Tag: Center for Constitutional Rights

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UK joining Israel in celebrations is shameful by Tariq A. Al Maeena

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Last Thursday, the UK Prime Minister Theresa May was doling out compliment after another to the Israeli delegation attending the event to mark the one hundredth anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, a move that displaced Palestinians from their own lands and made way for European Jews to occupy Arab lands. Speaking at a dinner function, May said that Britain is ‘proud of our pioneering role in the creation of the state of Israel’ adding that she was proud ‘of the relationship we have built with Israel.’

… More than 3,500 civilians had lost their lives, a sizeable portion of whom were women and children. Some 17,000 Gazans were injured and more than 100,000 left homeless. Michael Ratner of the Centre for Constitutional Rights aptly termed Israel’s planned ethnic cleansing and massacres of Palestinians “incremental genocide.” And their retribution for the crime against them? The perpetrators of the genocide get felicitated at a dinner reception hosted by no less than the UK prime minister in recognition of their fine efforts, while their victims slide into anonymity.

 

Continue reading at http://gulfnews.com/opinion/thinkers/uk-joining-israel-in-celebrations-is-shameful-1.2118528

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Israel, Palestine, and the Poetics of Genocide by Mark LeVine and Eric Cheyfitz on Jadaliyya

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For these reasons, we feel it is important to raise awareness about the expanding scholarly understanding of genocide precisely because such discussions can and should ultimately lead to similar discussions in the relevant international tribunals. The idea of establishing a scale of genocidal behavior (not to be confused with incitement, conspiracy, or intent to commit genocide) that would include the experiences of groups such as West Papuans and Palestinians, and in the process also reintegrate concepts like cultural and political genocide (originally termed “politicide”) into the matrix of legal meanings is worthy of study by scholars and advocates. Such an approach would seem to make room for the concepts of incipient (Shaw), incremental (Pappé), or slow motion (Anderson) genocides discussed here to become part of the legal discussion as the term evolves.

However, in the current legal environment, we believe it would be very difficult to prove that the Israeli government has intended or conspired to commit genocide during the occupation (whether incremental or concentrated). (Others have reached the opposite conclusion, including, most recently, an analysis published by the Center for Constitutional Rights titled “The Genocide of the Palestinian People: An International Law and Human Rights Perspective.”)

Continue reading at http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/26480/israel-palestine-and-the-poetics-of-genocide

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Rwandan President Calls Israel an ‘Inspiration’ for Overcoming Genocide at AIPAC Conference by Nisreen Eadeh

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Undoubtedly, Israeli Jews and Rwandans both share national tragedy, but Palestinians do, too. In 1948, more than 700,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced from their homes, and today more than 6.5 million Palestinians live as refugees.

In technical terms, Palestinians have also suffered genocide at the hands of Israel – a history that President Kagame seems to be neglecting intentionally.

According to the Center for Constitutional Rights, “Genocide can be applied to the destruction of a people or a national group as a viable group, and that can be both with their being driven from a land or the rendering of their language no longer legal, or just the destruction of their national identity.”

Continue reading at http://www.arabamerica.com/rwandan-president-calls-israel-inspiration-overcoming-genocide/

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#BlackLivesMatter and the Question of Genocide in Palestine by Katherine Franke

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Zionist critics of the Platform portrayed the use of the term “genocide” as somehow out of bounds, leaving the impression that M4BL had crossed a line in raising concerns about the human rights record of the state of Israel in such harsh terms. They labeled the Platform and its supporters anti-Semitic on account of the supposedly jaw-dropping audacity of the Platform’s authors to use the “g” word with respect to Israel. The intensity of the outrage directed at the M4BL Platform’s assertion that the treatment of Palestinians by Israel could be described as “a genocide” leaves the impression that this kind of charge had never been leveled before, or that no reasonable person (and thus only an anti-Semite) could frame Israel’s policies this way.

Continue reading at http://nakbafiles.org/2016/11/01/blacklivesmatter-and-the-question-of-genocide-in-palestine/

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Attorneys Level Charges Of Genocide As Israel’s Impunity Continues by Joe Catron

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Katherine Franke, director of Columbia Law School’s Center for Gender and Sexuality Law, faculty director of its Public Rights/Private Conscience Project, and chair of CCR’s board of directors, was the primary author of the legal analysis.

The document applies the convention to not only Israel’s repeated military operations against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, but also Israel’s protracted occupation of Gaza and the West Bank (the effects of which it calls “incremental genocide”), Israel’s expulsion and killing of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians during its founding in 1948, and racist incitement against Palestinians by Israeli government officials.

“Persons that can be prosecuted for genocide include ‘constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials and private individuals,’ and according to the terms of the Genocide Convention they can be tried by the International Criminal Court, other international tribunals (such as the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda for Yugoslavia), [or] any court in the country or territory of which the act was committed,” Franke said.

“The crime of genocide is also understood according to customary international law to create universal jurisdiction, meaning that cases can be filed anywhere in the world, and are not limited to the territory where the conduct took place.”

While avoiding direct accusations, the briefing concludes that charges of genocide against Israel are hardly new in international legal circles:

“Prominent human rights advocates and scholars have argued that the killings of Palestinians and their forceful expulsion from mandate Palestine in 1948, the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza, and the violence and discrimination directed at Palestinians by the Israeli government have violated a number of human rights protections contained in international human rights law, genocide being among them.”

Continue reading at https://www.mintpressnews.com/attorneys-level-charges-genocide-israels-impunity-continues/220299/

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Why Israel’s actions can be called genocide by Nora Barrows-Friedman

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Israel lobby groups recently reacted with outrage against the Movement for Black Lives policy platform which refers to US complicity in Israel’s “genocide” and “apartheid” against the Palestinian people.

Despite the outrage of many pro-Israel groups, there is a long history of human rights scholarship and legal analysis that supports the assertion Israel is committing genocide, according to a statement from the Center for Constitutional Rights. “As human rights lawyers, [we felt] it might be appropriate to just clarify the record that this was nothing new – that the term genocide had been applied by human rights activists, lawyers, scholars both inside law and inside other disciplines for many, many years.”

Listen to the full interview at https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/why-israels-actions-can-be-called-genocide

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The Genocide of the Palestinian People: An International Law and Human Rights Perspective by Center for Constitutional 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.

While there has been recent criticism of those taking the position that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians, there is a long history of human rights scholarship and legal analysis that supports the assertion. Prominent scholars of the international law crime of genocide and human rights authorities take the position that Israel’s policies toward the Palestinian people could constitute a form of genocide. Those policies range from the 1948 mass killing and displacement of Palestinians to a half-century of military occupation and, correspondingly, the discriminatory legal regime governing Palestinians, repeated military assaults on Gaza, and official Israeli statements expressly favoring the elimination of Palestinians.

Continue reading at https://ccrjustice.org/genocide-palestinian-people-international-law-and-human-rights-perspective

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Black activists slam Israel lobby attack on Movement for Black Lives by Rania Khalek

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In a section titled “Invest/Divest,” the MBL platform accuses the US of complicity “in the genocide taking place against the Palestinian people,” refers to Israel as “an apartheid state” and calls for ending US military and financial aid to Israel, arguing that it “diverts much needed funding from domestic education and social programs” in the US.

The backlash from pro-Israel groups and media outlets was swift, with the most scathing coming from the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) in Boston, a member of a national network of communal organizations that lobby for Israel, including by supporting anti-BDS laws in state legislatures around the country… “JCRC cannot and will not align ourselves with organizations that falsely and maliciously assert that Israel is committing ‘genocide,’” the group said in a statement published two days after the MBL platform’s release.

… Such dismissiveness and condescension ignores the growing chorus of scholars, including University of Exeter historian Ilan Pappe and the late Michael Ratner, long-time president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, who have argued that Israel’s conduct towards Palestinians since 1948 constitutes a systematic process of “incremental genocide” as defined by international law.

Continue reading at https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/rania-khalek/black-activists-slam-israel-lobby-attack-movement-black-lives

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ILPS: US and Israel officials guilty of war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity

As demanded by the peoples and all justice and peace-loving forces, the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) calls for the prosecution before the International Criminal Court of Israeli officials and military commanders for committing war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity, and US leaders for aiding, abetting, and assisting in the commission of these crimes during the murderous rampage of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in their 50-day military aggression on Gaza codenamed Operation Protective Edge… US officials have aided, abetted and assisted the commission by Israel of war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity by providing the latter with the military means to commit these crimes…

The ILPS supports the action taken by the US’ National Lawyers Guild (NLG), Center for Constitutional Rights, International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL), Arab Lawyers Union, and American Association of Jurists in urging Fatou Bensouda, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), to initiate an investigation of war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity committed by Israeli leaders, and aided and abetted by US officials in Gaza.

Continue reading at http://ilps.info/index.php/en/office-of-the-chairperson/statements-and-calls-to-action/764-us-and-israel-officials-guilty-of-war-crimes-genocide-crimes-against-humanity

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Lawsuit accusing Israel of genocide to be filed in Argentina

“An Argentine lawyer said he will file a lawsuit in federal court in Buenos Aires accusing Israel of crimes against humanity and genocide… the suit will be filed in the coming days in response to Israel’s 50-day operation in Gaza this summer. The suit is in conjunction with the American Association of Jurists… The suit singles out specific Israeli leaders as being responsible both directly and non-directly for the alleged crimes, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz and Likud MK Moshe Feiglin.”

Continue reading at http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.616341

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