German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will travel to Israel on December 6 and 7 for his first official visit since taking office, a German government spokesperson said on Friday.
Archiv: Trial against Israeli government before World Court (ICJ) on charges of genocide in Palestine / order on 26-01-2024 and 28-03-2024 / decision postponed until 2027
Germany: Resumption of arms transfers to Israel reckless, unlawful and risks complicity in Israel’s international crimes
(November 24, 2025)
“Germany’s decision to lift its partial suspension of weapons shipments to Israel is reckless, unlawful and sends entirely the wrong message to Israel: that it can continue committing genocide, war crimes, and apartheid against Palestinians and unlawfully occupy the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza without fear of consequence.
“Germany is one of Israel’s major arms suppliers. The partial and long overdue suspension of arms transfers by Germany was one of the few forms of meaningful pressure applied by the international community to Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
“Now is absolutely not the time to ease this pressure. On the contrary, this is the time to ensure that Israel stops its violations of international law, including its unlawful occupation as indicated by the International Court of Justice in July 2024 and agreed by the UN General Assembly. Regrettably, with this move, Germany is going down a dangerous path that must be immediately reversed and must not be followed by other states.
Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza continues unabated despite ceasefire
In December 2024 Amnesty International issued an extensive study concluding that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza arguing that Israel had carried out three acts prohibited under the Genocide Convention, with the specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza, including killings, causing serious bodily or mental harm, and deliberately inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction.
Today despite a reduction in scale of attacks, and some limited improvements, there has been no meaningful change in the conditions Israel is inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza and no evidence to indicate that Israel’s intent has changed.
“Israel has inflicted devastating harm on Palestinians in Gaza through its genocide, including two years of relentless bombardment and deliberate systematic starvation. So far, there is no indication that Israel is taking serious measures to reverse the deadly impact of its crimes and no evidence that its intent has changed. In fact, Israeli authorities are continuing their ruthless policies, restricting access to vital humanitarian aid and essential services, and deliberately imposing conditions calculated to physically destroy Palestinians in Gaza,” said Agnès Callamard.
At least 347people, including 136 children, have been killed in Israeli attacks since the ceasefire was announced on 9 October. Israel continues to restrict access to critical aid and relief supplies, including medical supplies and equipment necessary to repair life-sustaining infrastructure, violating multiple orders from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for Israel to ensure that Palestinians have access to humanitarian supplies, in the case brought by South Africa to prevent Israel’s genocide. In January 2024, the ICJ found that Palestinians’ rights under the Genocide Convention, namely their survival were plausibly at risk.
The objective probability that the current conditions would lead to the destruction of Palestinians in Gaza persists, particularly considering the enhanced vulnerability of the population to sickness and spread of disease following months of famine caused by years of unlawful blockade and months of total siege earlier this year. This has created circumstances that would lead to a slow death of Palestinians resulting from the lack of proper food, water, shelter, clothing or sanitation.
Israel‘s genocide in Gaza continues as Palestinians face ‚slow death‘, Amnesty says
Ceasefire violations by Israel, no housing, destroyed farmland and ongoing sea blockade are intended to destroy Palestinians in Gaza, report says
A/80/4922 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Francesca Albanese – Gaza Genocide: a collective crime
(October 20, 2025)
Summary
The ongoing genocide in Gaza is a collective crime, sustained by the complicity of influential Third States that have enabled longstanding systemic violations of international law by Israel. Framed by colonial narratives that dehumanize the Palestinians, this live-streamed atrocity has been facilitated through Third States’ direct support, material aid, diplomatic protection and, in some cases, active participation. It has exposed an unprecedented chasm between peoples and their governments, betraying the trust on which global peace and security rest. The world now stands on a knife-edge between the collapse of the international rule of law and hope for renewal. Renewal is only possible if complicity is confronted, responsibilities are met and justice is upheld.
(…)
25. Certain non-Western States have turned to international courts to seek accountability and pressurize Israel to cease its actions. While only 13 States have supported South Africa before the ICJ, most Western States have persistently denied genocide. None have joined Nicaragua against Germany at the ICJ, or invoked domestic laws against complicit corporations or individuals. Only seven referred the situation to the ICC, many sought to undermine its arrest warrants, and at least 37 States were non-committal or critical, signalling intent to evade arrest obligations.
(…)
. Military Ties: providing the means of destruction
32. While UN resolutions have called for arms embargoes on Israel since 1976, many States have continued supplying it with military support and arms transfers. Israel is disproportionately dependent on weapons imports, with the proportion of their total trade more than double the OECD average, and over four times greater than that of the United States. This international supply has continued, even as the evidence of genocide has mounted, with the United States, Germany and Italy among the largest suppliers. Only a few Western States, notably Spain and Slovenia, have cancelled contracts and imposed embargoes.
Francesca Albanese: Why I‘m accusing 63 nations of complicity in the Gaza genocide
The UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, has accused major European powers, including the UK, Italy and Germany, of complicity in the genocide in Gaza and warned that their government officials should face legal consequences.
In an interview with the Expert Witness podcast on 3 November, Albanese discussed the findings of her latest report, titled Gaza Genocide: A Collective Crime, where she cited evidence of the alleged responsibility of 63 states for enabling Israeli breaches of international law.
Verfassungsbeschwerde gegen deutsche Waffenexporte nach Israel
Bereits im Oktober 2024 hatte der Beschwerdeführer beim Verwaltungsgericht Frankfurt Eilrechtsschutz beantragt. Der Antrag sowie die anschließende Beschwerde beim Hessischen Verwaltungsgerichtshof in Kassel wurden abgewiesen. Mit der nun eingereichten Verfassungsbeschwerde wendet sich der Beschwerdeführer gegen diese Entscheidungen, die ihm einen wirksamen Rechtsschutz versagt haben.
Er beruft sich auf sein Grundrecht auf Leben und körperliche Unversehrtheit (Art. 2 Abs. 2 GG) sowie auf sein Recht auf effektiven Rechtsschutz (Art. 19 Abs. 4 GG). Er fordert eine verfassungsgerichtliche Klärung, ob die Verweigerung von Eilrechtsschutz – angesichts der erkennbaren Risiken durch deutsche Waffenlieferungen – seine Grundrechte verletzt.
Der Fall macht deutlich: Deutschland muss Menschen vor den Folgen seiner Waffenexporte schützen. Entscheidungen über Rüstungslieferungen sind nicht nur juristisch, sondern auch faktisch von unmittelbarer Bedeutung für Menschenleben – in den vergangenen zwei Jahren dieses verheerenden Krieges ebenso wie heute
Constitutional complaint against German arms exports to Israel
As early as October 2024, the complainant had applied for interim legal protection at the Frankfurt Administrative Court. The application and the subsequent appeal to the Hessian Higher Administrative Court in Kassel were rejected. With the constitutional complaint now filed, the complainant is challenging these decisions, which denied him effective legal protection.
He invokes his fundamental right to life and physical inviolability (Article 2(2) of the Basic Law) as well as his right to effective legal protection (Article 19(4) of the Basic Law).
He is seeking a constitutional clarification as to whether the denial of interim legal protection – in light of the recognizable risks posed by German arms deliveries – violates his fundamental rights.
This case makes clear: Germany must protect people from the consequences of its arms exports. Decisions about arms deliveries are not only legally but also factually of immediate significance for human lives – during the two years of this devastating war as much as today.
‚Disappointing‘: ICJ grants Israel another extension in South Africa genocide case
On 29 December 2023, South Africa accused Israel, before the ICJ, of breaching the Genocide Convention of 1948.
The subsequent hearing, a couple of weeks later, drew huge attention as Israel’s war was formally challenged on the world stage for the first time since the start of the genocidal war.
For cases of such complexity, the ICJ often takes years to come to a judgement. ICJ experts have previously explained that the judgment is expected to be made by early 2028.
200,000 tonnes of explosives dropped on Gaza, equivalent to 6 nuclear bombs
And, the Gaza Strip covers an area of 365 km², way less than half the size of London, which covers an area of 1,572 km². And, the population in Gaza are trapped in the midst of widespread destruction, with nowhere to go. The Gaza government ministry has reported:
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed a total of 67,183 Palestinians and injured 169,841 others since 7 October 2023.
More than 169,000 people suffered permanent physical injuries, with thousands of cases of amputation and paralysis. Thousands of families have been completely wiped out of the civil registry, and tens of thousands have been displaced.
Gaza: Waffenruhe in Kraft
Die dortigen Behörden veröffentlichten am Freitag eine vorläufige Bilanz von zwei Jahren Krieg und Völkermord. Hervorzuheben ist nicht allein die Zahl der Toten, die auf 80.000 geschätzt wird, die Mehrzahl Frauen und Kinder. Mehr noch soll Israels Militär seit dem 7. Oktober 2023 200.000 Tonnen Sprengstoff abgeworfen haben. Zum Vergleich: Im Zweiten Weltkrieg wurden insgesamt 60.000 Tonnen eingesetzt.
Bundeswehr und BKA bauen Zusammenarbeit mit Israel aus
Auf Arbeitsebene finden zwischen Israel und Deutschland militärische »Fach- und Expertengespräche« in verschiedenen Bereichen statt, ein Schwerpunkt liegt laut dem Verteidigungsministerium derzeit »auf Logistik, Neubeschaffung, Operation, Erhebung und Ermittlung sowie Gefangenenwesen«. (…)
An einem nicht näher genannten konkreten Fall hat das BKA der israelischen Delegation außerdem den Einsatz von Virtual Reality bei einer Tatortbegehung vorgeführt. Am zweiten Tag demonstrierte das BKA seine Entwicklungen zu künstlicher Intelligenz – zu diesem Thema hatte die Behörde in Wiesbaden vor einem Jahr ihre gesamte Herbsttagung gewidmet. Im Mittelpunkt stand dabei Gesichtserkennung.
The Gaza Precedent: How the World’s Response Will Shape Global Justice
Though Netanyahu continues to act with the same old arrogant attitude that he, his government, and country are above the law, including international law, it is incumbent on all of us to remind him and other war criminals that no individual, no entity, and no government is immune to accountability when it comes to the blood of the innocent.
This struggle is not solely for the sake of Gaza; it is for the very soul of humanity. Should Netanyahu’s actions succeed in normalizing genocide in the 21st century, this horrific crime could become a sanctioned political strategy for tyrants and regimes worldwide. The world cannot afford to let this happen. The future of global justice hangs in the balance.
וועדת האו“ם קבעה כיישראל חותרת לשליטה קבועה בעזה, ולרוב יהודי בשטח הפלסטיני הכבוש ובישראל
קווי דמיון ביןמדיניות הקרקעות והדיור המשפיעה על פלסטינים בישראל לביןזוהחלהעל פלסטינים בגדה המערבית
הכבושה מצביעים עלקיומה של מדיניות רחבה יותר ביחס לאוכלוסייה הפלסטינית בכללותה, שנועדה להבטיח רוב יהודי
בכלל האזוריםהמצוייםתחת שליטהישראלית, תוך צמצום האפשרות להגדרה עצמית גיאוגרפית עבור העם הפלסטיני.
בדוח זוהו ששה שרים ישראליים כמי שנושאים ככל הנראה בעיקר האחריותלביצוע פשעים בינלאומיים הנוגעים לקרקעות
ודיור, כמו גם לפשעים אחרים שזוהו על-ידי הוועדה בדוחותיה הקודמים:
•שר הביטחון לשעבריואב גלנטושר הביטחון הנוכחיישראל כץנושאים באחריותלפעולותיהם של כוחות הביטחון
הישראליים בעזה;
•שר האוצרבצלאל סמוטריץ‘ושרת ההתיישבות והמשימות הלאומיותאורית סטרוקנושאים במשותף באחריות
להנעת הקמתן והרחבתן של התנחלויותבגדה המערבית הכבושה, לרבות מזרח ירושלים;
•השר לביטחון לאומיאיתמר בן-גבירנושא באחריות למעשיהתעללותשלרשויות הכליאה הישראליות בעצירים
פלסטיניים, אשר זוהו על-ידי הוועדה בדיווחה הקודםלעצרתהכללית;
•ראש הממשלהבנימין נתניהונושא באחריות הסופית להתנהלותה של ישראל בשטח הפלסטיני הכבוש בכללותו,
ובאחריות ישירהלאור הוראותיו לביצוע מעשיםהמהווים פשעי מלחמה, פשעים נגד האנושות, ופשע השמדת עם;
•ראש הממשלהנתניהוושר הביטחון לשעברגלנטנושאים גם באחריותלפשע ההסתה לביצוע השמדת עם
Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel
82. Successive Governments of Israel have implemented laws and policies to diminish Palestinian space in Israel, including confining Palestinian localities and hindering Palestinians with Israeli citizenship from moving and integrating into Jewish localities. In addition, informal barriers resulting from wider, primarily socioeconomic, inequalities between the two populations have grown and become entrenched over decades, further preventing integration.
83. Some policies and laws are explicitly discriminatory. Others have a discriminatory impact, resulting in segregation. This is evident from the “admissions committees” policy and law, as well as statements of Israeli officials’ supporting the development of exclusively non-Jewish localities to deter and prevent Palestinians with Israeli citizenship from moving into mixed cities.
84. Such discrimination in laws and policies is a violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Specifically, Israel has violated article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which obliges States to ensure adequate standards of living and housing and the continuous improvement of living conditions.
85. Land and housing policies impacting Palestinians in Israel are part of a broader policy towards the Palestinian population as a whole, aimed at striving towards a Jewish majority in all areas under Israeli control, reducing the possibility of geographical self-determination for the Palestinian people.
Individual criminal responsibility
86. The Commission has identified several Israeli ministers as likely bearing the most responsibility for the international crimes noted in the present report. The Ministers of Defence since October 2023, Yoav Gallant (until 7 November 2024) and subsequently Israel Katz, are responsible for actions of Israeli security forces in Gaza which amount to international crimes. The Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, and the Minister of Settlements and National Projects, Orit Strock, are jointly responsible for driving settlement construction and expansion in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, is responsible for the actions of police and prison authorities noted by the Commission in its previous report to the General Assembly. The Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is ultimately responsibility for the conduct of Israel in the whole of the Occupied Palestinian Territory. All six bear direct individual responsibility for establishing policies and taking actions noted in the present report that have killed and injured Palestinians, deliberately inflicted on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about the group’s physical destruction in whole or in part and deepened the unlawful presence of Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, including through security operations and channelling funds for settlements, farm outposts and settlement expansion.
Israel seeks permanent Gaza control and Jewish majority in West Bank, UN inquiry says
The Commission also found that since October 2023, Israeli policies have demonstrated clear intent to forcibly transfer Palestinians, expand Jewish settlements, and annex the entire West Bank.
„Increasing violent attacks by settlers have resulted in the forcible displacement of communities and subsequent Judaization of areas of the West Bank,“ the report stated.
It also highlights military operations in Jenin, Tulkarem, and Nur Shams refugee camps, which resulted in destruction of homes and infrastructure and displacement of residents – actions the Commission deems unjustified militarily and tantamount to collective punishment.
Israel’s opposition is plotting a return to power. But it remains its own worst enemy
Yet such promises count for little at a time when Israel’s current government continues to bomb, shell, and starve Palestinians in Gaza, all while taking rapid steps toward formally annexing the West Bank. Nor has the opposition — neither its parliamentary representatives, like the Democrats, or the protest movement in the streets — shown the ability to turn growing discontent over the government’s handling of the war and abandonment of the hostages into a full-throated defense of Palestinians’ humanity.
Until they do, it is hard to imagine just how different the next government, whoever comprises it, will be when it comes to the prospect of peace and equality for all the people in this land.
Legal analysis of the conduct of Israel in Gaza pursuant to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
246. The duty to prevent and punish genocide applies not only to the responsible State but to all States Parties to the Genocide Convention and indeed to all States under customary international law. In the Barcelona Traction case, the International Court of Justice recognised the erga omnes obligation in preventing and punishing genocide487 and held that the Genocide Convention obligates all States Parties to prevent and punish the crime of genocide.488 Even in the absence of an express order by the International Court of Justice, all States have a duty to assess whether a violation of the Genocide Convention has occurred or may occur and take steps to determine their own obligations in preventing and punishing such acts.
247. On 26 January 2024, in its first of three provisional measures orders in the South Africa v. Israel case, the International Court of Justice put all States on notice of the plausibility of the State of Israel committing genocide in its military operations in Gaza since 7 October 2023. The Court said, “at least some of the rights claimed by South Africa and for which it is seeking protection are plausible. This is the case with respect to the right of the Palestinians in Gaza to be protected from acts of genocide and related prohibited acts identified in Article III [of the Genocide Convention].” It found “a real and imminent risk that irreparable prejudice will be caused to the rights found by the Court to be plausible”.
248. It noted, inter alia, the catastrophic living conditions in Gaza. On 24 May 2024, the Court reinforced its earlier order, saying that “the current situation arising from Israel’s military offensive in Rafah entails a further risk of irreparable prejudice to the plausible rights claimed by South Africa and that there is urgency, in the sense that there exists a real and imminent risk that such prejudice will be caused before the Court gives its final decision.“ It ordered Israel to “immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part”.492 The Commission emphasises the importance of these provisional measures orders in providing a strong statement to other States of their obligations to prevent and punish genocide.
249. Therefore, the Commission finds that, since at least 26 January 2024, when the International Court of Justice ordered its first provisional measures, all States Parties to the Genocide Convention, and all other States too, have been on notice of a serious risk that genocide was being or would be committed. As such, the duty to prevent genocide was triggered due to the actual or constructive knowledge of the immediate plausibility that genocide was being or was about to be committed. According to the International Court of Justice, where States Parties are able to contribute to the prevention of genocide, they are obligated to “employ all means reasonably available to them, so as to prevent genocide so far as possible.” Responsibility may be incurred if a State Party “manifestly failed to take all measures to prevent genocide which were within its power, and which might have contributed to preventing the genocide.”
250. Consistent with the obligations promulgated under the Genocide Convention, the Commission therefore notes that States are obliged to (i) ensure that Israel implements all orders for provisional measures issued by the International Court of Justice; (ii) cooperate to bring to an end all Israeli actions in Gaza that amount to a violation of the Genocide Convention; (iii) take steps to ensure the prevention of conduct that may amount to an act of genocide under the Genocide Convention, including the transfer of weapons that are used or likely to be used by Israel to commit genocidal acts; (iv) not recognise as lawful the military operations in Gaza that led to the violations of peremptory norms (jus cogens), including genocide; and (v) conduct investigations and take steps to ensure the punishment of violations of peremptory norms. The Commission recommends that, in fulfilment of these obligations, States (i) intervene in the International Court of Justice proceedings of South Africa v. Israel; and (ii) support and cooperate fully with the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in its investigation into the situation in the State of Palestine, with the aim of advancing international accountability.
Gaza: Top independent rights probe alleges Israel committed genocide
In a new report published against the backdrop of intensifying Israeli military operations in Gaza City, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, urged Israel and all countries to fulfil their obligations under international law “to end the genocide” and punish those responsible.
“The Commission finds that Israel is responsible for the commission of genocide in Gaza,” insisted Navi Pillay, Chair of the Commission. “It is clear that there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza through acts that meet the criteria set forth in the Genocide Convention.”
At a press conference in Geneva, the panel’s members – who are not UN staff but instead appointed by the Human Rights Council’s 47 Member States – explained that their investigations into the war in Gaza beginning with Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel on 7 October 2023 had led to the conclusion that Israeli authorities and security forces “committed four of the five genocidal acts defined by the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide”.
Germany buys $451m of defense tech from Israel’s Rafael, despite Gaza tensions
(August 27, 2025)
Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems on Tuesday announced a €358 million ($415 million) deal with the German Air Force for advanced targeting technology for fighter aircraft.
“The German parliament has authorized the procurement of 90 Litening 5 targeting pods for its Eurofighter Typhoon fleet,” the defense electronics company said in its announcement.
MK Cassif: More of Us in Israel are Saying No to this Endless War
(August 27, 2025)
As the descendant of a Jewish family from Poland, the words “never again” have significant meaning for me. In the aftermath of the Second World War, humankind vowed to never again allow such atrocities to occur. The Holocaust, the mass extermination of the Jewish people, plumbed the very depths of tyrannical evil. Precisely because of this heritage, I view “never again” as a universal imperative.
In 1948, the international community adopted the universal declaration of human rights and the convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide. In the decades since, we have failed globally many times to safeguard this invaluable truth: that people must not perish in flames, and such heinous crimes must not be perpetrated while outsiders stand idly by. But never in recent times have people around the world started into the abyss of annihilation as we are doing today in Gaza. As such, “never again” is not merely a moral reminder but an ethical decree to act.
Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, as the saying goes. It seems that Netanyahu manages to fool western leaders time and time again. On Friday, in response to the IPC declaration of famine, the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, said it was an “utterly horrifying and wholly preventable man-made catastrophe”. May I ask Lammy and the rest of the British cabinet – are you among the people responsible for this catastrophe?
Israel‘s Conduct in Gaza Amounts to Genocidal Acts With an Intent to Commit Genocide
Israel is committing genocide beyond a shadow of doubt, and all states party to the Genocide Convention “have an obligation to prevent and punish genocide,” says Dr. Melanie O’Brien, a renowned scholar of International Law, in the interview that follows. O’Brien is Associate Professor of International Law at the University of Western Australia; President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars; and Visiting Scholar at the University of Minnesota Human Rights Law Center.
Glaubwürdigkeit verlangt Aufarbeitung
Was ist also mit jenen, die schon früh das Richtige gesagt haben? Was ist mit jenen, die das Grauen in Gaza nicht schweigend hingenommen und dafür einen hohen Preis bezahlt haben? Die Liste der Betroffenen ist lang und im Archive of Silence und dem Index of Repression ausführlich dokumentiert. Besonders drastische Beispiele lieferten die Technische Universität München, wo Studierende, die an einer palästinasolidarischen Veranstaltung teilnehmen wollten, von der Polizei in einem Raum eingesperrt und anschließend wegen »Hausfriedensbruch« angezeigt wurden, obwohl sie von der Universität selbst dort hineingelockt worden waren.
Weitere eindrückliche Beispiele sind die Entlassung Melanie Schweizers aus dem Arbeitsministerium, die Absagen gleich mehrerer Veranstaltungen mit der UN-Sonderberichterstatterin Francesca Albanese, die Kündigung von Helen Fares durch den SWR, die rechtswidrige Auflösung des Palästina-Kongresses in Berlin, die Absage der »Talking about (the Silencing of) Palestine«-Konferenz in Frankfurt oder die Einstufung der Jüdischen Stimme für gerechten Frieden und Palästina Spricht als extremistische Organisationen durch den Verfassungsschutz. Die Liste ließe sich endlos fortführen – und sie bleibt notwendig unvollständig.
Business leaders call on UK Government for concrete action on Gaza
We add our voices to those already demanding the following actions:
1. The full and unrestricted entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, at scale, and with urgency, by qualified aid agencies.
2. The cessation of all UK arms transfers — including parts — to Israel in line with the UK’s legal obligations under the Arms Trade Treaty (which prohibits transfers where they could be ‘used to commit acts of genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes’).
3. The introduction of targeted sanctions against all individuals and entities credibly accused of violating international law, including war crimes.
4. Support for international legal mechanisms, including investigations by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and International Criminal Court (ICC), and full UK diplomatic support to secure the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.
As business leaders, we also call on the UK Government to:
– Suspend ALL export licences for goods that could be directly or indirectly implicated in military operations in Gaza – without exception.
– Partial measures are not enough to prevent UK complicity in breaches of international law.
– Broaden financial sanctions and investment screening to stop UK financing of companies complicit in violations of international law.
– Current efforts must go further to close gaps in enforcement.
– Enforce the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights across all UK-linked supply chains and financial systems.
The UK must ensure that no business – whether through products, services, or supply chains – is contributing to these atrocities, directly or indirectly.
Amid ongoing Israeli attacks, ‘the systematic destruction of Gaza City is already underway’: UN rights office
(August 29, 2025)
Recent attacks have been particularly devastating in the Az Zaytoun neighbourhood, where airstrikes, artillery shelling and gunfire are continuous and intense, causing a high number of civilian casualties and the large-scale destruction of residential buildings and public facilities, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory said in a statement.
Since 8 August, the office has recorded 54 attacks on residential buildings and entire blocks in Gaza City, killing 87 Palestinians, including at least 25 children and entire families.
It also recorded attacks on shelters for internally displaced people, including tents and schools, killing at least 14.
These casualty figures “indicate that the systematic destruction of Gaza City is already underway,” the statement said.
However, OHCHR stressed that these devastating figures are only a portion of the actual toll due to underreporting in such dire circumstances.
Netanyahu: ‚Israel is the force protecting against these Islamic fanatics‘
On Wednesday‘s „Carl Higbie FRONTLINE,“ Carl interviewed Benjamin Netanyahu and talked in-depth about the Israel-Hamas war.
Netanyahu threatens to bomb Gaza like Dresden was bombed in Germany
(today)
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel can bomb Gaza like the Allies bombed Dresden during World War II.
His remarks were made during an interview with right-wing US network Newsmax on Wednesday.
When asked why the Israeli military does not “wipe Hamas and the Gaza Strip” off the map, he replied, “We can bomb them like the Allies [in World War II] bombed Dresden, we could starve them if we followed the vilifications, these false lies that are delivered against Israel, and nobody would be alive already.
US President: Netanyahu used US bombing of Berlin as justification for Gaza genocide
(January 18, 2025)
Biden said that Netanyahu responded to his concerns by saying “You killed thousands of innocent civilians because you had to in order to win the war.”
This was not the first time the massacres against civilians in the Second World War were used to justify Israeli atrocities in Palestine.
Back in December 2023, pro-Israel American Senator Lindsey Graham also responded to criticisms of Israel‘s killing of Palestinian civilians by saying “Did the American people worry about how many people were dying to destroy Tokyo or Berlin?”
In Swipe at UK, Huckabee Cites Allied Bombing of Dresden to Defend Israel‘s Gaza Genocide
U.S. and British warplanes indiscriminately bombed Dresden with munitions including 4,000-pound „blockbusters“ and incendiary explosives over two days in February 1945. The heat generated by the inferno melted human flesh, turning many victims into piles of goop. Men, women, children; the sick and the elderly; refugees and Allied prisoners of war—even the animals in the city zoo—were incinerated together.
Acclaimed author Kurt Vonnegut—an American POW imprisoned in Dresden at the time, whose seminal novel Slaughterhouse-Five was inspired by the firebombing—later described the attack as „carnage unfathomable.“ After viewing images of the bombing, then-British Prime Minister Winston Churchill asked: „Are we beasts? Are we taking this too far?“
As the old adage posits, „history is written by the victors,“ and no Allied officials were ever held accountable for atrocities committed against their Axis enemies. However, after the war, the Nuremberg trials, Fourth Geneva Convention, and Genocide Convention sought to ensure that horrors like Nazi and Japanese war crimes and what the British described as the „terror bombing“ of Germany never happened again.
‘Our genocide’: Israeli rights groups abandon their restraint on Gaza
After 22 months of war, starvation, and systematic destruction, two of Israel’s leading human rights organizations have concluded that Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip constitute genocide.
This finding, issued Monday in two separate reports by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHRI) and B’Tselem, marks a rupture within Israeli civil society. Until now, Israeli human rights organizations had largely stopped short of using the term “genocide,” even as Palestinian groups, Israeli genocide and Holocaust scholars, and international bodies like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Médecins Sans Frontières adopted it months ago.
Germany’s angel of history is screaming
How can a country that professes to be a gatekeeper of international law staunchly defend a state that so flagrantly violates it? How does a country that has spent 80 years cultivating a culture of remembrance, responsibility, and moral accountability show ironclad commitment to arresting one international war criminal, while warmly welcoming another? And how can a country that utilizes the image of the ruins of Dresden to teach its schoolchildren about the dangers of dehumanization and fascism be so blind to its own complicity in an unfolding catastrophe?
“What MORE can we do?”
Importantly, we recognise that this sudden shift to present opportunities for relief did not come from compassion by those responsible for the destruction of Gaza. It was forced into being by pressure from the ground. It was the voices of millions, the unrelenting protests from Soweto to Cairo and across the world, the global student uprisings, the daily actions of human rights defenders, health workers, educators, and ordinary people refusing to remain silent, that have opened these corridors. From the Freedom Flotilla Coalition to the Sumud Convoy, from UN agencies to countless grassroots efforts, this is proof that collective action works. The occupying power and its imperialist allies have been shaken, not by diplomacy, but by the roar of people across the world demanding justice.
We note the significance of South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice, which has warned of an impending famine, the impact of the violence of the Israeli settlers on the indigenous people across the OPT and ruled that the perpetrators of the genocide and the illegal occupation be held accountable under international law. This legal action, combined with global activism, has shifted the conversation toward the possibility of a just and lasting solution for the Palestinian people.
The fear of losing control in the Middle East to public anger has pushed both the Zionist entity and its American allies to allow some relief in, not because they wanted to, but because they fear the power of the Global majority revolting against them.
This is the lesson: change comes from the ground up.
Pressure mounts on South Africa to sever ties with Israel, expel diplomats
Several activists told Middle East Eye that they had intensified their campaign to end what they called South Africa‘s complicity in Israel‘s war on Gaza, where more than 200,000 Palestinians have been killed or wounded and the entire population is facing famine.
Zukiswa Wanner, a writer and activist, said that many South Africans had thought Pretoria‘s decision to take Israel to the International Court of Justice in late 2023 would result in a swift end to the 22-month conflict, but Israel, with full Western backing, continued its war on Gaza.
„Almost two years later, Israel has not relented and we continue seeing the horror visited on the Palestinians,“ Wanner told MEE.
„As individuals, we are all quite powerless on pushing the stop of the genocide – but as citizens – we can demand of our government that they finalise this small thing: South Africa can‘t be having normal relations with an abnormal, genocidal government.