About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

8 J. Int'l Bus. & L. 169 (2009)
Belhas v. Ya'Alon: The Case for a Jus Cogens Exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act

handle is hein.journals/jibla8 and id is 171 raw text is: BELHAS V. YA'ALON: THE CASE FOR A JUS COGENS EXCEPTION TO THE FOREIGN SOVEREIGN IMMUNITIES ACT Graham Ogilvy* INTRODUCTION In Belhas v. Ya'alon, the Circuit Court for the District of Columbia dismissed the complaint brought against General Moshe Ya'alon, a retired Israeli general, on the grounds that any potential international law violations committed by General Ya'alon occurred while he was acting in his official capacity with the Israeli military. The alleged violations included war crime, extrajudicial killings, crimes against humanity, and torture. Taking for granted the details alleged in the complaint, General Ya'alon's actions constituted serious jus cogens violations. Despite the severity of these violations, the court held that General Ya'alon's position in the Israeli military made him immune from suit under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. This note will argue that, due to the nature of jus cogens norms and the standing they hold in the international community, the court should have found and applied a jus cogens exception to the immunity provided by the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. I. BELHAS V. YA'ALON: FACTUAL BACKGROUND Saadallah Belhas and other plaintiffs brought an appeal before the District of Columbia Circuit Court after their claims were dismissed in the district court for lack of subject matter jurisdiction because of sovereign immunity claimed by the defendant Moshe Ya'alon, an Israeli General, under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA).' The plaintiffs brought their * J.D. Candidate, 2010, Hofstra University School of Law. First of all I would like to thank Morgan McCord, my Notes and Comments Editor, and Elizabeth Streelman, Senior Editor for Articles, for helping to edit and prepare this note for publication. I would also like to thank the rest of the senior staff of the Journal of International Business and Law for their support, and Professor Curtis Pew for serving as my faculty advisor. Finally, I would like to thank my family for providing the support and encouragement that has been so vital to my law school career. Belhas v. Ya'alon, 515 F.3d 1279, 1282 (D.C. Cir. 2008).

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most