“Whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas,” the POTUS said shortly after the international tribunal issued the arrest warrants against the Israeli leaders on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security,” he added. Earlier today, the White House released a separate statement over the matter in which they outrightly rejected that court’s ruling.
(November 21, 2024)
The ICC issuance of arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous. Let me be clear once again: whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.
(November 22, 2024)
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants on Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister and a Hamas military leader, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The announcement came as health officials in the Gaza Strip said the death toll from the 13-month-old war between Israel and Hamas has surpassed 44,000.
Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip have killed at least 120 Palestinians over the last 48 hours and hit a hospital on the northern edge of the enclave, wounding medical staff and damaging equipment, Palestinian medics said on Saturday.
Among the dead were seven members of one family whose house was hit overnight in the Zeitoun suburb of Gaza City, the health officials said. The rest were killed in separate Israeli strikes in central and southern Gaza.
The Palestinian death toll from the ongoing Israeli attacks in Gaza has risen to 43,985, with 104,092 injured, Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement released on Wednesday.
In the past 24 hours, Israeli military operations in Gaza killed 13 and wounded 85 people, the statement said.
„There should be more in the dock, in my view. And it‘s taking ages. This is because the political pressure on the international justice system is extreme.
„And we see pressure on the prosecutor, pressure on the judges. Israel is trying to obstruct it by moving exceptions against the independence of the judges. And the US is making pressure through open threats,“ she added.
According to Albanese, the failure to issue arrest warrants is putting international justice on the edge.
„We might lose what we have, what we have built. Multilateralism is on the edge, and international law is on a knife‘s edge.
„It‘s about us, all of us students, doctors, professors, journalists, ordinary people in the street to protect it if our elected government officials don‘t do that.“
In this episode of One on One, journalist and news editor Sondos Asem is sitting down with Francesca Albanese, an outspoken international human rights lawyer and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967. She is the 8th person to hold that role, and the first woman.
She is a self-described “reluctant chronicler of Genocide”, as she has been one of the most vocal critics of Israel’s onslaught on Gaza since 7 October. Within the past year, she has submitted two reports to the UN human rights council, where she outlined her legal opinion on why the attacks on the Palestinian population constitute genocide.
Middle East Eye spoke to her on 13 November, during her visit to London, where she was invited to speak at several university campuses.
Der Text war von allen zehn nicht ständigen Mitgliedern des mächtigsten Gremiums der Vereinten Nationen eingereicht worden. Nach wochenlangen Verhandlungen und Änderungen auf Wunsch des Israel-Verbündeten USA blieb am Ende Uneinigkeit vor allem über eine Formulierung: Im Entwurf hieß es, der Sicherheitsrat „verlangt eine sofortige, bedingungslose und dauerhafte Waffenruhe, die von allen Parteien zu respektieren ist; bekräftigt ferner seine Forderung nach der sofortigen und bedingungslosen Freilassung aller Geiseln“.
Unlike several previous resolutions regarding a ceasefire in Gaza, Wednesday‘s measure was brought forward by all 10 elected members of the Security Council.
The veto was the fourth time the United States blocked an effort by the Council to demand a cease-fire since the war began over a year ago when Hamas attacked Israel and took more than 200 people hostage. In the months since, more than 40,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the local health authorities.
(August 28, 2024)
Saleh Hijazi, a BNC adviser on apartheid-free policy, said he expected calls for Israel’s suspension to intensify next month with the opening of the 79th session of the General Assembly. UNGA, as it is known, begins on Sept. 10.
(The Palestinian delegation at the UN said on Aug. 22 that it was also planning to soon initiate an “actionable resolution” in the General Assembly, “demanding within a time frame the end of this illegal occupation and all other issues contained” in the ICJ advisory opinion.)
(October 15, 2024)
One rogue nation cannot declare war on the UN itself and continue to get away with it
Gaza‘s health ministry said that 13 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks on the besieged enclave in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 43,985 since 7 October.
Additionally, 104,092 people have been wounded since the start of the war.
(September 27, 2024)
The day is dark, the forces arrayed are tenacious, but as the late Nation editorial board member Toni Morrison wrote “No! This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”
I urge you to stand with The Nation and donate today.
Onwards,
Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation
(November 16, 2024)
“Secretary Blinken has continued to lie to Congress and should resign,” she said. “U.S. law is very clear. No nation blocking U.S. humanitarian assistance can receive U.S. weapons. The Biden administration cannot pick and choose when they comply with our own laws.”
“Children are forced to eat pet food and bug infested flour,” she went on. “But Blinken says there is no need to change our own policy. Shameful.”
The Gaza Health Ministry said the death toll in the Strip has now reached 43,922.
It added that at least 103,898 are injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October attacks.ztrze7i567uetzjha
Palestinian Territory –Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor documented dozens of deliberate killings and new field executions carried out by Israeli occupation forces against numerous civilians in northern Gaza.
These actions are part of the ongoing escalation and the broader framework of genocide perpetrated against Palestinians for over 13 months.
The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip reported on Monday that Israeli occupation forces committed four massacres over the past 24 hours, resulting in 76 deaths and 158 injuries.
The casualties have been brought to hospitals, though many victims remain trapped under rubble or on roads, with ambulance and civil defense teams unable to reach them due to the ongoing aggression.
(October 15, 2024)
One rogue nation cannot declare war on the UN itself and continue to get away with it
An Israeli air strike on a multi-storey residential building in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza, left dozens of Palestinians killed and wounded on Sunday morning.
The government media office in Gaza put the number of those killed at 72. It said the strike hit a residential building that housed members of six families.
Earlier on Sunday, an Israeli air strike killed at least 10 people in al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, when a missile hit a house, medics said.
Paris, 12 March 2024. Respect for human rights is an essential element of the EU’s association agreements with partner countries. Article 2 states that „relations between the Parties, as well as all the provisions of the Agreement itself, shall be based on respect for human rights and democratic principles, which guides their internal and international policy and constitutes an essential element of this Agreement“. Violation of the so-called „essential elements“ clauses allows the EU to denounce or suspend the agreements in whole or in part under Article 60 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. In the light of the deaths and suffering endured by the Palestinian people, the European Union has the duty and the means to act to prevent Israel’s crimes in Gaza and to reduce the extent of human suffering.
)November 14, 2024)
The United Nations special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories has accused British Foreign Secretary David Lammy of being a „genocide denier“ and said the UK has done „nothing“ to prevent atrocities in Gaza.
In an interview with Middle East Eye in London on Wednesday, Francesca Albanese took aim at Lammy in response to comments he made in late October denying that Israel is committing genocide.
„I hadn‘t realised that Mr Lammy was a lawyer,“ she said, referring to Lammy‘s legal background.
„As a politician, you might say that for political convenience,“ she suggested, adding that would still make someone „a genocide denier“.
Gaza‘s health ministry said that 28 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks on the enclave in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 43,764 since 7 October, 2023.
Additionally, 103,490 people have been wounded since the start of the war.
Lammy recently alleged that the term genocide referred to “when millions of people lost their lives in crises like Rwanda, the Second World War in the Holocaust” and that using it to describe Gaza “now undermines (its) seriousness”.
(…)
“Will the Prime Minister share (Lammy’s) definition of genocide with this House?” the lawmaker asked Starmer.
The prime minister answered by saying that “it would be wise to start a question like that by reference to what happened in October of last year”.
“I’m well aware of the definition of genocide, and that is why I’ve never described this as and referred to it as genocide,” he added.
(August 12, 2024)
The bureau said in a statement that Israel’s war on Gaza has killed more than 39,000 Palestinians. “This constitutes around 1.8 percent of the total population in the territory,” PCBS said.
According to the data, approximately 24 percent of those killed by Israel in Gaza are youths.
The present report contains information regarding the efforts of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories to implement its mandate and documents human rights concerns in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the occupied Syrian Golan from October 2023 to July 2024. The Special Committee was not able to conduct visits to the occupied territories, but did conduct its annual consultations in Geneva and undertook a visit to Amman, and met with government officials, United Nations organizations and mechanisms, representatives of civil society organizations, youth representatives, human rights defenders, and Palestinian families.
The report raises serious concerns of breaches of international humanitarian and human rights laws in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including starvation as a weapon of war, the possibility of genocide in Gaza and an apartheid system in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. It documents the impact of the conflict escalation since 7 October 2023 on Palestinians’ rights to food; to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment; to physical integrity, liberty and security of persons; as well as the disproportionate effects on the rights of women, children, and future generations more broadly. The report also highlights the ongoing attacks against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and refers to developments in the occupied Syrian Golan. The report provides recommendations to the General Assembly and Member States; to the State of Israel; and to businesses operating with Israel, that in any way contribute to maintaining Israel’s unlawful presence in the occupied territories.
(…)
IX. Conclusions
69. The developments in this report lead the Special Committee to conclude that the policies and practices of Israel during the reporting period are consistent with the characteristics of genocide. The targeting of Palestinians as a group; the life-threatening conditions imposed on Palestinians in Gaza through warfare and restrictions on humanitarian aid – resulting in physical destruction, increased miscarriages and stillbirths – and the killing of and serious bodily or mental harm caused to Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are violations under international law. Civilians have been indiscriminately and disproportionally killed en masse in Gaza, while in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Israeli colonial settlers, military and security personnel have continued to violate human rights and humanitarian law with impunity. Senior Israeli government and military officials must be held accountable, including for using dehumanizing language and inciting violence.
Less than 48 hours after the Biden administration said it does not believe Israel is unlawfully obstructing humanitarian assistance in Gaza, a United Nations special committee issued a report Thursday arguing that the Israeli military‘s actions in the Palestinian enclave bear „the characteristics of genocide.“
(November 12, 2024)
Last month, the Biden administration—which has approved tens of billions of dollars in military aid for Israel and provided nearly unconditional diplomatic support since October 2023—sent a letter to the Israeli government threatening to cut off U.S. arms transfers if it failed to take „urgent and sustained actions“ to improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza within 30 days.
Asked during a Tuesday press conference if the Israeli government has met the letter‘s demands, State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said that „we have not made an assessment that they are in violation of U.S. law.“
To All Governments
– Publicly condemn Israel’s forced displacement of the civilian population in Gaza as a war crime and crime against humanity, as well as other violations of international humanitarian law, international human rights law, and international criminal law by Israeli authorities, and urge them to immediately halt those crimes and cooperate with international judicial bodies and investigative mechanisms.
– Increase public and private pressure on the Israeli government to stop violating international humanitarian law in the conduct of hostilities, to fully comply with its obligations and the binding orders and advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice, and to ensure the entry and safe distribution throughout Gaza of adequate aid and provision of basic services. Consider, in that regard, the review and possible suspension of bilateral agreements with Israel, such as the EU-Israel Association Agreement, as proposed by the governments of Spain and Ireland, and the US-Israel Free Trade Agreement.
– Suspend military assistance and arms sales to Israel so long as its forces commit violations of international humanitarian law with impunity.
– Enforce domestic legislation limiting the transfer of arms and military assistance for violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.
– Publicly support the International Criminal Court, uphold the court’s independence, and publicly condemn efforts to intimidate or interfere with its work, officials, and those cooperating with the institution.
– Urge the Government of Israel to grant access to independent, international monitors, including from the UN Special Procedures.
– Impose targeted sanctions, including travel bans and asset freezes, against Israeli officials credibly implicated in ongoing serious violations, for the purpose of ending these violations.
– Address long-standing impunity by Israeli authorities and Palestinian armed groups for serious crimes under international law, and support reparations for all victims of gross human rights abuses.
– Support the creation of a register of damages, caused by unlawful Israeli action to persons in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, for the purposes of calculating reparations.
(…)
To the Prosecutor of the International Crimin19al Court
– Investigate Israeli authorities’ forced displacement and prevention of the right to return as a crime against humanity.
Israel has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, including pursuing a deliberate policy of forcibly displacing people and denying them the right to return home, according to a Human Rights Watch report released Thursday. The report also labelled the likely permanent dispossession of Gazans in areas cleared by Israel to serve as buffer zones and security corridors as “ethnic cleansing”.
Palestinian Health Ministry stated the Israeli enemy has perpetrated three massacres over the past 24 hours in Gaza strip, claiming lives of 24 Palestinians and injuring 112 others.
“Number of victims from the continuous Israeli aggression for the 405th consecutive day has risen to 43,736 martyrs, and 103,360 wounded.” the Ministry said in a statement on Thursday adding that there are numbers of bodies are still stuck under the rubble where Occupation forces prevent the ambulance and civil staff from reaching them.
Israeli forces have killed at least 47 Palestinians and wounded 182 in the last 24 hours across Gaza, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
This brings the death toll in the besieged enclave since 7 October 2023 to 43,712, with more than 103,258 wounded. At least 10,000 people are still missing, likely dead and buried under rubble.
At least 103,076 Palestinians have been wounded since the war began, the ministry added.
A total of 62 Palestinians were killed and 147 wounded over the past 24 hours.
The Palestinian health ministry is reporting that at least 43,603 Palestinians have been killed and another 102,929 wounded in Gaza by Israeli forces since 7 October 2023.
It added that the latest figure includes 51 Palestinians who were killed and 164 who were wounded in the last 24 hours.
The Palestinian health ministry is reporting that at least 43,603 Palestinians have been killed and another 102,929 wounded in Gaza by Israeli forces since 7 October 2023.
It added that the latest figure includes 51 Palestinians who were killed and 164 who were wounded in the last 24 hours.
I have three urgent requests to prevent this devastating outcome:
First, I ask that Member States act to prevent the implementation of the legislation against UNRWA.
Changes to UNRWA’s mandate are the prerogative of the General Assembly, not individual Member States.
Second, I ask that Member States ensure that any plan for a political transition delineates UNRWA’s role.
The Agency must progressively conclude its mandate within the framework of a political solution, and hand over its services to an empowered Palestinian administration.
Finally, I ask that Member States maintain funding to UNRWA, and do not withhold or divert funds on the assumption that the Agency can no longer operate.
The cost of providing critical services, including education and healthcare, during a transition will be immense.
I must also alert Member States that abruptly dismantling the Agency will cost more than half a billion dollars in staff separation indemnities alone.
(November 6, 2024)
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini addressed the UN General Assembly, describing a critical moment for the agency as new Israeli legislation threatens its operations. Lazzarini urged member states to oppose the legislation, support UNRWA’s continued operation, and ensure sustained funding to prevent a humanitarian disaster.
(November 7, 2024)
“Without intervention by member states, UNRWA will collapse, plunging millions of Palestinians into chaos,” Philippe Lazzarini warned during a special session requested by Palestine after the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, passed on Monday two laws to ban the agency’s activity and any Israeli official’s contacts with it within three months.