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Paul Heywood-Smith

Paul Heywood-Smith

Pearls and Irritations

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The ICJ advisory opinion and the UNGA response

A position paper has been published by the organisation BADIL in October, suggesting that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) decision on the...

yesterday 8

Pearls and Irritations

Paul Heywood-Smith

Israel’s “Right to Defend Itself” against the Hezbollah resistance in Lebanon

Readers may recall my recent P&I post, Israel does not have a right to defend itself, as our PM keeps saying, 11 October. Since publication I have...

18.10.2024 8

Pearls and Irritations

Paul Heywood-Smith

Israel does not have a right to defend itself, as our PM keeps saying

Israel has no right of self-defence against resistance to the illegal occupation. Israel cannot both occupy Palestinian lands, and then launch an...

10.10.2024 9

Pearls and Irritations

Paul Heywood-Smith

UN vote: Newspaper raises irrelevant questions about an ICJ decision

The exclusive ‘US urges Australia over UN’s Israel vote’, published in Tuesday’s The Australian by Ben Packham, demands a response. The...

18.09.2024 10

Pearls and Irritations

Paul Heywood-Smith

We are avoiding the truths set out on Gaza by the International Court of Justice

Our World gets worse and worse, reflected in inhumane, racist, behaviour. And what for us – Australians – is really bad is that we, as represented...

08.09.2024 10

Pearls and Irritations

Paul Heywood-Smith

The ICJ decision and the general assembly

Readers note that it is a month since the International Court of Justice (ICJ) handed down its advisory opinion on the Palestinian occupation (on 19...

19.08.2024 10

Pearls and Irritations

Paul Heywood-Smith

Apartheid Israel

“(I)f pressed on legality … our position is that it is for competent judicial bodies to determine whether crimes against humanity have been...

29.07.2024 10

Pearls and Irritations

Paul Heywood-Smith

The ICJ decision – where to from here?

The ICJ delivered its advisory opinion on 19 July regarding the legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories. Readers are...

24.07.2024 10

Pearls and Irritations

Paul Heywood-Smith

Failure of the International Courts: when will we hear their determinations?

Readers of P&I may recall my earlier papers on the International Criminal Court of Justice (ICJ), and the International Criminal Court (ICC), and...

12.07.2024 10

Pearls and Irritations

Paul Heywood-Smith

Israel’s Moshe Feiglin repeats Hitler quote at AJA event

“I said on one of the Israeli channels… that he, Hitler, cannot live in the same world as long as one Jew still lives.  This Islamo Nazism and...

24.06.2024 10

Pearls and Irritations

Paul Heywood-Smith

The Jewish community raise their voice to call out extremists

The Jewish Council of Australia, according to reports by Al Jazeera , is deeply concerned that the Australian Jewish Association is promoting the...

20.06.2024 9

Pearls and Irritations

Paul Heywood-Smith

Student protesters have done honour to themselves, and their University

For weeks encampment protests in universities have been occurring throughout Australia. Media coverage has to a significant extent been adverse, and...

30.05.2024 10

Pearls and Irritations

Paul Heywood-Smith

What would James Crawford “Australia’s greatest international lawyer” say about Palestine today?

James Crawford has been described as “Probably Australia’s greatest international lawyer of all time” (SMH, 16 June 2021). James Crawford died...

25.05.2024 10

Pearls and Irritations

Paul Heywood-Smith

What would James Crawford “Australia’s greatest international lawyer” say about Palestine today?

James Crawford has been described as “Probably Australia’s greatest international lawyer of all time” (SMH, 16 June 2021). James Crawford died...

24.05.2024 10

Pearls and Irritations

Paul Heywood-Smith

“From the river to the sea”

13.05.2024 20

Pearls and Irritations

Paul Heywood-Smith

“Antisemitic hate crime”: US and Israel desperate to avoid ICC justice

10.05.2024 30

Pearls and Irritations

Paul Heywood-Smith

Australian aid to Ukraine: False narratives and US hegemony

On Sunday 28 April, Defence Minister Richard Marles announced $100 million in military aid to Ukraine. It was said to raise Australia’s support to...

02.05.2024 30

Pearls and Irritations

Paul Heywood-Smith

“Considering” recognition of the State of Palestine

The recognition of the State of Palestine has been an issue for the current Labor government since it came to office. Readers are reminded of these...

27.04.2024 40

Pearls and Irritations

Paul Heywood-Smith

A state of Palestine? Outrage as US backs perpetual occupation and oppression

Readers will recall my article of 16 April, The end of occupation: A state of Palestine at the UN. It advised of an anticipated vote in the Security...

19.04.2024 20

Pearls and Irritations

Paul Heywood-Smith

The end of occupation: A state of Palestine at the UN

UNSC approval of the application for Palestine to become a full UN member state this week would necessarily lead to the end of the occupation. One UN...

15.04.2024 20

Pearls and Irritations

Paul Heywood-Smith

Dunston by-election: Voters abandon Labor over stance on Gaza

The Federal government’s reaction to Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza and treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is a...

28.03.2024 10

Pearls and Irritations

Paul Heywood-Smith

A revolution in American Foreign Policy

Such is the title of a recently published FOREIGN AFFAIRS article by Bernie Sanders, the sub-title of which is Replacing Greed, Militarism and...

27.03.2024 10

Pearls and Irritations

Paul Heywood-Smith

International law and Israel’s occupation: Understanding the ICJ advisory opinion case

Between Monday 19 February and Monday 26 February the ICJ heard oral submissions on the request for an advisory opinion in respect of the Legal...

06.03.2024 10

Pearls and Irritations

Paul Heywood-Smith

Misrepresenting the ICJ and muzzling our press – the Empire strikes back

On 26 January, the World spoke to Israel and its supporters – on the issue of Gaza. The World spoke through the International Court of Justice...

23.02.2024 20

Pearls and Irritations

Paul Heywood-Smith

Israel and the weaponisation of antisemitism

As someone who has written in the past on the topic of antisemitism in this Journal – South Australia and antisemitism, July 12 2022, and...

18.02.2024 7

Pearls and Irritations

Paul Heywood-Smith

South Africa seeks ICJ emergency order to halt genocide in Rafah

South Africa has made an urgent request for the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to issue emergency orders to prevent “large-scale killing, harm...

14.02.2024 10

Pearls and Irritations

Paul Heywood-Smith

The decision of the International Court of Justice

By way of introduction let me quote Richard Falk, noted international law professor and former UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied...

01.02.2024 7

Pearls and Irritations

Paul Heywood-Smith

The 2025 Federal Election – what are we to do?

For many of us a burning issue in our lives at this time is clearly what is happening in the Middle East – or more particularly Palestine. That...

29.01.2024 7

Pearls and Irritations

Paul Heywood-Smith

How to end the Genocide: a mechanism for change

These last three months have made it apparent that there has to be a major change to what we know of as Israel/Palestine. But it has been coming for...

08.01.2024 10

Pearls and Irritations

Paul Heywood-Smith

Israel and the Tour Down Under

The Israel-Premier Tech (PRT) team is clearly a vehicle for advancing Israel’s image, and, indeed, advancing favourable propaganda. Many...

03.01.2024 10

Pearls and Irritations

Paul Heywood-Smith

‘Palestine’ – The name the Australian Jewish Association wants expunged

The AJA is seeking to suppress Palestinian identification with the country … for political purposes from an exhibition entitled Ramses and the Gold...

28.12.2023 10

Pearls and Irritations

Paul Heywood-Smith

Gaza cannot be a mere holding pen. A new ghetto

“Gaza can only succeed as an entity as part of a genuine Palestinian state. It cannot be allowed to be a mere holding pen, a new ghetto. The whole...

21.12.2023 10

Pearls and Irritations

Paul Heywood-Smith

Embracing Palestinian statehood

R. David Harden, a former senior adviser to President Barack Obama’s special envoy for Middle East peace, and Larry Garber, who served as the USAID...

20.12.2023 9

Pearls and Irritations

Paul Heywood-Smith

Australia has abandoned international law

Two months have passed since the events of October 7. Publicly, Australia has done nothing except perhaps indicate that it desires a two-state...

07.12.2023 8

Pearls and Irritations

Paul Heywood-Smith

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