/news/article...

Donald Trump has said that he does not “need international law” and that his power is limited only by his “own morality” - unfortunately you don’t have a good track record for ‘morality’ www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

We are walking down a road with the erosion of any legal order, we are currently in the place where we can attack anywhere and for any reason www.bbc.com/news/article...

news.un.org/en/story/202...

Another Peace Plan that echoes imperalistic and colonial pasts - with ‘smaller’ States forced to concede to ‘greater’ powers www.bbc.com/news/article...

It’s interesting how the Security Council endorsed a peace plan, granting its governing body and an intervening force, legal authority - without knowing any of the details or parameters of the plan. And at the same time denying the Palestinian People involvement in their self determination.

This is the largest military presence by the US in Caribbean since the 1980s www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

The ICJ’s Arrest Warrants case? aje.io/uedq77

The RSF are hunting down activists, journalists. They are searching phones for any sign of communication with the media or human rights groups - to detain or execute them. www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

So I did a thing…

Approximately 1,500 have been killed in three days. www.bbc.com/news/article...

For the last 18 months, El Fasher has become the “epicentre of suffering”, with hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped. Now there are reports of widespread ethnically and politically motivated killings news.un.org/en/story/202...

For the last 18 months, El Fasher has become the “epicentre of suffering”, with hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped. Now there are reports of widespread ethnically and politically motivated killings news.un.org/en/story/202...

It’s worrying that Judge Sebutinde uses misinformation to try to warn about disinformation, including her footnote regarding senior UN officials - not technically correct.

How Not to Trade with Occupying Powers: Western Sahara and the Amendment to the EU-Moroccan Association Agreements | by Andrea Maria Pelliconi and Sebastian von Massow

Why has Australia placed so few sanctions on Israel? Why are we still exporting fighter jet parts to a state that continues to deny humanitarian relief to civilians in Gaza? Can sanctions be an effective means of changing Israel’s behaviour? Find out from Ben Saul in today's episode.

UN General Assembly adopts resolution endorsing the New York Declaration and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution In favor: 142 Against: 10 Abstain: 12

Someone should remind Trump what the themes of Apocalypse Now are. Not sure he wanted to use a movie that explores the darkness of human nature, and war as a corrupting force that leads to moral ambiguity and the descent into madness of the lead character. Or maybe he do?

Edward Said said it in the 70s and here we still are - “The moment this starts becoming chaotic — like, animalistic — we’re gone. So, you want to know what’s happening? Act civilised, act kind, act tolerant, because this is the problem with what is happening in the region.” aje.io/qt763z

The situation in Sudan is getting worse with each day aje.io/nj44sr

Some good news… www.bbc.com/news/article...

The legal definition of ethnic cleansing is a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas. www.axios.com/2025/07/18/i...

The Jewish Council of Australia’s executive officer, Max Kaiser, said if the government followed the envoy’s recommendations it would function as a tactic that “echoes the authoritarian playbook used by figures like Donald Trump – using funding as a weapon to enforce ideological conformity”

It was fantastic to be part of two amazing panels at #ANZSIL2025 annual conference @anzsil.org

Some light in the midst of the darkness aje.io/3n0wrv

Well said - “any ambiguity here is entirely due to decades of efforts by the states concerned, some of their government lawyers, and some academic lawyers, to generate as much flexibility in the existing rules as possible”

And the hits just keep on coming…

“All in all, there is scope to establish a humanitarian action by the GA as much as it did in the past regarding peacekeeping missions… The obvious objection is that all this seems to be a utopian tale in a situation where grim hatred overrides the sense of humanity.“

If my students made the same comment as the G7, that the attack on #Iran falls with the legal parameters of self-defense, I would have failed them. ec.europa.eu/commission/p...

“But scientists who are civilians – and most probably are – cannot (as persons) lawfully be made the object of an attack. Simply working on a weapons programme as a researcher does not entail direct participation in hostilities that could remove civilian immunity from an attack.”

The word is many States will take this opportunity to formally recognize Palestine. news.un.org/en/story/202...

Netanyahu vows to ‘take control’ of Gaza as UK, France and Canada threaten action against Israel

Roberts-Smith loses his appeal www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Reports have emerged concerning an alleged practice by some #IDF ground units labeled the “Mosquito Protocol.” @mikeschmitt.bsky.social and Alex Hernandez examine in their post “active” human #shielding from the perspective of LOAC and international criminal law. lieber.westpoint.edu/active-human...

Israel’s proposal to create aid hubs exclusively in the south of #Gaza would force civilians to decide between displacement and death. With #UN agencies stating that “humanitarian aid should never be used as a bargaining chip”. news.un.org/en/story/202...

Interesting read with the conclusion that the international community must reinforce the prohibition as a distinct norm, or wait for the erosion of the norm against forcible annexion. www.ejiltalk.org/territorial-...

@richardgowan1.bsky.social gives a good summary and discussion on some of the literature on the international organisations, and its application to the #UN’s current crisis.

Hospitals and health workers must be protected under the law. aje.io/1n7fcz

The Constitutional court heard that senior military and police officials were ordered by #Yoon to detain rival politicians and prevent the assembly from voting to lift his military rule order. The court decided to impeach Yoon aje.io/i7c793