Ben Gerstein
@bwgerstein.bsky.social
Currently: Visiting Fellow, University of Sarajevo Institute for Research of Crimes Against Humanity and International Law. Previously: J.D., UCLA Law and B.A., University of Michigan.
This is an excellent, thoughtful piece and supremely helpful to those (like me) who are just entering the space of drafting, and hopefully publishing, legal scholarship.
Today, @jocelynsimonson.bsky.social and @ksabeelrahman.bsky.social challenge the idea that law review articles should conclude with a set of actionable prescriptions.
This convention, they argue, constrains ambition, sidelines critique, and conflates near-term feasibility with rigor.
This convention, they argue, constrains ambition, sidelines critique, and conflates near-term feasibility with rigor.
Beyond Feasibility in Legal Scholarship
Law review articles are expected to conclude with a short section, often “Part IV,” that translates analysis into actionable prescriptions. Though well-intentioned, this convention constrains ambition...
lpeproject.org
January 21, 2026 at 4:39 PM
This is an excellent, thoughtful piece and supremely helpful to those (like me) who are just entering the space of drafting, and hopefully publishing, legal scholarship.
Reposted by Ben Gerstein
The political and institutional grounds for this have been built over decades. They must be completely uprooted.
January 7, 2026 at 10:42 PM
The political and institutional grounds for this have been built over decades. They must be completely uprooted.
Reposted by Ben Gerstein
The #ICJ will hear the case accusing Myanmar of committing genocide against the Rohingya from January 12-29, the first time the ICJ considers a genocide in a decade & one that will set precedents for South Africa’s case against Israel over the war in Gaza: www.reuters.com/world/asia-p...
World Court to hear Myanmar genocide case in January
The International Court of Justice will hear a landmark case accusing Myanmar of committing genocide against its minority Muslim group, the Rohingya, on January 12-29, the United Nations' top court sa...
www.reuters.com
December 20, 2025 at 4:07 AM
The #ICJ will hear the case accusing Myanmar of committing genocide against the Rohingya from January 12-29, the first time the ICJ considers a genocide in a decade & one that will set precedents for South Africa’s case against Israel over the war in Gaza: www.reuters.com/world/asia-p...
Reposted by Ben Gerstein
We do not have to offer and I believe indeed should not offer any benefit of the doubt: Anything sold as "AI" should be presumed ineffective, exploitative, environmentally ruinous, bigotry-amplifying and otherwise until proven otherwise.
/fin
/fin
December 19, 2025 at 9:56 AM
We do not have to offer and I believe indeed should not offer any benefit of the doubt: Anything sold as "AI" should be presumed ineffective, exploitative, environmentally ruinous, bigotry-amplifying and otherwise until proven otherwise.
/fin
/fin
Reposted by Ben Gerstein
Please join Angela Davis, Robin D.G. Kelley, Ruth Wilson Gilmore and many others in signing this call for an academic and cultural boycott of the UAE, in relation to its complicity in genocide in Sudan.
spectrejournal.com/for-a-cultur...
spectrejournal.com/for-a-cultur...
December 19, 2025 at 8:54 AM
Please join Angela Davis, Robin D.G. Kelley, Ruth Wilson Gilmore and many others in signing this call for an academic and cultural boycott of the UAE, in relation to its complicity in genocide in Sudan.
spectrejournal.com/for-a-cultur...
spectrejournal.com/for-a-cultur...
Reposted by Ben Gerstein
The winning argument for Dem leaders could be "they want to fear monger about trans people and trans healthcare because they don't want to talk about why your life isn't as good as it could be and have no plan to make it better" — except that most Dem politicians also have no plan to make it better.
December 18, 2025 at 5:20 PM
The winning argument for Dem leaders could be "they want to fear monger about trans people and trans healthcare because they don't want to talk about why your life isn't as good as it could be and have no plan to make it better" — except that most Dem politicians also have no plan to make it better.
Reposted by Ben Gerstein
Today, @azohra.bsky.social and Madiha Tahir argue that recent criticism of the Trump administration's bombings in the Caribbean risks repeating a familiar mistake: debating how the United States wages war while leaving unquestioned why it wages it at all.
Beginning with Empire
attacks on alleged drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean have been widely condemned for violating international law. Yet much of this criticism, by focusing narrowly on the Trump…
lpeproject.org
December 18, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Today, @azohra.bsky.social and Madiha Tahir argue that recent criticism of the Trump administration's bombings in the Caribbean risks repeating a familiar mistake: debating how the United States wages war while leaving unquestioned why it wages it at all.
Reposted by Ben Gerstein
So, El Fasher looks like one of the worst single event atrocities to happen this century so far, but the evidence has come in such a trickle it seems to only now be getting verified
At least 60,000 murdered in Sudanese city, which resembles ‘a slaughterhouse’
Satellite evidence shows extent of paramilitary massacre in El Fasher
www.irishtimes.com
December 13, 2025 at 3:50 AM
So, El Fasher looks like one of the worst single event atrocities to happen this century so far, but the evidence has come in such a trickle it seems to only now be getting verified
Reposted by Ben Gerstein
Excuse me but what in the world is this? These are outrageous accusations
reason.com/volokh/2025/...
reason.com/volokh/2025/...
November 12, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Excuse me but what in the world is this? These are outrageous accusations
reason.com/volokh/2025/...
reason.com/volokh/2025/...
Reposted by Ben Gerstein
Kyle Kingsbury is not a journalist. He is not an op-ed writer.
He is a computer safety researcher.
And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.
In under 1600 words.
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
He is a computer safety researcher.
And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.
In under 1600 words.
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
November 9, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Kyle Kingsbury is not a journalist. He is not an op-ed writer.
He is a computer safety researcher.
And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.
In under 1600 words.
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
He is a computer safety researcher.
And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.
In under 1600 words.
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
Reposted by Ben Gerstein
In the name of protecting Jews, Jews have their funding cancelled, get kicked out of seminars, and are removed from leadership positions in Jewish Studies to be replaced by non-Jews.
Latest write-up about outrageous administrative over reach at IU. www.jta.org/2025/11/07/u...
In Indiana, a vaunted Jewish studies program is upended by red-state politics over Israel and speech - Jewish Telegraphic Agency
A leadership shakeup, a defunded graduate student and political pressure from above have turned a storied program into a flashpoint for Trump-era campus politics.
www.jta.org
November 8, 2025 at 3:58 AM
In the name of protecting Jews, Jews have their funding cancelled, get kicked out of seminars, and are removed from leadership positions in Jewish Studies to be replaced by non-Jews.
This week, I'll be presenting "The Srebrenica Paradox" at the @genocidescholars.bsky.social conference. I've posted a draft of the paper to SSRN. The piece discusses how the Srebrenica cases at once narrowed and expanded genocide's legal definition. Check it out!
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
The Srebrenica Paradox
The ICTY’s determination that Srebrenica constituted a genocide, and the ICJ’s affirmation of such findings in its Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Monteneg
papers.ssrn.com
October 20, 2025 at 11:25 AM
This week, I'll be presenting "The Srebrenica Paradox" at the @genocidescholars.bsky.social conference. I've posted a draft of the paper to SSRN. The piece discusses how the Srebrenica cases at once narrowed and expanded genocide's legal definition. Check it out!
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Reposted by Ben Gerstein
Don't make us tap the sign:
October 9, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Don't make us tap the sign:
Per the Trump playbook, Jews who do not adhere to fascist tendencies are categorized as "bad Jews" alongside the enemy "other." Investigating these Jewish orgs. also tracks the targeting of JVP featured prominently in the Heritage Foundation's Project Esther: lpeproject.org/blog/how-the...
October 9, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Per the Trump playbook, Jews who do not adhere to fascist tendencies are categorized as "bad Jews" alongside the enemy "other." Investigating these Jewish orgs. also tracks the targeting of JVP featured prominently in the Heritage Foundation's Project Esther: lpeproject.org/blog/how-the...
Excellent from Darryl Li:
Today, Darryl Li examines the alarming rise in campus antisemitism investigations—inquests that are often sparked by outside complaints, lack concrete evidence, and lay the groundwork for future crackdowns and grievances.
The Rising Threat of Antisemitism Investigations
In the fall of 2023, the Department of Education launched more antisemitism investigations into colleges and universities than in all previous years combined. This record was surpassed in 2024 and is…
lpeproject.org
September 30, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Excellent from Darryl Li:
Reposted by Ben Gerstein
There’s no reason to do this except racism: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/31/w...
U.S. Suspends Visas for Palestinian Passport Holders, Officials Say
www.nytimes.com
September 1, 2025 at 2:37 AM
There’s no reason to do this except racism: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/31/w...
Reposted by Ben Gerstein
BBC International Editor Jeremy Bowen has confirmed that the entire Al Jazeera team in Gaza City has been killed.
August 10, 2025 at 10:33 PM
BBC International Editor Jeremy Bowen has confirmed that the entire Al Jazeera team in Gaza City has been killed.
"Wars do not target bodies alone—they also seek to assassinate memory." www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/1657...
Targeting Printing and Publishing Houses in Gaza: A Cultural Violation and a Memoricide
Palestine Square, فلسطين الميدان
www.palestine-studies.org
August 2, 2025 at 6:12 AM
"Wars do not target bodies alone—they also seek to assassinate memory." www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/1657...
Reposted by Ben Gerstein
A hunger strike at a South Florida immigration detention center state officials have named “Alligator Alcatraz” enters its tenth day, as detainees protest what they call inhumane and dangerous living conditions.
‘Alligator Alcatraz' detainees on hunger strike for 10th day, protesting conditions
One of the detainees, Pedro Hernández, was hospitalized during the strike but continued to refuse food, he said on Thursday.
nbcnews.to
August 1, 2025 at 10:20 PM
A hunger strike at a South Florida immigration detention center state officials have named “Alligator Alcatraz” enters its tenth day, as detainees protest what they call inhumane and dangerous living conditions.
In agreeing to this, Brown embraces the project of defining the Jewish community by adherence to Zionism. And even more nefariously, the institution disavows DEI while providing special measures for the ideological subset of the Jewish community the Trump administration deems valid.
July 31, 2025 at 4:21 PM
In agreeing to this, Brown embraces the project of defining the Jewish community by adherence to Zionism. And even more nefariously, the institution disavows DEI while providing special measures for the ideological subset of the Jewish community the Trump administration deems valid.
Reposted by Ben Gerstein
This is how the Jewish right manages to convince themselves that they are actually a majority in the US - by defining most of us out of Jewishness. They would rather rule over a tiny community than have to actually work to convince people in a larger one.
Predictably, the conservative fringe of Jews who are so far right that they stopped working for the New York Post and joined the Washington Free Beacon think that the 43% of Jewish New Yorkers who support Mamdani are only “Jews” in scare quotes and that their Jewishness is “tenuous”.
July 31, 2025 at 1:10 AM
This is how the Jewish right manages to convince themselves that they are actually a majority in the US - by defining most of us out of Jewishness. They would rather rule over a tiny community than have to actually work to convince people in a larger one.
Reposted by Ben Gerstein
1/ I represent 5 anti-zionist students and faculty challenging the outrageous claim that the Palestine Solidarity Encampment was a "Jew exclusion zone". UCLA refused to defend. Today they agreed to pay millions instead. I can't overstate how dangerous this is. 🧵
www.latimes.com/california/s...
www.latimes.com/california/s...
UCLA to pay $6.45 million to settle suit by Jewish students over pro-Palestinian protests
UCLA agreed to settle a lawsuit by Jewish students who alleged the university aided a 2024 pro-Palestinian encampment, which the lawsuit alleged illegally discriminated against Jewish people.
www.latimes.com
July 29, 2025 at 9:35 PM
1/ I represent 5 anti-zionist students and faculty challenging the outrageous claim that the Palestine Solidarity Encampment was a "Jew exclusion zone". UCLA refused to defend. Today they agreed to pay millions instead. I can't overstate how dangerous this is. 🧵
www.latimes.com/california/s...
www.latimes.com/california/s...
Reposted by Ben Gerstein
Taner Akçam, Marianne Hirsch, and I introduce the Genocide and Holocaust Studies Crisis Network and call for immediate concrete measures to prevent further atrocity crimes and to protect civilians in Gaza.
As scholars of genocide, we demand an end to Israel’s atrocities | Open letter
Within weeks, 400 colleagues joined our organization. We say: it is not too late to save lives. End the genocide now
www.theguardian.com
July 29, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Taner Akçam, Marianne Hirsch, and I introduce the Genocide and Holocaust Studies Crisis Network and call for immediate concrete measures to prevent further atrocity crimes and to protect civilians in Gaza.