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.
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.”
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 issuedthreestatements in the first week alone.
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.
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.
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.
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.
ICJ calls upon States who have a position of influence with the Government of Israel – particularly the United States – to take all reasonable measures within their power to prevent genocide in Gaza, including by calling for a ceasefire, taking steps to ensure the lifting of the siege and preventing the displacement of Palestinians outside the Gaza Strip, and to discontinue any military assistance, including arms sales, that would enable or facilitate genocide, and other crimes under International law.
The ICJ urges other States to immediately act under article VIII of the Genocide Convention, by calling on the competent organs of the United Nations, including the UN Security Council, and particularly the UN General Assembly, to take urgent action under the UN Charter appropriate for the prevention and suppression of any acts of genocide in Gaza, including calling for an immediate ceasefire.
The ICJ also calls on UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, and the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC, to rapidly expand their investigations in relation to the situation in Palestine to include genocide.
“Many of us already raised the alarm about the risk of genocide in Gaza,” the experts said. “We are deeply disturbed by the failure of governments to heed our call and to achieve an immediate ceasefire. We are also profoundly concerned about the support of certain governments for Israel’s strategy of warfare against the besieged population of Gaza, and the failure of the international system to mobilise to prevent genocide,” they said.
…“The international community has an obligation to prevent atrocity crimes, including genocide, and should immediately consider all diplomatic, political and economic measures to that end,” the experts said. They urged immediate action by UN Member States and the UN system as a whole.
…“The international community, including not only States but also non-State actors such as businesses, must do everything it can to immediately end the risk of genocide against the Palestinian people, and ultimately end Israeli apartheid and occupation of the Palestinian territory,” the experts said.
On Monday, the plaintiffs, represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights with the law firm of Van Der Hout, LLP, sued Biden, Blinken, and Austin for their failure to prevent genocide. Now the plaintiffs are seeking a preliminary injunction that would halt U.S. support for Israel as it carries out its assault and siege on Gaza while the broader case is being decided. It is needed, they say, to protect them from “irreparable harm.” Some of the plaintiffs face a grave risk of death as a result of Israel’s war on Gaza, which U.S. officials are aiding. Collectively, at least 116 of the plaintiffs’ family members have already been killed in Gaza by Israel since October 8th.
“Our team has had to update more than once the numbers of our clients’ relatives who have been killed as we prepared this lawsuit and motion,” said Astha Sharma Pokharel, an attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights. “There is no starker illustration of how urgently this injunction is needed.”
“War crimes, crimes against humanity must be accounted for, but also must be prevented. Together with other Special Rapporteurs [I] have warned, already three weeks ago, against the risk that Israel might commit the crime of genocide against the Palestinian people, as genocide is the intentional targeting of a population based on racial, national, ethnic or religious lines, with intent to destroy, it in all or in part. And certainly the statements made by Israeli politicians and military unveil a genocidal intent to wipe out Gaza and its residents, and this should not be ignored.”
