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Neil Hicks

@neilcihrs.bsky.social
51 followers 43 following 12 posts
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Reposted by Neil Hicks
Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 11/07/2025
"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...
justsecurity.org
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.
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Reposted by Neil Hicks
Fionnuala NÍ Aoláin KC (Hons) @niaolainf.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
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...
wsj.com
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
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Reposted by Neil Hicks
Brian Dooley @dooleydooley.bsky.social · 30/05/2025
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...
gwaramedia.com
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.
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Reposted by Neil Hicks
Human Rights First @humanrightsfirst.org · 29/05/2025
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.
humanrightsfirst.org
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...
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Reposted by Neil Hicks
Norsk Supporterallianse @nsastyret.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
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)
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Middle East Democracy Center @mideastdc.org · 20/05/2025
"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...
middleeasteye.net
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
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Reposted by Neil Hicks
DAWN @dawnmenaorg.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
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.
dawnmena.org
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...
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Reposted by Neil Hicks
DAWN @dawnmenaorg.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
"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.
dawnmena.org
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...
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Reposted by Neil Hicks
Brian Dooley @dooleydooley.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
One in five people facing starvation … This is deliberate policy, not a natural disaster www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...
theguardian.com
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Neil Hicks @neilcihrs.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
My piece on Trump's authoritarian foreign policy. dawnmena.org/trumps-autho...
dawnmena.org
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...
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Reposted by Neil Hicks
Mai El-Sadany @maitelsadany.bsky.social · 11/05/2025
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.
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Reposted by Neil Hicks
Frank Conde Tangberg @frankctangberg.bsky.social · 10/05/2025
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.
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Neil Hicks @neilcihrs.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
Our statement on Israel's latest plan to erase Gaza: cihrs.org/erasing-gaza...
cihrs.org
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...
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Reposted by Neil Hicks
Fionnuala NÍ Aoláin KC (Hons) @niaolainf.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
“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 kitchens have closed. Warehouses stand empty. Children have gone hungry”. www.ochaopt.org/content/stat...
ochaopt.org
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...
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Reposted by Neil Hicks
Brian Dooley @dooleydooley.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
@humanrightsfirst.org
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Reposted by Neil Hicks
Senator Ed Markey @markey.senate.gov · 22/04/2025
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.
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Brian Dooley @dooleydooley.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
Again and again www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
theguardian.com
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
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Reposted by Neil Hicks
Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
Not just morally wrong but terrible negotiating strategy — senseless and nihilistic.
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Fionnuala NÍ Aoláin KC (Hons) @niaolainf.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
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...
nytimes.com
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.
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Micha Tobia @michatobia.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
"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...
timep.org
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.
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Reposted by Neil Hicks
Abu Aardvark @abuaardvark.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
Almost impossible to exaggerate what bad faith this administration pretending there’s a peace process is.
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Mai El-Sadany @maitelsadany.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
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...
acluva.org
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.
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Reposted by Neil Hicks
Mai El-Sadany @maitelsadany.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
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
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Reposted by Neil Hicks
Brian Dooley @dooleydooley.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
theguardian.com
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
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Reposted by Neil Hicks
Mary Lawlor @marylawlorhrds.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
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.
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Reposted by Neil Hicks
Monica Marks @monicamarks.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
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. 🧵
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Monica Marks @monicamarks.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
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.
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Gregg Carlstrom @glcarlstrom.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
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.
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Gregg Carlstrom @glcarlstrom.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
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.
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Gregg Carlstrom @glcarlstrom.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
Trump is seen as serious about trying to remove Gazans from the territory. There have been conversations with various Arab and African states about whether they'd be willing to accept them. The Arab plan for Gaza is seen as unrealistic because it glosses over key issues.
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Monica Marks @monicamarks.bsky.social · 22/03/2025
Elon Musk is assisting Erdoğan’s efforts to move Turkey from a competitive authoritarian to a full authoritarian regime. www.politico.eu/article/musk...
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Clever Dame @cleverdame.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
“Suri has a Ph.D. in peace and conflict studies.” Nothing about this is okay. Every University, lawyer & American should be loudly protesting to protect free speech & due process.
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Reposted by Neil Hicks
Brian Dooley @dooleydooley.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
Apartheid: My Part In Its Downfall 😂 Me in my early 20s supporting the struggle ✊🏼 by writing for the ANC’s religious dept. In 1988 Reagan & Thatcher (who called the ANC terrorists) were in power & Mandela in prison. Never forget things can be made better @cecilearchives.bsky.social
1988 letter from the ANC religious dept thanking Brian Dooley for his writing & support
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Veena Dubal @veenadubal.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
This should terrify every person in this country. The use of machine learning systems to approximate an individuals views on war and then, if they are here lawfully on a visa, tag them for deportation is about as sci-fi dystopian as it gets. www.axios.com/2025/03/06/s...
axios.com
Scoop: State Dept. to use AI to revoke visas of foreign students who appear "pro-Hamas"
The effort includes AI-assisted reviews of tens of thousands of student visa holders' social media accounts and marks a dramatic escalation in the U.S. government's policing of foreign nationals' cond...
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Abu Aardvark @abuaardvark.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
As I said
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Daniel Drezner @dandrezner.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
I don’t think I’m going to be sleeping very well for *checks notes* the rest of this administration. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/12/n...
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 13/03/2025
Surprise! The Russians, who have repeatedly said they don't want a ceasefire, have once again said they don't want a ceasefire
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Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
This is a really important point--so important I'm sorry David Wallace-Wells doesn't get there until his last paragraph. What more could Columbia have done to punish the protesters? Drone strikes? (The whole piece is excellent and worth reading.) www.nytimes.com/2025/03/10/o...
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Jonathan Chait @jonathanbchait.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
theatlantic.com
Anti-Semitism Is Just a Pretext
It’s the Trump administration, not Columbia, that has done nothing to confront anti-Semitism in its own ranks.
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Jesse Myerson @jessemyerson.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
This is who they want to portray as an agent of Hamas.
"As a Palestinian student, I believe that the liberation of the Palestinian people and the Jewish people are intertwined and go hand-by-hand and you cannot achieve one without the other," he told CNN last spring when he was one of the negotiators representing student demonstrators during talks with Columbia University's administration.

"Our movement is a movement for social justice and freedom and equality for everyone," he said.
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Fionnuala NÍ Aoláin KC (Hons) @niaolainf.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
Israeli police raid Palestinian bookshop in East Jerusalem twice in a month. “The confiscated books included titles on the work of British artist Banksy, & others by the Israeli historian Ilan Pappé & the US academic Noam Chomsky”. Serious crimes to sell books by world famous authors & artists.
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Frederick Deknatel @freddydeknatel.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
At least one Democratic senator gets it.
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Mai El-Sadany @maitelsadany.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
"My parents came here from Syria. They believed living in the US would bring a sense of safety and stability. But here I am, 40 years after my parents immigrated and just weeks before I'm due to give birth to our first child and I feel more unsafe and unstable than I have in my entire life."
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Gregg Carlstrom @glcarlstrom.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
The way to avoid a repeat of this weekend's atrocities in Syria is to have a state capable of securing the country and demobilizing its myriad militias. But the state can't do that if it is starved for resources (and if Turkey continues to sponsor the SNA) www.ft.com/content/fbb2...
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Stephanie Baker @stephanie-baker.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
Please join me and @billbrowder.bsky.social and Jason Pack at the Frontline Club in London on March 21 for a panel on Ukraine-Russia now that Trump is cosying up to Putin - we'll be talking about sanctions and the future of Russia's $300 billion in frozen assets www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/panel-disc...
eventbrite.co.uk
Panel discussion: Bill Browder on an Emboldened Putin and Isolated Ukraine
In partnership with The Disorder Podcast
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Jake Charles @jacobdcharles.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
For those trying to catch up the legal issues surrounding this troubling case, @stevevladeck.bsky.social’s newsletter has an invaluable breakdown here. Stay especially for the last, most consequential question Steve raises. www.stevevladeck.com/p/131-five-q...
stevevladeck.com
131. Five Questions About the Khalil Case
The government's arrest and detention of a pro-Palestinian Columbia student (and green card holder) raises difficult questions about both technical immigration statutes and the First Amendment.
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Mai El-Sadany @maitelsadany.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
🗳️ If you don't see your Member of Congress on this #FreeMahmoudKhalil letter, you should call them up and ask them what they're doing to ensure that free speech and due process rights are respected following this steamrolling of the constitution.
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Monica Marks @monicamarks.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
Rejection of selective empathy and, of course, of ethnic cleansing and genocidal attacks against *either* people is, Levy argued, necessary to move forward. Upholding & abiding by international law is key for everyone, Israelis & Palestinians alike. The solutions lay within it.
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