Category: Legal statements

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118th Congress 1st Session H. RES. 388: Recognizing the Ongoing Nakba and Palestine Refugees rights. by Ms. Tlaib and Ms. Omar, Ms. Mccollum, Mr. Bowman, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, and Ms. Bush to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

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.

Whereas the United States Congress enacted the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–441) mandating the President to identify, monitor, and report on potential and ongoing atrocities, and to develop policies and programs to improve the United States response, and noting that it is the policy of the United States to ‘‘regard the prevention of atrocities as in its national interest’’; Whereas Israeli politicians are increasingly threatening a second Nakba against the Palestinian people…

[We] request from the President the application of the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–441) to the treatment of Palestinians by Israel (both state and nonstate actors), including—
(A) a report on the situation in the mandated annual reporting to the Congress;
(B) training for United States Foreign Service Officers stationed in the United States Embassy to Israel per section 4 of such Act and section 4028(d) of title 22, United States Code; and
(C) supporting and protecting Palestinian and Israeli civil society groups and human rights defenders working to monitor, document, prevent, and respond to atrocities;

Continue watching at https://www.congress.gov/118/bills/hres388/BILLS-118hres388ih.pdf

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US: Revoke Visa, Deny Entry to Israeli Minister Bezalel Smotrich Over Incitement to Violence by DAWN

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.

Smotrich has also possibly committed the act of incitement to genocide, which also would prevent him from acquiring a U.S. visa under the statute, “Any alien who ordered, incited, assisted, or otherwise participated in genocide, as defined in section 1091(a) of title 18, is inadmissible” (E)(ii). 18 U.S. Code § 1091(a) defines genocide as: “Whoever, whether in time of peace or in time of war and with the specific intent to destroy, in whole or in substantial part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group as such,” including “kills members of that group;” (a)(1); “causes serious bodily injury to members of that group (a)(2); and “subjects the group to conditions of life that are intended to cause the physical destruction of the group in whole or in part” (a)(4).

Israeli scholars have suggested in the past that Smotrich’s violent rhetoric and detailed policy plans to expel Palestinians from the occupied territories could amount to genocide.

Continue reading at https://dawnmena.org/us-revoke-visa-deny-entry-to-israeli-minister-bezalel-smotrich-over-incitement-to-violence/

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Dirty tricks, lies and collusion with lawmakers are employed to protect Israel at any cost on MEMO

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 first charge of racial aggravation took more than a year and a half to be resolved, and involved more than 20 court appearances, which Napier angrily described as being “beyond preposterous”. The ludicrous charges, more often than not thrown out of court or leading to the collapse of trials, expose the desperate efforts of pro-Israeli lobbyists and their lackeys as they try to destroy college lecturer Napier and his co-accused.

His first trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court in front of Sheriff John Scott came to a grinding halt soon after the procurator fiscal told a packed courtroom that it was racist to say the words “End the Siege of Gaza! Genocide in Gaza!” on a public street; the crime, the Scottish legal official added, would be made more serious by repetition. Sheriff Scott ridiculed the PF’s case.

“Our Article 10 free speech protections would be rendered useless and we would have to march in a demonstration carrying placards saying ‘End war crimes in an unnamed Middle Eastern state’,” said Napier. The charges were literally laughed out of court. 

Continue reading at https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20221201-dirty-tricks-lies-and-collusion-with-lawmakers-are-employed-to-protect-israel-at-any-cost/

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Will the ICC Investigation Bring Justice for Palestine? Ramzy Baroud interviews Dr. Triestino Mariniello

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.

Article 5 of the Rome Statute – the founding document of the ICC – has an extended definition of what constitutes ‘serious crimes’, that being the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. It could be argued, then, that Israel should be held accountable for all of these ‘serious crimes’. Yet, the ICC opted for what is known as the ‘narrow scope’, thus the investigation will only be looking at the single component of war crimes. Why is that?

…It is surprising not to see any reference to the alleged committing of ‘crimes against humanity’, which, as victims say, is widely documented. There is no reference to the systematic attacks put in place by Israeli authorities against the civilian population in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem or in Gaza. The ‘narrow scope’, which excludes crimes against humanity, is something the Prosecutor should look back into. The overall situation in Gaza is largely ignored; there is no reference to the 14-year long siege; there is no reference to the overall victims of the Gaza war in 2014.
That said, the scope of the investigation is not binding for the future. The Prosecutor can decide, at any moment, to include other crimes. We hope it will happen because, otherwise, many victims will never get justice.

Continue reading at https://kashmirreader.com/2020/07/07/will-the-icc-investigation-bring-justice-for-palestine/

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IADL urges strong international action to stop Israeli annexation of Palestinian land by International Association of Democratic Lawyers

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.

Further, we also note that Israel is also responsible for the crime of genocide against the Palestinian people. From the mass killing and displacement of Palestinians in 1948 to the devastating siege on Gaza to the annexation plan, which aims to force Palestinians from their land by depriving them not only of access to the law but also to agricultural land and water sources, Israel is responsible for a series of institutional policies and practices “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group,” as defined by the Convention on the Prevention and the Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and Article 6 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Continue reading at https://iadllaw.org/2020/07/iadl-urges-strong-international-action-to-stop-israeli-annexation-of-palestinian-land/

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Situation in the State of Palestine by Legal Representative of Persecution Victims, Katherine Gallagher

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.

As the alternate formulation for the crime of aggression makes clear – with the jurisdictional provisions that for State referrals or proprio motu investigations inter alia States Parties can opt out of accepting the Court’s jurisdiction over aggression by that State Party, and that the Court cannot exercise jurisdiction over non-States Party’s nationals or territory – States knew how to limit the Court’s jurisdiction vis-à-vis non-State Party nationals if they wanted; they wanted no such limitation for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Non-member States – including those who objected to the text of article 12(2) – are also on notice that the Court is vested with jurisdiction over nationals of non-member States for conduct that occurs on the territory of a State Party…
Article 12(2) of the Statute states clearly that the Court can exercise its jurisdiction over the crimes enumerated in article 5 when there exists a “special link” with the crime. The territoriality principle is one of the most widely accepted principles of international law. The construction of article 12(2) makes clear that the exercise of the Court’s jurisdiction is not limited to either the territory of its Member States nor the nationals of such States; the ICC can exercise jurisdiction over the national of a State Party who commits a crime specified in article 5 of the Statue on the territory of a non-Member State when other preconditions are met, and likewise can exercise jurisdiction over nationals of non-Member States when they commit an article 5 crime on the territory of a Member State.

Continue reading at https://www.icc-cpi.int/CourtRecords/CR2020_01171.PDF