Eyal Benvenisti

On July 4, 2025, France’s highest court convened in plenary session to hear arguments on whether an arrest warrant against Bashar al-Assad, issued while he was President of Syria, violates head of state immunity. Following the oral arguments, the court announced it would deliver its judgment on July 25, 2025. The international arrest warrant was issued for al-Assad’s alleged role in the infamous August 2013 chemical weapons attacks that killed over 1,400 civilians in Douma and al-Ghouta, Syria.

Thucydides’ famous Melian Dialogue came to mind when reading about President Trump’s demand that Ukraine surrender control over its natural resources and accept Russian control of additional territories. As described by Thucydides in the Melian Dialogue (416 BCE), Athens demands the submission of Melos, a weaker island state, offering it a stark choice: subjugation or destruction. Melos refuses to yield—and is annihilated.

The Ukraine Dialogue – EJIL: Talk!