Archiv: kollektive Bestrafung / Sippenhaft / collective punishment


22:16 [ United Nations ]

Report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories

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.

22:04 [ Common Dreams ]

As US Keeps Arms Flowing, UN Panel Says Israeli Assault on Gaza ‚Consistent With Genocide‘

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.“

08.11.2024 - 21:02 [ Association for Civil Rights in Israel ]

Deportation of Families of Terrorists: Questions and Answers – On the night of November 7, 2024 the Knesset approved the Deportation of Families of Terrorists Law, 5785-2024.

The Knesset held a series of discussions about the proposed law. Professionals representing government ministries and the Knesset‘s legal counsel stated clearly that this is unconstitutional legislation that cannot be implemented, and if it reaches judicial review it will be revoked. Knesset members from right-wing parties nonetheless decided to advance it, though they are well aware that it is a populist bill not worth the paper it is written on, in order to set the stage for a confrontation between the Knesset, professional groups, and the Supreme Court.

What are the problems with the law? This is not a law at all: it is a populist pamphlet, which, like many other things this terrible Knesset is doing, is intended to mark Arab citizens and residents as disloyal, whose presence is contingent on containment.

08.11.2024 - 20:12 [ Communist Party of Israel ]

Knesset Passes McCarthyistic Law Allowing Far-Right Government to Fire Teachers

The bill was attacked during the debate in the plenum by Hadash-Ta’al MK Ahmad Tibi, who retweeted a statement by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) arguing that its purpose was “to regulate the discourse in schools and to harm teachers whose statements and worldview do not coincide with those of the education minister and the political parties controlling the Education Ministry.”

“The purpose of the law is to threaten teachers and principals of Arab schools, to mark them and make them a target for surveillance and persecution,” the rights group stated, arguing that the tools already at its disposal before the current law were “adequate and sufficient.” “The law severely violates the rights to expression, employment and pedagogical autonomy of teachers and administrators,” it added. The teachers’ unions also opposed the bill.

02.11.2024 - 20:58 [ Communist Party of Israel ]

Knesset Advances Legislation to Disqualify Hadash and Arab Lawmakers

Among the acts that would be construed as support for terror would be visiting the family of an attack suspect.

According to the proposal sponsored by Likud MK Ofir Katz, a candidate can be banned by the Central Election Committee without needing the final approval of the High Court of Justice, as is currently required. The proposed law is at base to ban Hadash and Arab parties from participating in the election, as well as weaken the Supreme Court’s power to overturn the decision. Furthermore, since left-wing and Arab voters do not belong to the right-wing camp, blocking participation of Hadash and Arab parties will also benefit the current far-right governing coalition electorally and increase its chances to win the next election.

31.10.2024 - 12:12 [ Times of India / Youtube ]

Israel Parliament Fight: Ben-Gvir, Other Israeli Knesset Members Clash Over Deportation Bill

A Knesset committee session on a controversial bill that proposes deporting relatives of terrorists erupted into a heated altercation, involving shouting and personal insults. The session escalated after MK Ofer Cassif opposed the bill, leading to a tense exchange with National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who labeled Cassif a “terrorist.”

31.10.2024 - 12:05 [ Communist Party of Israel ]

Following Stormy Debate, Knesset Advances Bill to Expel Family Members of ‘Terrorists’

The bill would give authority to the interior minister, after holding an arraignment, to expel the family member “to the territory of the Gaza Strip, or a different expulsion destination, depending on the circumstances.” The expulsion would apply for seven to 15 years for an Israeli citizen and 10 to 20 years for a noncitizen. According to the bill, the Israel Police has “all of the authorities given to it by law, including the authority to enter any place, remove from it any person, and use reasonable force to do so.”

The debate before the vote was heated, as far-right MKs who supported the bill accused MK Ofer Cassif (Hadash), who opposed the bill, of being a “terrorism supporter.” At one point, Knesset ushers had to physically stand between Cassif and MK Almog Cohen (Otzma Yehudit) who brutally attacked the Communist lawmaker.

As Cassif entered the hearing, a woman told the Cassif that he should be “ashamed of his position,” and far-right lawmakers began shouting at Cassif, with National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir calling him a “terrorist.” As Cassif addressed the committee, which he called a “gathering of fascists,” lawmakers screamed at him to leave and called on chairman Ofir Katz (Likud) to have him removed from the room. “Lucky you didn’t bring your pager,” one MK quipped, referring to the mass attack attributed to Israel that saw thousands of Hezbollah pagers explode on the men carrying them.”

25.02.2024 - 00:20 [ Tablet Magazine ]

Gaza in the Minds of Israelis

(20.02.2024)

Since 2005, as Dotan Halevy, one of the anthology’s editors puts it in the introduction, a generation has grown up in Gaza “that knows nothing of Israel” (and in Israel, a generation that “knows nothing of Gaza”). Unfortunately, that generation of Israelis is now getting to know Gaza too well. During the Oct. 7 assault, hundreds or even thousands of the Strip’s civilians streamed into southern Israel. They plundered and, alongside the Hamas fighters, murdered and raped—while their faces shone with profound joy.

28.01.2024 - 17:17 [ Al Jazeera ]

UNRWA fund cuts by the West ‘collective punishment’ against Palestinians

UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said he was shocked such decisions were taken as “famine looms” in Gaza, which has been devastated by nearly four months of relentless Israeli bombardment that has killed more than 26,000 people.

The agency, with its 13,000 employees in Gaza, is the main organisation aiding Gaza’s population amid the humanitarian disaster. More than two million of the besieged enclave’s 2.3 million people depend on the UNRWA for “sheer survival”, including food and shelter, Lazzarini said, warning this lifeline can “collapse any time now”.

22.12.2023 - 18:26 [ Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) ]

GAZA STRIP: Hostilities leave the entire population highly food insecure and at risk of Famine

Between 24 November and 7 December, over 90 percent of the population in the Gaza Strip (about 2.08 million people) was estimated to face high levels of acute food insecurity, classified in IPC Phase 3 or above (Crisis or worse). Among these, over 40 percent of the population (939,000 people) were in Emergency (IPC Phase 4) and over 15 percent (378,000 people) were in Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5).

Between 8 December 2023 and 7 February 2024, the entire population in the Gaza Strip (about 2.2 million people) is classified in IPC Phase 3 or above (Crisis or worse). This is the highest share of people facing high levels of acute food insecurity that the IPC initiative has ever classified for any given area or country

22.12.2023 - 18:13 [ Associated Press ]

The UN says more than 1 in 4 people in Gaza are starving because of war

“It doesn’t get any worse,’’ said Arif Husain, chief economist for the U.N.’s World Food Program. “I have never seen something at the scale that is happening in Gaza. And at this speed.”

Israel says it is in the final stages of clearing out Hamas militants from northern Gaza, but that months of fighting lie ahead in the south.

20.12.2023 - 16:44 [ Human RIghts Watch ]

Israel: Starvation Used as Weapon of War in Gaza

International humanitarian law, or the laws of war, prohibits the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court provides that intentionally starving civilians by “depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including willfully impeding relief supplies” is a war crime. Criminal intent does not require the attacker’s admission but can also be inferred from the totality of the circumstances of the military campaign.

In addition, Israel’s continuing blockade of Gaza, as well as its more than 16-year closure, amounts to collective punishment of the civilian population, a war crime. As the occupying power in Gaza under the Fourth Geneva Convention, Israel has the duty to ensure that the civilian population gets food and medical supplies.

20.12.2023 - 16:38 [ New York Times ]

Human Rights Watch says Israel is using starvation as a weapon in Gaza.

The group said Israel’s actions could constitute a war crime.

It cited statements by senior Israeli leaders to support its claim that depriving Gazans of necessities was a policy implemented by the country’s armed forces.

20.12.2023 - 16:31 [ Communist Party of Israel ]

Human Rights Watch: Israel Starving Gaza Civilians as a Method of Warfare

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Monday accused Israel of intentionally starving the civilian population in the Gaza Strip, citing comments from high-ranking officials and interviews with displaced Palestinian people. According HRW using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, goes against international humanitarian law and constitutes collective punishment. The group charged that as the occupying power in Gaza, Israel is responsible for the population getting food and medical supplies.

28.11.2023 - 06:45 [ Mario Nawfal / Twitter ]

JUST IN: GRANDMOTHER ISRAELI PRISONER RELEASED

Itaf Jaradat, a grandmother of 21 children, turned 51 years old today.

She was a prisoner as part of Israel‘s collective punishment policy after her son attacked Israeli soldiers.

For the same reason, both of her sons were kidnapped, and two houses belonging to the family were demolished by Israel‘s army.