Daily Archives: 13. Februar 2024


13.02.2024 - 20:10 [ International Court of Justice (ICJ) ]

APPLICATION OF THE CONVENTION ON THE PREVENTION AND PUNISHMENT OF THE CRIME OF GENOCIDE IN THE GAZA STRIP (SOUTH AFRICA V. ISRAEL) – URGENT REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL MEASURES UNDER ARTICLE 75(1) OF THE RULES OF COURT OF THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE

9. In LaGrand, the Court exercised its Article 75(1) power in a situation of extreme urgency affecting one individual. Here there is a situation of extreme urgency affecting an estimated 1.4 million vulnerable Palestinians in Rafah, at least half of them children. They are at serious risk of irreparable harm to their right to be protected from acts of genocide contrary to Articles II and II of the Genocide
Convention, by a State which has already been found by this Court to be acting in plausible breach of its obligations under that Convention.

10. South Africa thus respectfully calls upon the Court to consider as a matter of the greatest urgency whether the developing circumstances in Rafah require that it exercise its power under Article 75(1) of the Rules of Court to prevent further imminent breach of the rights of Palestinians in Gaza. South Africa also reserves its own rights to take further action in respect of the situation.

11. I have the honour to assure the Court of my highest esteem and consideration.

13.02.2024 - 20:06 [ Associated Press ]

South Africa asks UN court to urgently examine Israel’s targeting of Rafah in ongoing genocide case

South Africa said it asked the court to weigh whether Israel’s strikes on Rafah, and its intention to launch a ground offensive on the city where 1.4 million Palestinians have sought shelter, breaches both the U.N. Genocide Convention and preliminary orders handed down by the court last month in a case accusing Israel of genocide.

13.02.2024 - 19:55 [ Middle East Eye ]

South Africa calls on ICJ to make decision on Rafah offensive

South Africa has made an urgent request to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to consider whether Israel‘s decision to extend its military operations in Rafah requires that the court use its power to prevent further breach of the rights of Palestinians in Gaza, South Africa‘s presidency said on Tuesday.

13.02.2024 - 19:27 [ Karim A. A. Khan KC, The Prosecutor, International Criminal Court ]

I am deeply concerned by the reported bombardment and potential ground incursion by Israeli forces in Rafah. My Office has an ongoing and active investigation into the situation in the State of Palestine.

This is being taken forward as a matter of the utmost urgency, with a view to bringing to justice those responsible for Rome Statute crimes.

All wars have rules and the laws applicable to armed conflict cannot be interpreted so as to render them hollow or devoid of meaning. This has been my consistent message, including from Ramallah last year. Since that time, I have not seen any discernible change in conduct by Israel. As I have repeatedly emphasised, those who do not comply with the law should not complain later when my Office takes action pursuant to its mandate.

To all those involved: my Office is actively investigating any crimes allegedly committed. Those who are in breach of the law will be held accountable.

I also continue to call for the immediate release of all hostages. This also represents an important focus of our investigations.

13.02.2024 - 19:20 [ Bernie Sanders, U.S. Senator for Vermont / Twitter ]

No one in Congress should vote to send $10 billion in military aid to Netanyahu’s war machine when they are responsible for an unprecedented humanitarian disaster.

13.02.2024 - 19:10 [ Senator Jeff Merkley ]

Merkley: Netanyahu’s War Campaign Fails to Reflect American Values

“Here is the challenge: On the one hand, I strongly support aid to Ukraine. We need to sustain the supply of ammunition and weapons the Ukrainians need to stop the Russians. We must find a way to get this done.

“On the other hand, I strongly oppose sending more offensive military aid to Israel at a time when they are using American weapons in what President Biden has called an ‘indiscriminate’ campaign of bombing. I supported Israel going after Hamas following the horrific attack on October 7th. But the indiscriminate bombing and shelling that have killed 28,000 Palestinians and more than 18,000 women and children is unacceptable. Hamas is Israel’s enemy. Palestinian civilians are not the enemy.

“President Biden has repeatedly and urgently called on Prime Minister Netanyahu to adopt a much more targeted campaign against Hamas. Netanyahu has refused. President Biden has repeatedly and urgently called on Netanyahu to provide the dramatically expanded supply of food, water, medicine, and shelter needed to address the catastrophic humanitarian conditions generated by Israel’s campaign. Netanyahu has refused.

“The campaign conducted by the Netanyahu government is at odds with our American values and American law, which requires recipients of American assistance to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid. While I have supported military aid to Israel in the past, and continue to support aid for defensive systems like Iron Dome and David’s Sling, I cannot vote to send more bombs and shells to Israel when they are using them in an indiscriminate manner against Palestinian civilians.

13.02.2024 - 19:02 [ Senator Peter Welch / Twitter ]

Prime Minister Netanyahu‘s military campaign has killed and wounded a shocking number of civilians, and created a massive humanitarian crisis. I cannot in good conscience support sending more taxpayer dollars to support his continued bombardment of Gaza.

13.02.2024 - 18:52 [ IfNotNow / Twitter ]

The Senate just passed a package sending $14 billion in weapons funding to Israel and ending funding to UNRWA. Only three members of the Democratic caucus voted NO — @SenSanders, @SenJeffMerkley, and @SenPeterWelch.

Anyone who voted Yes is complicit in Israel‘s assault on Gaza.

13.02.2024 - 18:21 [ Euro-Med Human Rights Monitot ]

“They brought Israeli civilians to watch our nude torture”: IDF torture of Palestinian prisoners is turned into entertainment for Israeli viewers

Palestinian Omar Abu Mudallala, 43, told the Euro-Med Monitor team: “I was arrested at the checkpoint set up near the Kuwait roundabout, which separates Gaza City from the central region, as part of the Israeli random arrest campaigns. I was subjected to all types of torture and abuse for approximately 52 days,” pointing out that Israeli soldiers “brought Israeli civilians to watch our nude torture.”

Abu Mudallala added: “The Israeli army brought a number of Israeli civilians into our detention centres while beating us and telling them, ‘These are Hamas terrorists who killed you and raped your women on 7 October,’ while the Israeli civilians were filming us being beaten, abused, and tortured while making fun of us.”

„This happened five times while I was being held. The first time was in Barkasat Zikim, where we were blindfolded. However, one of the detainees who speaks Hebrew told us that the soldiers were interacting with Israeli civilians claiming that we were armed fighters. The other four incidents took place in the Negev detention facility, where successive Israeli groups were taken inside tents to witness our abuse and record the torture methods we were subjected to without allowing us to speak or interact with them. Since we were not wearing blindfolds at the time, I saw them all four times with my own eyes.“

13.02.2024 - 17:40 [ NDTV.com ]

France Says 42 People Evacuated From Gaza

France on Monday evacuated 42 people from Gaza including French nationals and staff of the French cultural institute, the foreign ministry said.

„After a request from France, 42 people today left the Gaza Strip through the Rafa border crossing,“ the ministry said in a statement. It added that more than 200 people have now left the stricken territory following official French requests.

13.02.2024 - 17:25 [ Middle East Eye / Twitter ]

RECAP: #Israel #Palestine (as of 13:00 GMT 13 February) 1. Death toll in Gaza climbs to 28,473

(……………………….)

13.02.2024 - 17:14 [ Heidi Bachram / Twitter ]

The women who put images of paragliders on themselves during pro-Palestinian protests were defended in court by an ex-Guardian journalist. Apparently they were just cultural references to freedom. How stupid do they think we are?

13.02.2024 - 17:10 [ Wikipedia ]

The Parachute Paradox

In the newspaper Al Khaleej, the novelist, poet, and critic Mohammed Al-Assad wrote of The Parachute Paradox:

What is identity? Is it assigned through words? Are they the labels we are born into and continue on living under in their shadows? The current Palestinian answer was proposed by the experiences of Edward Said who said that identity has a fluid nature––it does not settle, or rather it should not settle. He described it as whatever the person wants it to be, subject to constant change. But Steve adds new meaning in his book, derived from his life in exiled Jerusalem, and then in exile in London and Berlin, where he now lives. His multiplicitous identity arose from where he was born amongst standardized labels, from family, to community and the wider homeland. Steve doesn‘t state that he is with the case of his nation, exposed to all kinds of uprooting from the self and the land. This is a given, unarguable. But, and this is more important, he is for justice—in any time and any place. Here, the artist rises to an identity that he starts to embroider with threads of what he sees, knows and learns

13.02.2024 - 17:06 [ Gibiru.com ]

„the met‘s acting detective sergeant michael beskine admitted his team had not done any research into possible alternative meanings for the images – instead accepting the interpretation of a social media account called harry‘s place, which first posted photos of the women.“

(search results)

13.02.2024 - 17:04 [ Darren Grimes / Twitter ]

Three women who displayed images of paragliders during a protest in central London have been found guilty of supporting a proscribed terrorist organisation.

Paragliders were used by Hamas to breach the Gaza/Israel border during the terror attacks on 7 October where a large number of civilians were killed, and others were taken hostage.