Brian Finucane @BCFinucane Twitter profile

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Brian Finucane

7 months

My latest in @ForeignAffairs on US arms in the Gaza conflict and the law of war and its limitations. Is Washington Responsible for What Israel Does With American Weapons? via @ForeignAffairs

Is Washington Responsible for What Israel Does With American Weapons?

The IDF’s conduct in Gaza should prompt scrutiny of U.S. arms transfers.

www.foreignaffairs.com

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Last Seen Profiles

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

21 days

Reposting for no particular reason.

BBC News (World)

@BBCWorld

1 year

US President Joe Biden welcomes ICC's war crimes charges against Russian leader Vladimir Putin

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

8 months

A must read. My former colleague Josh Paul resigned today from the @StateDept office that approves arms transfers because of the Biden admin's decision to rush arms to Israel. I have deep respect for Josh and I know he did not take this decision lightly. Read his letter.

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

2 months

Somehow I don't think @StateDept would defer to Russia as a credible source to investigate itself if a mass grave were discovered in Ukrainian territory it had occupied.

Niall Stanage

@NiallStanage

2 months

I asked the State Dept. today about the U.S. response to the discovery of apparent mass graves at a Gaza hospital — which has been to ask the Israeli govt. for more information. — “And do you believe the govt. of Israel is a credible source in enlightening you?” — “We do.”

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

5 months

In case you missed it: In the last day, the US bombed Iraq, Yemen, and Somalia. Like a return to good old GWOT days, except the US government is not even pretending these military actions have anything to do with threats to the US homeland. Use of military force on autopilot.

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

2 months

I used to be a war crimes lawyer at @StateDept . The Secretary of State's explanation at today's briefing for why the Department could assess the commission of war crimes in Ukraine but not Gaza is unconvincing.

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

8 months

Add this to the growing list of incidents about which the US should be asking Israel tough questions. Warning civilians to evacuate and then (apparently) bombing evacuees requires an explanation. The US has responsibilities to guard against facilitating LOAC violations.

MSNBC

@MSNBC

8 months

NEW: 70 killed after Israeli strikes hit three convoys of evacuees trying to leave northern Gaza.

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

5 months

Without commenting on the legal merits of the proceedings instituted by South Africa before the ICJ, it is notable that administration officials are willing to publicly opine on international law here but not when asked whether Israel is complying with the law of war in Gaza.

Prem Thakker

@prem_thakker

5 months

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby calls South Africa’s 84-page suit accusing Israel of genocide “meritless, counterproductive, and completely without any basis in fact whatsoever.”

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

2 months

Looking forward to someone explaining to me what the legal basis is for the IDF firing on civilians returning to northern Gaza or even seeking to bar their return in the first place.

Thousands of Palestinians attempt to return home to northern Gaza, but face Israeli fire | CNN

Video filmed by a CNN stringer shows a coastal road filled with Palestinians heading north for the first time in such numbers. The IDF says such journeys are not permitted.

www.cnn.com

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

4 months

If only there were steps that the Secretary of State--the US official responsible for arms transfers--could take to address the situation.

Vivian Salama

@vmsalama

4 months

Blinken says he told Israeli officials today that the toll of Israel's military operations in Gaza on civilians "remains too high"

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

8 months

Nothing says rule of law like summary executions.

Aaron Rupar

@atrupar

8 months

Trump: "Very simply, if you rob a store, you can fully expect to be shot as you are leaving that store. Shot!"

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

6 months

If only someone had tried bombing Yemen to deal with the Houthis.

Eli Lake

@EliLake

6 months

Forget sanctioning the Houthis. Why hasn’t the US Navy leveled their military bases yet? And if Iran resupplies, destroy the Iranian navy too. You can’t let this two bit militia disrupt global trade. Enough already.

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

1 month

Seeing commentary that ICC arrest warrants against Israeli officials would create a dangerous precedent because Israel isn’t a party to the Rome Statute. Guess who else isn’t a party to the Rome Statute? Russia. ICC already crossed that bridge with warrant for Putin.

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

8 months

In the @washingtonpost , my former @StateDept colleague Josh Paul describes how the normal process for approving arms transfers—including safeguards to mitigate the risk of civilian casualties—was circumvented in the rush to transfer weapons to Israel.

Opinion | This is not the State Department I know. That’s why I left my job.

The State Department normally engages in vigorous debate over morally challenging transfers of arms to allies. This time, that debate did not happen.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

3 months

There’s a whole policy toolkit that the US government regularly uses to try to shape the behavior of other states and has used with Israel in the past. Considerable leverage with Israel given extent of U.S. military/diplomatic support. Learned helplessness as foreign policy.

Ken Klippenstein

@kenklippenstein

3 months

Q: What leverage are you willing to use with Israel? STATE DEPARTMENT: "There is a mistaken belief that the United States is able to dictate to other countries sovereign decisions. Israel makes its sovereign decisions."

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

8 months

Josh Paul, the @StateDept official who resigned over rushed arms transfers to Israel, indicates that the Biden administration is not implementing its own Conventional Arms Transfer policy for those weapons, including regarding anticipated law of war compliance.

AYMAN

@AymanMSNBC

8 months

Former State Department official resigns over what he says is a lack of robust debate within his bureau over arms transfers to Israel.

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

8 months

Posting this bigoted nonsense shortly after a Palestinian-American boy was murdered in Chicago is certainly a choice. Shame.

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

5 months

The US has been engaged in hostilities in the Red Sea with the Houthis since mid-October. The War Powers Resolution’s 60-day clock already ran out. This is not a one-off strike, but instead a further attack in an ongoing conflict unauthorized by Congress.

Josh Marshall

@joshtpm

5 months

@ryangrim @OmarBaddar Can you name any one-off military strike by the US, the good ones or the bad ones, in the last century that has been approved by Congress in advance? A single one?

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

5 months

This attack comes as @StateDept has authorized the transfer of additional tank shells to Israel.

Idrees Ali

@idreesali114

5 months

GAZA/JERUSALEM, Jan 24 (Reuters)-Tank shells hit a U.N. training centre sheltering tens of thousands of displaced people in Khan Younis, killing at least nine people and wounding 75, a senior U.N. relief official said, as Israeli forces advanced through the southern Gaza city.

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

10 days

Yet calling arrest warrant applications by the prosecutor of @IntlCrimCourt “outrageous” and “shameful” is apparently just fine.

POLITICO

@politico

10 days

Biden calls Trump ‘reckless’ for attacking the criminal justice system

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

6 days

If only the US had some leverage to bring about a ceasefire.

John Hudson

@John_Hudson

6 days

Israel announced today it signed an agreement with the U.S. for 25 F-35 aircrafts worth $3 billion, financed by U.S. taxpayers. Delivery is scheduled to begin in 2028 regardless of whether Netanyahu and Hamas come to an agreement to end the war & exchange prisoners

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

4 months

Given continued US arms transfers to Israel, the United States should in fact be checking Israel’s “homework” including to ensure US weapons won’t be used to facilitate law of war violations.

Ken Klippenstein

@kenklippenstein

4 months

Q: Has the IDF provided any plans to protect civilians ahead of any kind of ground invasion? PENTAGON: "I'm not aware of any plan fully presented to the United States to review. Again, we are not asking to check their homework."

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

8 months

This contrast is inescapable and severely undermines the US government’s pious rhetoric about civilian casualties and the law of war in connection with Russia’s illegal war on Ukraine.

Assal Rad

@AssalRad

8 months

US officials when Palestinian civilians are killed: “That’s what war is, it’s brutal, it’s ugly” US officials when Ukrainian civilians are killed: *chokes up* “It’s difficult to look at some of the images and imagine that any well-thinking, serious, mature leader would do that”

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

3 months

Section 620I of the US Foreign Assistance Act bars military aid to states who restrict US humanitarian assistance. With children starving in Gaza, it is past time for the Biden administration to apply the law. My latest in @just_security .

Section 620I: No Military Assistance to States Restricting U.S. Humanitarian Assistance

The United States should be using the leverage this provision creates to shape more responsible Israeli policies toward aid delivery.

www.justsecurity.org

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

8 months

🚨 "Members of the Israeli security and political establishment told the U.S. diplomats that the eradication of Hamas would require methods used in the defeat of the Axis powers in World War II." Developments in LOAC may prohibit some of those methods.

Gaza awaits aid from Egypt as Israel readies troops for ground assault

Israel’s defense minister has told ground troops to be ready to enter the Gaza Strip, though he didn’t say when the invasion will start.

apnews.com

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

8 months

Looks like the candidates at this forum will be trying to outbid one another in a contest for most over-the-top and unhinged statements about the conflict in Gaza.

Aaron Rupar

@atrupar

8 months

Vivek Ramaswamy to the Republican Jewish Coalition: "I would love nothing more than for the IDF to put the heads of the top 100 Hamas leaders on stakes and line them up ... "

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

1 year

🧵The US has filed its "Article 51" letter arguing that recent US airstrikes on "militia groups affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps" constituted lawful self defense. I used to draft these documents. This one is inadequate. 1/n

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

7 months

Add the “Axis of Evil” speechwriter to the list of luminaries giving us the benefits of their insights on the Gaza conflict. Ranks up there with Fabio, Hillary Clinton, and George W. Bush.

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

28 days

Anyway, according to @StateDept , it is really, really hard to draw conclusions about whether Israel is violating the law of war in Gaza.

Younis Tirawi | يونس

@ytirawi

28 days

Khan Younis | Israeli soldiers from the 66th battalion film the mosque with a drone, observing that it is completely empty with nothing in it, having already been destroyed. They proceed to blow it up, reducing it to dust ->

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

1 year

Is it "swagger" when you're the only one to blurb your own book? Asking for a former Secretary of State...

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

2 months

The Leahy Law is just one of many legal provisions the Biden admin has disregarded after 7 October, in addition to: —Arms Export Control Act —Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act —War Powers Resolution —Int’l law on aiding & abetting war crimes

Brett Murphy

@BrettMmurphy

2 months

New: Blinken has known for months his own experts concluded multiple Israeli units should be disqualified from U.S. aid for flagrant human rights abuses. And for months, he's sat on those recommendations. "They've been sitting in his briefcase."

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

1 year

. @IlhanMN is an important voice in HFAC and Congress on matters of war, peace, and human rights. The racist, sexist, and Islamophobic attacks on her are disgusting and disgraceful.

Ilhan Omar

@IlhanMN

1 year

They just hate an African refugee who is Muslim having the power to shape policy in our country. Their opinion won’t change the outcome of my election or the support of my constituents. My constituents didn’t just graciously welcome refugees to MN, they sent one to Congress 💪🏽

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

2 years

The United States has submitted an Article 51 to the UN Security Council, laying out its argument that recent US strikes in Syria were lawful measures of self-defense. A few observations as someone who used to write these letters. 1/n

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

1 month

I don’t say this often, but good for Gaetz for raising the War Powers issue presented by the Gaza pier.

John Hudson

@John_Hudson

1 month

Sec. Austin discusses the possibility of U.S. forces on the pier to Gaza encountering gunfire

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

8 months

The original story with the quote about WWII methods has been updated, but here is a screenshot from @lrozen .

Laura Rozen

@lrozen

8 months

AP: “4 US officials familiar with the discussions said American diplomats became increasingly alarmed by comments from their Israeli counterparts regarding their intention to deny water, food, medicine, electricity & fuel into Gaza, as well as inevitability of civilian casualties

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

16 days

The UK's Joint Service LOAC Manual specifically cites "aimless attacks such as the soldier who fires off an automatic weapon at no particular target" as an example of a prohibited indiscriminate attack. Indiscriminate attacks are also war crimes.

Evan Dyer

@EvanDyerCBC

17 days

Much has been said about bombing in Gaza, but less about the way IDF uses smaller weapons. Here’s an IDF tanker spraying MG fire without looking or caring where it goes. 7.62 rounds can penetrate walls and can travel 4km+. This soldier also doesn’t appear to be under fire.

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

8 months

Except that proportionality is a key requirement and principle of the law of war—both jus ad bellum and jus in bello.

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

1 year

Been waiting for the deranged conspiracy theory connecting the legal problems of Putin and Trump. The usual suspect delivers.

Ron Filipkowski

@RonFilipkowski

1 year

Alex Jones says the Trump arrest is timed with the ICC charging Putin for “evacuating children from a war zone,” because globalists are trying to stop people who won’t go along with their plans. (Putin had Ukrainian children kidnapped and shipped to Russia).

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

16 days

If only there were some way other than this pier to get aid into Gaza. Perhaps a method involving wheeled vehicles traveling over land.

Natasha Bertrand

@NatashaBertrand

16 days

Floating pier update: A small U.S. military vessel was towing the floating U.S. pier back to the port of Ashdod overnight due to poor sea conditions, when it got disconnected and ran aground in Ashdod, a defense official told @JDiamond1 A separate US vessel went to try to

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

2 years

Biden admin on course to be less transparent about the legal basis for US military operations in Syria than Trump admin. 7 weeks and no response to the bipartisan letter from @RepPeterDeFazio @NancyMace and others posing a number of war powers and AUMF related questions. (1/2)

Peter DeFazio

@RepPeterDeFazio

2 years

It’s been 7 weeks since I led a bipartisan letter to the Biden Adm asking their legal basis for ongoing US military involvement in Syria. Still no response. These recent strikes are only the latest in an escalating military conflict that Congress has not authorized.

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

4 months

Except the attacks didn't stop. A few things that happened after Trump's strike on Soleimani in January 2020: --a ballistic missile barrage against Al-Asad airbase (100+ TBIs) --fatal attack on US troops at Camp Taji in March 2020 The undying myth of "restoring deterrence."

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

2 months

Appropriate to be cautious in drawing any factual or legal conclusions about this situation. But particularly given US military support for Israel, the USG needs to get to the bottom of this mass grave matter ASAP and that requires independent fact finding.

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

1 year

Former State Department lawyer here. It was an illegal war.

The Mehdi Hasan Show

@MehdiHasanShow

1 year

UN Resolution 1441 gave Iraq one “final opportunity” to disarm. But, as @mehdirhasan points out, it did NOT authorize Bush and Blair to launch an invasion of Iraq. So wouldn’t that make the invasion illegal? Mehdi asks @RadioFreeTom .

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

1 year

Circling back on this, his whole “take the oil” schtick, whether he’s talking about Iraq, Syria, or Venezuela, epitomizes his distinctive combination of profound ignorance and lawlessness. If you think this is just campaign rhetoric for the rubes, file a FOIA request.

Acyn

@Acyn

1 year

Trump: When I left, Venezuela was ready to collapse. We would have taken it over, we would have gotten all that oil.

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

21 days

Unsurprisingly, this statement from SecState doesn't address the merits of the allegations from the ICC prosecutor but instead focuses on the ICC's supposed lack of jurisdiction, process issues, and rhetoric about equivalency.

Jake Sherman

@JakeSherman

21 days

BLINKEN on ICC warrants for Netanyahu/Gallant: The United States fundamentally rejects the announcement today from the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) that he is applying for arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials, together with warrants for Hamas

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

2 years

"69% responded negatively when asked if the United States should keep selling weapons to Saudi Arabia and 31% positively."

Over three-quarters of Americans support Iran nuclear talks - survey

Over three-quarters of Americans think the United States should pursue negotiations to prevent Iran from obtaining or developing a nuclear weapon, according to a survey taken by the nonpartisan...

www.reuters.com

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

6 months

Assistant arsonist wants credit for occasional, often feckless attempts to act like a firefighter.

Trita Parsi

@tparsi

6 months

This is Baghdad Bob and Sean Spicer level of self-delusion. Kirby: "Name me one nation that is doing more to alleviate the pain and suffering of people in Gaza than the United States. You won't succeed, it just won't work!"

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

3 months

Seems like @StateDept ought to be investigating a report that a U.S. origin bomb hit a compound housing medical personnel. Gaza: IRC and MAP additional statement on airstrike on residential compound housing Emergency Medical Team via @RescueOrg

Gaza: IRC and MAP additional statement on airstrike on residential compound housing Emergency...

Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) have previously shared details of the near-fatal airstrike on 18 January 2024 by the Israeli military on a residential...

www.rescue.org

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

2 months

"The orders are basically from the commanders on the ground is just 'shoot every man in fighting age.'" Seems like information the @StateDept might want to take into consideration in deciding on arms transfers to Israel.

Anderson Cooper 360°

@AC360

2 months

CNN Political & Foreign Policy Analyst Barak Ravid joins Anderson to analyze what went wrong when an Israeli attack in Gaza killed seven aid workers, including foreign nationals, from Chef José Andrés non-profit, World Central Kitchen.

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

2 years

Once again, when did Congress vote for this war?

U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM)

@USAfricaCommand

2 years

NEWS: Somali, U.S. forces engaged insurgents in support of the Federal Government of Somalia on Aug. 14 The command’s initial assessment is that the strikes killed 13 al-Shabaab terrorists and that no civilians were injured or killed. More:

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

3 months

I used to advise @StateDept on law of war assurances. If Ambassador Lew buys these Israeli assurances, I have a bridge he’ll also be interested in purchasing.

Akbar Shahid Ahmed

@AkbarSAhmed

3 months

SCOOP: US Ambassador to Israel Lew on Tuesday privately endorsed Israel's claims it's abiding by US law in using American weapons + sending aid to Gaza—alarming US officials who say that's untrue + setting up the Biden admin for a bigger fight with lawmakers, humanitarian groups.

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

6 months

The President of the United States has essentially accused Israel of committing war crimes (USG views indiscriminate attacks as war crimes), but the US government refuses to factor that conclusion into decisions on arms transfers.

Gregg Carlstrom

@glcarlstrom

6 months

On Tuesday, Biden said Israel was carrying out "indiscriminate bombing" in Gaza. On Wednesday, administration officials told CNN Biden has "no plans to shift its position and draw any red lines around the transfer of weapons and munitions to Israel."

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

5 months

🧵New War Powers report This is a strange document. I used to help draft these letters and I have never seen one like this. A few observations: 1/n

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

5 months

Or the US could just cut to the chase and push for an end to the Gaza war now.

Alex Ward

@alexbward

5 months

This is how the Biden administration plans to end the Houthi crisis

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

2 months

People at @StateDept who continue to facilitate arms transfers to Israel need to think long and hard about whether the orders they are executing are lawful and whether they are risking complicity in law of war violations.

Natasha Bertrand

@NatashaBertrand

2 months

New: The Biden administration recently authorized the transfer of over 1,000 500-pound bombs and over 1,000 small-diameter bombs to Israel. The transfer authorization of the MK82 bombs and small-diameter bombs, more than 2,000 munitions in total, occurred before an Israeli

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

6 days

Biden administration hasn't rescinded Trump's prior recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. And if there's a change in administration, further US recognitions of illegal land grabs could be forthcoming.

Haaretz.com

@haaretzcom

7 days

Trump is desperate for Miriam Adelson's cash. Her condition: West Bank annexation / @slyomovics

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

8 months

And you will be publicly sharing this information and analysis?

Adrienne Watson

@NSC_Spox

8 months

While we continue to collect information, our current assessment, based on analysis of overhead imagery, intercepts and open source information, is that Israel is not responsible for the explosion at the hospital in Gaza yesterday.

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

8 months

Sorry, @SecBlinken but @StateDept needs to be making those assessments about law of war compliance *now* if the United States is considering sending additional arms to Israel, both as a legal matter and under the administration's own Conventional Arms Transfer Policy.

Jennifer Hansler

@jmhansler

8 months

Asked by @APDiploWriter if he believes Israel has respected the laws of war thus far, @SecBlinken says, “There will be plenty of time to make assessments about how these operations were conducted”

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

5 months

🧵The White House has released the War Powers notification for the Jan 11th US strikes on the Houthis in Yemen. A few observations from someone who helped draft the last WPR report for US strikes on the Houthis 2016. 1/n

Letter to the Speaker of the House and President pro tempore of the Senate consistent with the War...

Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Madam President:) Since at least November 2023, Yemen-based Houthi militants have engaged in a series of attacks against United States military forces, including ships and...

www.whitehouse.gov

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

2 months

In addition to significant war powers and policy considerations relating to escalation, this exchange also raises the question of what the US views as Israeli territory. Does the Biden administration consider the unlawfully annexed Golan Heights to be "Israel?"

Ken Klippenstein

@kenklippenstein

2 months

Q: If Iran is to strike a target inside Israel, would the Pentagon be obliged to respond? PENTAGON: I've highlighted our ironclad commitment to Israel's security.

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

1 year

Very serious, well thought out counter-drug proposals from DeSantis here. Invade Mexico. Blockade Mexican ports. These measures will definitely stop the fentanyl epidemic and I can't imagine any possible downsides.

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

6 months

It is possible that unconditional U.S. military assistance to Israel speaks louder than the entreaties from the administration to mitigate civilian casualties in Gaza.

John Hudson

@John_Hudson

6 months

Israeli airstrikes hit the densely-populated Jabalya refugee camp again, killing 27 people and wounding more than 100, according to Gaza's Ministry of Health. Via @catebrown12 and @joesnell03

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

1 month

Good exchange between @AymanMSNBC and @RepDean on Israel’s dubious law of war assurances. In short, if you believe these assurances, I have a bridge to sell you.

Not Reassuring: NSM-20 and the Limits of Law-of-War Assurances in the Transfer of U.S. Arms

Analysis of how Biden's National Security Memorandum (NSM-20) may operate in regulating the transfer of U.S. arms amid concerns of international humanitarian law violations.

www.justsecurity.org

AYMAN

@AymanMSNBC

1 month

Will the U.S. accept reassurances from Israel that it has NOT broken U.S. or International law? @RepDean says she is “gravely concerned that Mr. Netanyahu, in the prosecution of this war, has been in violation and that the assurances are not great enough.”

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

1 year

As I wrote in @ForeignAffairs last year, the "creative" theories cooked up by the US executive branch to justify ongoing US military operations in Syria erode the legal constraints on the use of force and increase the likelihood of future conflict. 5/n

An Unauthorized War

The list of adversaries U.S. forces are fighting in Syria raises questions about the underlying legal rationales for the U.S. deployment.

www.foreignaffairs.com

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

5 months

Option 1 Less War: Quiet down the Red Sea by pushing ceasefire in Gaza. Option 2 More War: Fuel Gaza conflict with unconditional military support and bomb the Houthis for unclear and possibly unattainable ends. Looks like US government has gone with option 2.

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

8 months

The US government also opposed an independent investigation when US forces attacked an MSF hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan in 2015, killing 42. Independent investigations are for US adversaries, not for the US and its friends.

Dimitri Lascaris

@dimitrilascaris

8 months

A spokesperson of the U.S. government says the Biden administration doesn’t think it is “appropriate” for there to be an international investigation into the destruction of the hospital in Gaza. Why would the U.S. oppose such an investigation if it believes Israel didn’t do it?

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

1 year

There’s another significant legal issue lurking here. An attack on Iran of the sort reportedly contemplated by this “war plan” would likely have been illegal.

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

11 months

Reminds me that Kissinger was just being celebrated by US officials. Recall he had certain positions of authority in the US government during this bombing of Laos.

Joaquin Castro

@JoaquinCastrotx

11 months

"Less than 1% of the dormant bombs have been cleared since the war ended in Laos...Even as the numbers gradually decline, thousands continue to be killed, crippled and disfigured. Half the victims are children."

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

15 days

In December 2023, President Biden characterized Israel's bombing in Gaza as "indiscriminate"--a war crime. U.S. officials know and have known for many months what they are enabling in Gaza.

The Associated Press

@AP

15 days

BREAKING: Palestinian medics say 22 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Rafah that hit tents for displaced people.

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

7 months

“The first war crimes were committed by Hamas” is a strange formulation suggesting subsequent war crimes were committed by someone else in this conflict.

Nick Schifrin

@nickschifrin

7 months

Full throated . @POTUS endorsement of @IDF operation on Al-Shifa: "The first war crimes were committed by Hamas. By having their headquarters, their military, under a hospital. That’s a fact. That happened." "We’ve discussed the need for @IDF to be incredibly careful."...

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

21 days

A sober and measured statement from @IlhanMN on the ICC's application for arrest warrants for Hamas and Israeli leaders. A notable contrast to some of the hyperventilating from others in DC at the moment.

Rep. Omar’s Statement on ICC Prosecutor’s Applications for Arrest Warrants for Hamas and Israeli...

WASHINGTON—Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) released the following statement following the applications for arrest warrants for senior Hamas and Israeli leadership for alleged war crimes and crimes against...

omar.house.gov

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

3 years

Umm...Is it appropriate for the AG to be strategizing with Senate Majority leader regarding Senate races?

Jonathan Karl

@jonkarl

3 years

Last November, @LeaderMcConnell pleaded with Barr to publicly shoot down Trump's claims of election fraud. “Look, we need the president in Georgia,” he told Barr, “and so we cannot be frontally attacking him right now…You are really the only one who can do it.”

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

2 months

If you backed the Iraq War, maybe refrain from commenting on opposition to the latest Middle East debacle the US government is supporting.

Tom Nichols

@RadioFreeTom

2 months

A generation that has grown up in peace and prosperity jonesing for the rush of having their own version of the 1960s, and looking desperately to shoehorn every cause into a replay of what they think their boomer grandparents were doing

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

18 days

Extensive destruction of property not justified by military necessity is also an available charge under the Rome Statute of @IntlCrimCourt . It is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention as well for which all states have obligations to prosecute or extradite.

Younis Tirawi | يونس

@ytirawi

18 days

Exclusive: Israeli soldiers set fire Aqsa University [ @AqsaUniversity ]’s library in Gaza City and took pictures of themselves in front of the flames.

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

7 days

Old enough to remember when the administration's line was that a ceasefire "only benefits Hamas." Since that glib quip was delivered, tens of thousands of people have been killed in Gaza.

Department of State

@StateDept

7 days

The world should know, the Palestinian people should know that the only thing standing in the way of an immediate ceasefire today is Hamas.

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

7 months

As a result of the Gaza conflict, the United States has involved itself in a regional conflict without congressional authorization or even a plan. US forces are being targeted in/from Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. Time to think much harder about de-escalation.

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

4 months

Sorry, no. Iran is not “an existential threat to the U.S.”

Congressman Jared Moskowitz

@RepMoskowitz

4 months

Iran is an existential threat to the U.S. and our allies in the region and must be held accountable for the murder of 3 U.S. soldiers. The President must respond. I pray for the families of those lost and injured.

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

2 months

Everything else aside, this invocation of Article 51 from Iran's mission to the UN is more legal argument for its use of force than Israel has provided for the Damascus attack or any of its other strikes in Syria. Interested to see if it is followed with an Article 51 letter.

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

4 months

More fundamentally: Why are US forces at Tower 22? What is the mission they’re supporting at Tanf? Does it have a legal basis? Is the game worth the candle?

Ken Klippenstein

@kenklippenstein

4 months

Tower 22, the US base in Jordan where 3 soldiers were killed in a drone attack last month, had "minimal if any" anti-drone defenses, soldiers who served on the base recently tell me:

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

2 months

Plenty of eyebrow-raising details in this article, including this:

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

19 days

The US comes to the defense of Gallant after he is accused of law of war violations by the ICC prosecutor. Gallant responds by authorizing actions in the West Bank the US government regards as law of violations (ie Art 49(6) GCIV).

Michael Holmes

@holmescnn

19 days

Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Wednesday rescinded orders barring Israelis from parts of the northern West Bank, paving the way for the reestablishment of Israeli settlements there that were evacuated and demolished in 2005.

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

3 months

If only the US had some leverage to bring about a ceasefire.

Barak Ravid

@BarakRavid

3 months

🚨Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant will come to Washington next week with a long list of U.S. weapons Israel wants to receive in an expedited manner, two Israeli and U.S. officials told me. My story on @axios

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

11 months

Which should raise the question of what exactly US forces are doing at Al Tanf garrison these days. Both Pompeo and Bolton boasted in their memoirs about keeping US troops at Tanf to counter Iran, instead of the ostensible US mission in Syria of fighting ISIS.

Lara Seligman

@laraseligman

11 months

BREAKING: Senior DoD official says Russia continues "concerning" activities in Syria. Just this morning Moscow flew a surveillance mission over Al Tanf garrison. The ISR aircraft was in that space for "an extended period of time" in order to collect on the garrison.

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

1 month

Three reactions: 1) ICC can’t arrest anybody, it depends on individual states for that. No ICC SWAT team to arrest Hamas. 2) Any arrest warrants for Israeli officials likely to be paired with warrants for Hamas leaders (eg hostage taking). 3) No ICC jurisdiction for Syria.

Congressman Brad Sherman

@BradSherman

1 month

For months, families of Oct. 7th victims urged the ICC to arrest Hamas leaders for the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Instead the ICC apparently considers warrants on Israeli leaders for legitimate self-defense. Such a decision would be outrageous & I condemn it. 1/3

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

7 months

President Biden seems to characterize earlier Israeli operations in the Gaza conflict as “indiscriminate bombing.” (The US government regards indiscriminate attacks to be war crimes.)

Bo Erickson CBS

@BoKnowsNews

7 months

Quick--but notable--comment from POTUS tonight as he was defending the Israeli military operation on the Al-Shifa hospital. At the very end of his answer, POTUS seemed to differentiate from previous IDF military operations as he used the term 'indiscriminate bombing.'

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

1 month

Put differently, a US ambassador and the Speaker of the House oppose following US law.

Barak Ravid

@BarakRavid

1 month

Blinken also faced intense pressure both from members of Congress, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), U.S. Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew and other senior officials in the administration who opposed the move, two Israeli and U.S. officials said

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

11 months

🧵 The US war on terror continues, with recent airstrikes in two different countries against two different jihadi groups--neither of whom existed at the time of the 9/11 attacks. 1/n

US drone strike kills an Islamic State group leader in Syria, the Defense Department says

The Defense Department says a U.S. drone strike has killed an Islamic State group leader in Syria. The military says the strike on Friday came hours after the same MQ-9 Reaper drones were harassed by...

apnews.com

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

2 months

UK government lawyers say Israel is breaking international law, claims top Tory in leaked recording

Ex-Foreign Office and Ministry of Defence official Alicia Kearns said at a Tory fundraiser that legal advice would mean the UK has to cease all arms sales to Israel without delay

www.theguardian.com

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

1 month

President Biden supported the ICC action against Putin, a national of state not party to the Rome Statute.

BBC News (World)

@BBCWorld

1 year

US President Joe Biden welcomes ICC's war crimes charges against Russian leader Vladimir Putin

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

2 years

Conspicuously absent from this @CENTCOM statement is any mention of the legal basis for these latest hostilities. Yesterday’s statement about the US airstrikes direct by President Biden cited Article II of the Constitution as the legal authority.

U.S. Central Command

@CENTCOM

2 years

CENTCOM forces respond to attempted coordinated rocket attacks at Conoco, Green Village bases in northeast Syria

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

26 days

Apropos of the potential US sale of $700 million in tank ammunition to Israel, several of these Israeli attacks on aid workers involved tank fire. Gaza: Israelis Attacking Known Aid Worker Locations

Gaza: Israelis Attacking Known Aid Worker Locations

Israeli forces have carried out at least eight strikes on aid workers’ convoys and premises in Gaza since October 2023, even though aid groups had provided their coordinates to the Israeli authorit...

www.hrw.org

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

5 months

Unlike any other unclassified, 48-hour War Powers report, this letter does not specify what it is reporting. Neither the military action nor the location are identified. 2/n

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

7 months

Spoke with @leloveluck of @washingtonpost about LOAC and Gaza. “Even if there is a legal justification for each and every airstrike in Gaza, this conflict has been catastrophic for the people of Gaza. Falling within the law only gets you so far.”

As Gaza death toll soars, secrecy shrouds Israel’s targeting process

Experts say Israel’s rules of engagement in Gaza, which are classified, appear to include a higher threshold for civilian casualties than in past wars.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

1 year

The Biden administration has yet to renounce Trump’s recognition of this illegal land grab. Hard to square this inaction with the US government’s principled and righteous stance on Russia’s illegal annexations of Ukrainian territory.

Biden Can’t Denounce Russia’s Annexations and Ignore Israel’s

From the Baltic Republics to Crimea, Washington has opposed forcible annexation—and the Golan Heights should be no exception.

foreignpolicy.com

Ron Filipkowski

@RonFilipkowski

1 year

Trump yesterday: “I gave you the Golan Heights.”

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

1 year

“It’s about time. In late 2021, the United Nations estimated that this war, started by the Saudi leader with U.S. support, had killed or starved 377,000 people.”

David Ignatius

@IgnatiusPost

1 year

An age of deconfliction may be dawning on the Middle East

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

22 days

“Lower level aides” meaning the relevant subject matter experts.

Niall Stanage

@NiallStanage

22 days

This paragraph is from a Politico story about Sec of State Tony Blinken being annoyed by leaks. Strong piece, but the “lower level aides” who took this view were…four whole bureaus of the State Department, including the Bureaus of Human Rights and Global Criminal Justice.

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

5 months

Even setting aside the lawfulness of these demolitions under the law of war, the Israeli creation of a "buffer zone" within Gaza runs afoul of the US position on "no reduction in the territory of Gaza."

Wesley Morgan

@wesleysmorgan

5 months

And here is General Halevi also referring to “the buffer zone” in reference to the demolition

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

9 months

Your reminder that Bill Barr’s legal opinions from his time as head of @TheJusticeDept ’s Office of Legal Counsel remain on the books. Including one that would authorize the president to unilaterally wage a war of aggression. As do opinions by torture program figure John Yoo.

murray waas

@murraywaas

9 months

In late 2020 I wrote in New York Mag that prosecutor Nora Dannehy resigned from John Durham’s probe - because Bill Barr was pushing for the release of an interim report before the 2020 election to discredit Biden and elect Trump. Barr denied my story at the time. Dannhey

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

8 months

Troubling response by @StateDeptSpox when asked whether @StateDept is making determinations about Israel's LOAC compliance. Answer is basically "no." I used to assess partner LOAC compliance for @StateDept , including for arms transfers. Problem if that isn't happening now.

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Brian Finucane

@BCFinucane

1 month

Old enough to remember when the Obama admin finally paused PGM transfers to Saudi Arabia in 2016 after RSAF bombed a funeral full of civilians in Yemen. And Biden admin doing same again in 2021. USG regularly having to relearn lessons about risks of arming reckless partners.

Jared Szuba

@JM_Szuba

1 month

New: the Biden administration last week paused a shipment to Israel of some 1,800x 2,000-lb. bombs and 1,700x 500-lb. bombs over concerns of about a potential Rafah ground invasion, a senior administration official confirms to @AlMonitor .

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