Exceptionalism | | truthaholics

Stop arming Israel | Global Legal Action Network | 21 Aug 2025

In July, the High Court delivered a deeply flawed judgment in our case with Al-Haq challenging arms exports to Israel. In the face of overwhelming evidence of atrocities, the court refused to grapple with the key legal issues.

The court’s refusal to adjudicate on whether the F-35s carve out is consistent with the UK’s obligations under international law cannot go unchallenged.

We have filed an appeal of the High Court ruling and we will be in the Court of Appeal on 9 October for an oral permission hearing. Permission applications are usually papers-based, but the Court of Appeal has decided that our case raises such important legal questions that even the permission stage should be held in open court.

This is the only legal challenge in the UK aimed at ending military support to Israel. Appealing now is not only about justice in this case. It’s about shaping the role that international law plays in UK courts. To continue sending F-35 parts to Israel, the Government has pushed international law to breaking point. It has rendered its duty to prevent genocide meaningless.

An appeal in this case is the only chance we have to invite a court to give meaning to international law in the UK, on the most important issue of our time, protecting Palestinian people from Israel’s genocide.

If the High Court decision stands it would cement the insidious orthodox legal view that the government can interpret international law however it wants without judicial scrutiny. The current government is already gutting key international law protections. It is terrifying to imagine what this would enable a future far-right Reform led government to do. This appeal is the best, and possibly only, opportunity we have to set this right.

The world is watching.
The atrocities in Gaza are worsening.
The legal tools exist, but unless we act, they will continue to be ignored.

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Previously …

July 3, 2025: We received judgment

On Monday, the High Court delivered its judgment in one of the most important challenges ever taken in the UK, declining to uphold Al-Haq and GLAN’s case challenging the export of deadly war plane parts that are used in attacks against Palestinians. The judgment is a disappointing setback in Al-Haq’s effort to ensure that all states respect international law in their dealings with Israel, but we are already considering grounds for appeal.

This case has exposed a glaring gap in the government’s accountability. The court declined to pass judgment on the government’s genocide assessment and declined to rule on whether the government’s decision to continue to supply Israel with parts for its lethal F-35 fighter jets through the global supply chain was consistent with its duty to prevent genocide. Leaving the question, who is the UK government accountable to in matters of international law? Who is there to ensure its obligations under domestic law and the Geneva Conventions, including its duty to prevent genocide, are met?

We are undeterred – our long legal battle with Al-Haq has already achieved a great deal and shown the power of human rights and civil society organisations to hold states accountable. This challenge is just one part of the continuing fight for accountability, justice, and an end of the occupation. The situation in Gaza is an affront to international law and it is an affront to our shared humanity.

Our expert legal team is still digesting the judgment fully and taking time to analyse what the most powerful and impactful next steps will be. Watch this space – we’ll keep you updated every step of the way.

For now, though, we want to thank you for making this case possible. It has shown the power of human rights and civil society organisations to hold states accountable. We are all stronger when we stand together and I am so grateful to have you standing with us.

U.S. Exceptionalism Is Basically A Nazi Thing, Belarus Leader Says ~ Miriam Elder, BuzzFeed Staff.

“Not long ago black-skinned people in America were slaves. Today they make statements about some sort of exceptionalism,” says the man referred to as the “last dictator in Europe.”

Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko (C) salutes as he watches a military parade during celebrations marking Independence Day in Minsk July 3, 2013. Pool / Reuters

Alexander Lukashenko, the hardline leader of Belarus, has compared the idea of U.S. exceptionalism to Nazi ideology and criticized President Barack Obama for supporting it as a “black-skinned person.”

Lukashenko, once dubbed the “last dictator in Europe” by former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, told a Kazakh television station that the idea of U.S. exceptionalism was “very bad” and “counterproductive.”

After issuing a sweeping statement of support for Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, Lukashenko slammed the U.S. for meddling in the affairs of Middle East countries.

He continued: “The American nation — it’s funny, I can’t even grasp what it is as a nation, this American one, which already awarded itself the right to some sort of exceptionalism. Do you know what that already smells of?” he asked an interviewer from Kazakhstan’s 24KZ channel.

“We already lived through this exceptionalism in the middle of the last century, and it cost 50 million lives. So it already smells of something bad,” Lukashenko said, referring to World War II. “So for a nation to award itself the right to some sort of exceptionalism…and as a result of this to ground the bombing of other governments is, I think, to put it softly, counterproductive. It’s very bad.”

“Putin was right when he said the the scariest thing is when this ideology of our exceptionalism, as Obama says, is hammered into the head of the population, and that’s 300 million people,” Lukashenko said of the U.S. “And they, as it once was in Germany, start thinking it’s a special race, a special blood, and a special exceptionalism and they should restore world order and bring everybody to their standards.”

Russian president Vladimir Putin called out “American exceptionalism” in a New York Times op-ed last month warning against U.S. intervention in Syria. “It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation,” Putin wrote in the conclusion of the hotly debated op-ed.

Lukashenko continued by personally addressing Obama’s role in the concept: “Obama amazes — not long ago, black-skinned people in America were slaves. Today, they make statements about some sort of exceptionalism.”

“I never thought a person coming out of these poor conditions could put such a rhetoric into the world,” Lukashenko said. “It’s inadmissible. It’s very dangerous.”

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Tag Archives: Exceptionalism

Stop arming Israel : Global Legal Action Network heading to the UK Court of Appeal!

July 3, 2025: We received judgment

| Opinion: US Exceptionalism is basically a Nazi Thing, Belarus leader says!

U.S. Exceptionalism Is Basically A Nazi Thing, Belarus Leader Says ~ Miriam Elder, BuzzFeed Staff.

“Not long ago black-skinned people in America were slaves. Today they make statements about some sort of exceptionalism,” says the man referred to as the “last dictator in Europe.”

July 3, 2025: We received judgment

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U.S. Exceptionalism Is Basically A Nazi Thing, Belarus Leader Says ~ Miriam Elder, BuzzFeed Staff. “Not long ago black-skinned people in America were slaves. Today they make statements about some sort of exceptionalism,” says the man referred to as the “last dictator in Europe.”

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U.S. Exceptionalism Is Basically A Nazi Thing, Belarus Leader Says ~ Miriam Elder, BuzzFeed Staff.

“Not long ago black-skinned people in America were slaves. Today they make statements about some sort of exceptionalism,” says the man referred to as the “last dictator in Europe.”