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

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

Gaza/Palestine: States have a Duty to Prevent Genocide by International Commission of Jurists

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.

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. 

Continue reading at https://www.icj.org/gaza-occupied-palestinian-territory-states-have-a-duty-to-prevent-genocide/