“Israel Genocide?” statement in response to the United Nations Human Rights​ “Report of the Independent Commission of Inquiry on the 2014 Gaza Conflict” and call to action

PLEASE TAKE ACTION RIGHT NOW AND SEND YOUR LETTER TO THE UN OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL ADVISER ON THE PREVENTION OF GENOCIDE AND THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT PROSECUTOR.

The United Nations Human Rights “Report of the Independent Commission of Inquiry on the 2014 Gaza Conflict” has been released and the word genocide appears only once, to define what an International Crime is.

Even though the numbers speak for themselves, the treatment of the occupying army and the population it besieges as some kind of equals, with equal responsibility and military ability, in this report is glaring. We feel that the report, while detailing Israel’s individual war crimes, both in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank, during Israel’s attack last summer, intentionally glosses over the context of 68 years of colonization and its subsequent on-going genocidal effects.

A crime of this magnitude- which lasted 51 consecutive days and resulted in the extermination of 89 whole families and the deaths of scores of others, and in devastating damage to civilian property and infrastructure in the context of Israel’s ever-tightening de-facto stranglehold on Palestinian land and lives and infinitely superior fire-power- cannot be assessed under the laws of war, but under the laws of genocide. We appeal to the United Nations Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Adama Dieng, and the International Criminal Court Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda to investigate the possibility that Israel is committing the crime of genocide against the Palestinian people.

We also call on each and every one of you, who agree with our appeal, to send this email below to the relevant offices. Seeing this report, we cannot stress enough the importance of such civil society action. Please help us preasure the UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and the ICC Prosecutor. Together we will end Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people.

UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, International Criminal Court Prosecutor, International Court of Justice President: Investigate the Possibility that Israel is Committing the Crime of Genocide Against the Indigenous Palestinian People

To UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, ICC Pros., and ICJ Pres.,

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Letter of Support from the BDS National Committee (BNC) for the Israel Genocide? Campaign

Dear friends, organizers of the Israel Genocide? Campaign,

The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) welcomes and supports your initiative to encourage people worldwide to write to the UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, and demand that the UN conduct an enquiry into the possibility that Israel may have committed the crime of genocide against the Palestinian people and publish its findings and recommendations.

In light of earlier and alarming findings of independent experts, in particular since Israel’s hermetic siege and separation of the occupied Gaza Strip in 2007 and the consecutive waves of mass killings of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, the BNC considers this initiative, which is directed specifically at the responsible UN personnel, to be important and timely. All, including the former UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the OPT, Prof. Richard Falk, separate Arab League- and UN-led investigations into Israel’s 2008/9 war on Gaza, and the 2014 Russell Tribunal on Palestine special session on Israeli violations of international law in Gaza and elsewhere in the OPT, have all confirmed that Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity have been perpetrated with impunity and, furthermore, that direct and public incitement to genocide by Israeli political, religious and parliamentary leaders have been well documented. Therefore, the UN Office of the Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide should be pressured to investigate if Israeli officials are responsible for the crime of genocide, including the crime of incitement to genocide, and to assess and prevent the risk of a future Israeli genocide against (parts of) the Palestinian people.

While supporting the Israel Genocide? Campaign, and irrespective of its results, the BNC calls on campaigners to continue to build public awareness and pressure for holding Israel accountable for its regime of colonialism, apartheid and occupation, including the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in this context against Palestinians since 1948, such as ethnic cleansing and mass killing of civilians.  Both, facts and international law strongly support this approach. Like the crime of genocide, colonialism and the crime of apartheid are internationally prohibited. They also result in similar legal responsibilities: all states and international organizations, such as the United Nations, are to isolate and suppress Israeli apartheid and colonialism, bring responsible individuals to justice, and ensure full reparation for the Palestinian victims.

In solidarity,
Mahmoud Nawajaa
BNC General Coordinator

TAKE ACTION now and write a letter to the UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and the International Criminal Court Prosecutor. Make sure to post a copy of the letter in our comments as well, so we can publish it.

UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and the International Criminal Court Prosecutor: Investigate the Possibility that Israel is Committing the Crime of Genocide Against the Palestinian People

Click to take action right now and demand the U.N. Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and the International Criminal Court Prosecutor investigate Israel for the possibility of the Crime of Genocide

The Crime of Genocide is defined in a declaration made by the General Assembly of the United Nations in its resolution 96 (I) dated 11 December 1946:

The Contracting Parties confirm that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law which they undertake to prevent and to punish.

Article 2

In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Article 3

The following acts shall be punishable:

(a) Genocide;
(b) Conspiracy to commit genocide;
(c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide;
(d) Attempt to commit genocide;
(e) Complicity in genocide.

Article 4

Persons committing genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in Article 3 shall be punished, whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals.

We are people from all around the world who fear that we are witnessing the genocide of the Palestinian people by the State of Israel. Witnessing Israel’s daily violations of Palestinian human rights- military take-over of land, restriction of movement, economic strangulation, house demolitions, restrictions on basic foodstuff, mass arbitrary arrests of both adults and children, torture, extra judicial executions, and large-scale massacres of whole families, openly calling for genocide and extermination by law makers and other public figures- we can not keep silent about this 67 year-old atrocity, unfolding before our eyes.

We demand the United Nations Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and the International Criminal Court Prosecutor take action and investigate the possibility that Israel is committing the Crime of Genocide against the Palestinian People, and that the office publish its findings and recommendations.

Please see our call to action and act now.

 

Palestinian Human Rights Organisations urge UN Special Advisers on the Prevention of Genocide and Responsibility to Protect, that Immediate and Effective Measures are Needed as Genocide is Unfolding in the Gaza Strip by Al-Haq

PLEASE TAKE ACTION RIGHT NOW AND SEND YOUR LETTER TO THE UN OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL ADVISER ON THE PREVENTION OF GENOCIDE AND THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT PROSECUTOR.

It is with great urgency that we, the undersigned Palestinian civil society organisations, address this letter to the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Alice Wairimu Nderitu and the Special Advisor on the Responsibility to Protect, George Okoth-Obbo, with regards to Israel’s actions in the occupied Palestinian territory, including and especially in the Gaza Strip. We alarmingly take note of the statement of Ms Nderitu issued on 15 October 2023, as further elaborated below, which has not alerted the international community to the risk of genocide against the Palestinian people. We  urge you to take all measures at your disposal, as required by your mandate, to prevent the unfolding genocide in Gaza, including by mobilising the international community, particularly Third States, to uphold their legal obligations and urgently intervene for this end.

… we are also deeply alarmed by the analysis, approach and rhetoric expressed in the sole statement you issued on 15 October 2023, Ms Nderitu. Failing to contextualise seventy-five years of oppression and domination by the State of Israel over the Palestinian people as a whole, the statement exclusively placed the onus of condemnation on Palestinian armed groups. Excluding any condemnation of Israel’s actions in Gaza—despite the fact that at the time the Israeli senior leadership had already made several statements inciting genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza and that at least 2,000 Palestinians had already been killed as of 15 October 2023—reveals two truths: first, that the international political double-standards penetrated the UN system inadvertently; second, that the UN and your mandate remain oblivious to the root causes of the Palestinian struggle: decades of Israel’s settler-colonialism, apartheid, and occupation. This, in combination with the failure to acknowledge Israel’s sixteen-year blockade and closure of Gaza—an illegal form of collective punishment, an act of persecution and apartheid, and a potential act of genocide— signifies that your statement utterly failed to properly contextualise the operation  that took place on 7 October 2023.

We would also like to remind both your respective mandates Ms Nderitu and Mr Okoth-Obbo, that in July 2014, your predecessors issued a public warning in response to Israel’s conduct against the protected Palestinian population which was accompanied by inciteful and dehumanising language against them. We are deeply alarmed that at this point, with stronger evidence and a significantly more desperate and severe humanitarian situation in terms of human suffering than in 2014, you have not issued a single statement publicly condemning Israel’s genocidal rhetoric, along with the continued infliction of atrocities on the Palestinian population of Gaza.

we call on your respective mandates, as Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Ms Nderitu and Special Advisor on the Responsibility to Protect, Mr Okoth-Obbo, to:

  1. 1. Acknowledge and publicly recognise that Israel’s conduct in the Gaza Strip is tantamount to an unfolding genocide; condemn the genocidal rhetoric of Israeli officials, which has increased in the past weeks, and remind the international community of the danger such rhetoric carries;
  2. 2. Condemn the accompanying atrocities committed by Israel in Gaza and the resulting massive loss of civilian life and destruction of civilian infrastructure;
  3. 3. Call on Third States to act in line with their obligations under the Genocide Convention, in the face of a serious risk that Israeli occupying forces are perpetrating genocidal conduct against Palestinians in Gaza, by unilaterally and collectively taking all feasible action to urgently and definitively ensure that Israel refrains from further incitement to genocide and from the perpetration of conduct prohibited under Article II of the Convention;
  4. 4. Call upon the competent organs of the UN (including the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, and the International Court of Justice) to take the necessary action under the UN Charter to prevent and suppress acts of genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in Article III of the Convention;
  5. 5. Call on Third States to investigate, arrest and prosecute persons on their territory or nationals who may have committed or contributed to acts of genocide against the Palestinian people; and
  6. 6. Call upon States to take all available measures to avoid complicity in Israeli conduct through the provision of materials, arms, economic and diplomatic support to a regime responsible for ongoing and persistent widespread and systematic violence and abuse of the Palestinian population amounting to genocide.

Continue reading at https://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/22282.html

Olivia Colman among 1000+ artists accusing art institutions of censorship on Palestine by Artists for Palestine UK

PLEASE TAKE ACTION RIGHT NOW AND SEND YOUR LETTER TO THE UN OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL ADVISER ON THE PREVENTION OF GENOCIDE AND THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT PROSECUTOR.

To the Arts and Culture Sector,

We write to you as artists and cultural workers united in our commitment to justice, dignity, freedom, and equality for all people in Israel / Palestine. We hold every life to be precious, and we grieve every death. 

The scale of violence unfolding in Gaza demands our collective attention and action. 

Members of Israel’s far-right government are openly calling for ethnic cleansing. 

The use of starvation as a weapon of war, along with denial of water and electricity, is cruel beyond words. 

The wholesale destruction of civilian infrastructure, the bombing of hospitals, schools, churches and mosques, the killing of 14,500  people in a matter of weeks, amount to a policy of collective punishment against the Palestinian people. The United Nations and hundreds of legal scolars have called on the international community to prevent genocide.

Continue reading at https://artistsforpalestine.org.uk/2023/11/30/olivia-colman-among-1000-artists-accusing-art-institutions-of-censorship-on-palestine/

Is ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan Fit for Purpose? by Hasmik Egian and Mouin Rabbani

PLEASE TAKE ACTION RIGHT NOW AND SEND YOUR LETTER TO THE UN OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL ADVISER ON THE PREVENTION OF GENOCIDE AND THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT PROSECUTOR.

The “inventory before the Office” that was subject to its review consisted of cases that had not been referred to the ICC by the Security Council and included the two separate “situations” – Palestine and in Afghanistan. Both investigations have been vociferously denounced by the United States, and in 2019 Washington revoked Bensouda’s US visa. In 2020, it smacked her and other Court officials with sanctions normally reserved for designated criminals.

… Khan’s lofty proclamation before the Council that “no safe haven is given to war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide” notwithstanding, he appeared to be reassuring Washington and its allies that the Palestine and Afghanistan files, along with several other investigations, would collect dust in his filing cabinet. It was that rare instance in which a  senior international official publicly announced his dereliction of duty at the very start of his tenure.

Continue reading at https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/45560/Is-ICC-Prosecutor-Karim-Khan-Fit-for-Purpose

Urgent Appeal for ICC Prosecutor to Engage Directly with Palestinian Victims, Especially in Gaza, and to Issue Arrest Warrants for Deterrence by Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, Al-Haq, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights

PLEASE TAKE ACTION RIGHT NOW AND SEND YOUR LETTER TO THE UN OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL ADVISER ON THE PREVENTION OF GENOCIDE AND THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT PROSECUTOR.

We urgently call on Prosecutor Khan to extend his visit to Gaza, acknowledging the critical importance of understanding the context and meeting with victims there. The situation in Gaza, where we warned about the unfolding genocide and crimes against humanity of forced displacement against the Palestinian population therein, demands specific attention, and direct engagement is instrumental in comprehending the impact of alleged crimes on the ground.

Continue reading at https://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/22277.html

The Right to Speak for Ourselves by Mohammed El-Kurd

PLEASE TAKE ACTION RIGHT NOW AND SEND YOUR LETTER TO THE UN OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL ADVISER ON THE PREVENTION OF GENOCIDE AND THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT PROSECUTOR.

So, if someone like Edward Said cannot always get the mic, which Palestinians have the right to narrate? Israelis! Every so often, an Israeli politician comes out and says it: “We’re gonna give you another Nakba, we’re gonna give you a genocide. We’re gonna send you packing to Jordan.” 

Continue reading at https://www.thenation.com/article/world/palestinians-claim-the-right-to-narrate/

We are Witnessing a Genocide Unfolding in Gaza: To Stop it, the ICC Prosecutor Must Apply the Law Without Fear or Favour by Shawan Jabarin and Ahmed Abofoul

PLEASE TAKE ACTION RIGHT NOW AND SEND YOUR LETTER TO THE UN OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL ADVISER ON THE PREVENTION OF GENOCIDE AND THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT PROSECUTOR.

Last year, around 200 Palestinian, regional and international civil society and human rights organizations sent a letter to Prosecutor Khan urging him, to expedite his investigation and start issuing arrest warrants, and to deter crimes in Palestine. The letter highlighted the numerous important missed opportunities for issuing preventive statements in the year before. It also showed that previous preventive statements by former Prosecutors have proven to provide sufficient deterrence in Palestine. Unfortunately, the ICC Prosecutor did not heed the calls of these organisations, the perpetuation of international crimes against Palestinians continued and impunity has been prevailing leading to the current situation where we have a genocide unfolding before our eyes in the Gaza Strip. It remains a mystery why the Prosecutor refused to issue any statements before the 7th of October. Notably, regarding Ukraine, the Prosecutor issued three statements in the first week alone.

Continue reading at https://opiniojuris.org/2023/11/24/we-are-witnessing-a-genocide-unfolding-in-gaza-to-stop-it-the-icc-prosecutor-must-apply-the-law-without-fear-or-favour/

Former Top UN Official Craig Mokhiber on Israel’s Genocide on This Is Palestine

PLEASE TAKE ACTION RIGHT NOW AND SEND YOUR LETTER TO THE UN OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL ADVISER ON THE PREVENTION OF GENOCIDE AND THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT PROSECUTOR.

Craig Mokhiber: This is very much a world in which the West is complicit in genocide in the 21st century.

Diana Buttu: I was gonna ask you- this is probably the last question I have, which is- fast forward let’s say 10-20 years, how do you think the world is going to look back on this?

CM: I mean I think that there’s no doubt that retrospectively there’ll be a lot of shame. For- not just the failure of many to respond to a genocide unfolding before their eyes, but- the complicity of many. Not just governments, but- as I say- people in the media, people in everyday life. But that’s not going to bring justice to the Palestinian people for what has been perpetrated on them. And that’s why I think beyond shame there has to be actual individual criminal accountability for perpetrators. There has to be a reckoning when it comes to the media, so that there’s some level of accountability there. 

Listen at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/former-top-un-official-craig-mokhiber-on-israels-genocide/id1509337661?i=1000635722109

Suhel Nafar Is On a Mission to Put Middle Eastern & North African Artists On the Global Stage by Katie Bain

PLEASE TAKE ACTION RIGHT NOW AND SEND YOUR LETTER TO THE UN OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL ADVISER ON THE PREVENTION OF GENOCIDE AND THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT PROSECUTOR.

I wish this interview was in a different time [with me] talking more about the business. I actually almost canceled because it’s overwhelming watching my family and friends going through genocide. I want to represent the new generation and the music that is fucking amazing; not the situation where there’s an oppressor bombing families as we speak.

Continue reading at https://www.billboard.com/pro/suhel-nafar-empire-vp-interview-photos/

The Harvard Law Review Refused to Run This Piece About Genocide in Gaza by Rabea Eghbariah

PLEASE TAKE ACTION RIGHT NOW AND SEND YOUR LETTER TO THE UN OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL ADVISER ON THE PREVENTION OF GENOCIDE AND THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT PROSECUTOR.

Genocide is a crime. It is a legal framework. It is unfolding in Gaza. And yet, the inertia of legal academia, especially in the United States, has been chilling. Clearly, it is much easier to dissect the case law rather than navigate the reality of death. It is much easier to consider genocide in the past tense rather than contend with it in the present. Legal scholars tend to sharpen their pens after the smell of death has dissipated and moral clarity is no longer urgent.

Continue reading at https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/harvard-law-review-gaza-israel-genocide/

Israel guilty of war crimes, genocide in Gaza, says South Africa’s president on Anadolu Agency

PLEASE TAKE ACTION RIGHT NOW AND SEND YOUR LETTER TO THE UN OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL ADVISER ON THE PREVENTION OF GENOCIDE AND THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT PROSECUTOR.

Israel is violating international law by committing war crimes and genocide in the Gaza Strip, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Tuesday.,, The South African leader also said his country wants an immediate and comprehensive cease-fire in Gaza, as well as opening of humanitarian corridors. Ramaphosa further said that the International Criminal Court should urgently start prosecution procedures against those responsible for the perpetration of war crimes.

Continue reading at https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/israel-guilty-of-war-crimes-genocide-in-gaza-says-south-africas-president/3060833