Public Statement: Scholars Warn of Potential Genocide in Gaza
- Details
- Written by Peter Miller Peter Miller
- Published: 19 October 2023 19 October 2023
Public Statement: Scholars Warn of Potential Genocide in Gaza
On 15 October 2023, over 800 scholars and practitioners of international law, conflict studies and genocide studies signed a public statement warning of the possibility of genocide being perpetrated by Israeli forces against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Signatories include prominent Holocaust and genocide studies scholars, as well as many international law and TWAIL scholars. The text of the statement and list of signatures is below, and a pdf version can be accessed here.
Public Statement: Scholars Warn of Potential Genocide in Gaza
15 October 2023
As scholars and practitioners of international law, conflict studies and genocide studies, we are compelled to sound the alarm about the possibility of the crime of genocide being perpetrated by Israeli forces against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. We do not do so lightly, recognising the weight of this crime, but the gravity of the current situation demands it.
The pre-existing conditions in the Gaza Strip had already prompted discussions of genocide prior to the current escalation – such as by the National Lawyers Guild in 2014, the Russell Tribunal on Palestine in 2014, and the Center for Constitutional Rights in 2016. Scholars have warned over the years that the siege of Gaza may amount to a “prelude to genocide” or a “slow-motion genocide”. The prevalence of racist and dehumanising language and hate speech in social media was also noted in a warning issued in July 2014 by the UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and Special Adviser on the Responsibility to Protect, in response to Israel’s conduct against the protected Palestinian population. The Special Advisers noted that individual Israelis had disseminated messages that could be dehumanising to the Palestinians and that had called for the killing of members of this group, and reiterated that incitement to commit atrocity crimes is prohibited under international law.
Israel’s current military offensive on the Gaza Strip since 7 October 2023, however, is unprecedented in scale and severity, and consequently in its ramifications for the population of Gaza. Following the incursion by Palestinian armed groups on 7 October 2023, including criminal attacks against Israeli civilians, the Gaza Strip has been subjected to incessant and indiscriminate bombardment by Israeli forces. Between 7 October and 9:00 a.m. on 15 October, there have been 2,329 Palestinians killed and 9,042 Palestinians injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza, including over 724 children, huge swathes of neighbourhoods and entire families across Gaza have been obliterated. Israel’s Defence Minister ordered a “complete siege” of the Gaza Strip prohibiting the supply of fuel, electricity, water and other essential necessities. This terminology itself indicates an intensification of an already illegal, potentially genocidal siege to an outright destructive assault.
Read more: Public Statement: Scholars Warn of Potential Genocide in Gaza
Jewish Voice for Peace calls on all people of conscience to stop imminent genocide
- Details
- Written by Peter Miller Peter Miller
- Published: 12 October 2023 12 October 2023
The Israeli government has declared a genocidal war on the people of Gaza. As an organization that works for a future where Palestinians and Israelis and all people live in equality and freedom, we call on all people of conscience to stop imminent genocide of Palestinians.
Jewish Voice for Peace mourns deeply for the over 1,200 Israelis killed, the families destroyed, including many of our own, and fears for the lives of Israelis taken hostage. Many are still counting the dead, looking for missing loved ones, devastated by the losses.
We wholeheartedly agree with leading Palestinian rights groups: the massacres committed by Hamas against Israeli civilians are horrific war crimes. There is no justification in international law for the indiscriminate killing of civilians or the holding of civilian hostages.
And now, horrifyingly, the Israeli and American governments are weaponizing these deaths to fuel a genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza, pledging to “open the gates of hell.” This war is a continuation of the Nakba, when in 1948, tens of thousands of Palestinians fleeing violence sought refuge in Gaza. It’s a continuation of 75 years of Israeli occupation and apartheid.
Already this week, over 1,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed. The Israeli government has wrought complete and total devastation on Palestinians across Gaza, attacking hospitals, schools, mosques, marketplaces, and apartment buildings.
As we write, the Israeli government has shut off all electricity to Gaza. Hospitals cannot save lives, the internet will collapse, people will have no phones to communicate with the outside world, and drinking water for two million people will run out. Gaza will be plunged into darkness as Israel turns its neighborhoods to rubble. Still worse, Israel has openly stated an intention to commit mass atrocities and even genocide, with Prime Minister Netanyahu saying the Israeli response will “reverberate for generations.”
And right now, the U.S. government is enabling the Israeli government’s atrocities, sending weapons, moving U.S. warships into proximity and sending U.S.-made munitions, and pledging blanket support and international cover for any actions taken by the Israeli government. Furthermore, the U.S. government officials are spreading racist, hateful, and incendiary rhetoric that will fuel mass atrocities and genocide.
The loss of Israeli lives is being used by our government to justify the rush to genocide, to provide moral cover for the immoral push for more weapons and more death. Palestinians are being dehumanized by our own government, by the media, by far too many U.S. Jewish institutions. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that Israel is “fighting human animals” and should “act accordingly,” As Jews, we know what happens when people are called animals.
We can and we must stop this. Never again means never again — for anyone.
We call on all people of conscience to stop the imminent genocide of Palestinians. We demand our government work towards de-escalation, that it immediately stop sending weapons to the Israeli military. A future of peace and safety for all, grounded in justice, freedom and equality for all, is still the only option.
Local Jewish Organization Releases Statements by Breaking the Silence, IfNotNow, The Ha'aretz Editorial Board and Jewish Voice for Peace on the Violence that has engulfed Israel and Gaza.
- Details
- Written by Peter Miller Peter Miller
- Published: 08 October 2023 08 October 2023
Some Members of the Jewish Community of Portland Oregon
For Immediate Release
October 8, 2023
Local Jewish Organization Releases Statements by Breaking the Silence,
IfNotNow, The Ha'aretz Editorial Board and Jewish Voice for Peace on the
Violence that has engulfed Israel and Gaza.
As members of the Jewish Community of Portland, Oregon, we are sharing with
the local news media statements that reflect urgently needed critical
perspectives on the explosion of violence and massive loss of live that we
have witnessed in Israel and Gaza since Saturday morning. We urge local
reporters and editors to include these perspective in their coverage as the
full scope of this terrible violence and aftermath unfolds.
Breaking the Silence (https://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/)
Hamas's attack and the events unfolding since yesterday are unspeakable. We
are heartbroken to watch terrified civilians besieged in their homes,
innocent people murdered in cold blood on the streets, at parties, and at
home. Dozens taken hostage and dragged into the Gaza Strip. Every one of us
knows someone who has been tragically affected. We could go on and on about
their cruel and criminal actions, or focus on how our Jewish-supremacist
government brought us to this point. But as hard as it is, our job as former
Israeli soldiers is to talk about what we were sent to do.
Israel's security policy, for decades now, has been to "manage the
conflict". Successive Israeli governments insist on round after round of
violence as if any of it will make a difference. They talk about "security",
"deterrence", "changing the equation".
All of these are code words for bombing the Gaza Strip to a pulp, always
justified as targeting terrorists, yet always with heavy civilian
casualties. In between these rounds of violence we make life impossible for
Gazans, and then act surprised when it all boils over.
We talk about "normalization" with the UAE and now Saudi Arabia, while
hoping the world will turn a blind eye to the open-air prison we built in
our backyard. Apart from the unfathomable violation of human rights, we've
created a massive security liability for our own citizens.
The question Israelis are all asking is - where were the soldiers yesterday?
Why was the IDF seemingly absent while hundreds of Israelis were slaughtered
in their homes and on the streets? The unfortunate truth is that they were
"preoccupied". In the West Bank.
We send soldiers to secure settler incursions into the Palestinian city of
Nablus, to chase Palestinian children in Hebron, to protect settlers as they
carry out pogroms. Settlers demand that Palestinian flags are removed from
the streets of Huwara; soldiers are sent to do it.
Our country decided - decades ago - that it's willing to forfeit the
security of its citizens in our towns and cities, in favor of maintaining
control over an occupied civilian population of millions, all for the sake
of a settler-messianic agenda.
The idea that we can "manage the conflict" without ever having to solve it
is once again collapsing before our eyes. It held up until now because only
few dared to challenge it. These heartbreaking events could change that.
They must. For all of us between the river and the sea.
IfNotNow (https://www.ifnotnowmovement.org/)
We're watching the unfolding horrors with heartbreak and dread for our loved
ones - Israelis and Palestinians alike.
We cannot and will not say today's actions by Palestinian militants are
unprovoked. Every day under Israel's system of apartheid is a provocation.
The strangling siege on Gaza is a provocation. Settlers terrorizing entire
Palestinian villages, soldiers raiding and demolishing Palestinian homes,
murdering Palestinians in the streets, Israeli ministers calling for
genocide and expulsion. These are the provocations of the most extremist
right wing government in Israel's history and an emboldened fascist movement
escalating this crisis across the land.
We absolutely condemn the killing of innocent civilians and mourn the loss
of Palestinian and Israeli life, with numbers rising by the minute. Their
blood is on the hands of the Israeli government, the US government which
funds and excuses their recklessness, and every international leader who
continues to turn a blind eye to decades of Palestinian oppression,
endangering both Palestinians and Israelis. Anyone who minimizes or ignores
this context will only continue to be surprised as more blood is shed.
We call on our communities to reconsider the knee-jerk militarism that has
led us into this unfolding catastrophe. There is no path to a future of
safety and freedom for all Israelis and Palestinians without accountability
for this fascist government and an end to the ongoing, untenable status quo
of Israel's apartheid system.
Haaretz Editorial Team (excerpts)
(https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/editorial/2023-10-08/ty-article-opinion/net
anyahu-bears-responsibility/0000018b-0b9d-d8fc-adff-6bfd1c880000)
The disaster that befell Israel on the holiday of Simchat Torah is the clear
responsibility of one person: Benjamin Netanyahu. The prime minister, who
has prided himself on his vast political experience and irreplaceable wisdom
in security matters, completely failed to identify the dangers he was
consciously leading Israel into when establishing a government of annexation
and dispossession, when appointing Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir to
key positions, while embracing a foreign policy that openly ignored the
existence and rights of Palestinians.
.
In the past, Netanyahu marketed himself as a cautious leader who eschewed
wars and multiple casualties on Israel's side. After his victory in the last
election, he replaced this caution with the policy of a "fully-right
government," with overt steps taken to annex the West Bank [haaretz.com], to
carry out ethnic cleansing in parts of the Oslo-defined Area C, including
the Hebron Hills and the Jordan Valley.
This also included a massive expansion of settlements and bolstering of the
Jewish presence on Temple Mount, near the Al-Aqsa Mosque, as well as boasts
of an impending peace deal with the Saudis in which the Palestinians would
get nothing, with open talk of a "second Nakba" in his governing coalition.
As expected, signs of an outbreak of hostilities began in the West Bank,
where Palestinians started feeling the heavier hand of the Israeli occupier.
Hamas exploited the opportunity in order to launch its surprise attack on
Saturday.
Jewish Voice for Peace (https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org)
The Root of Violence Is Oppression.
Right now, Palestinians, Israelis and all of us with family on the ground
are terrified for loved ones. We grieve the lives of those already lost and
remain committed to a future where every life is precious, and all people
live in freedom and safety.
Following 16 years of Israeli military blockade, Palestinian fighters from
Gaza launched an unprecedented assault, in which hundreds of Israelis were
killed and wounded, and civilians kidnapped. The Israeli government declared
war, launching airstrikes, killing hundreds of Palestinians and wounding
thousands, bombing residential buildings and threatening to commit war
crimes against besieged Palestinians in Gaza.
The Israeli government may have just declared war, but its war on
Palestinians started over 75 years ago. Israeli apartheid and occupation -
and United States complicity in that oppression - are the source of all this
violence. Reality is shaped by when you start the clock.
For the past year, the most racist, fundamentalist, far-right government in
Israeli history has ruthlessly escalated its military occupation over
Palestinians in the name of Jewish supremacy with violent expulsions and
home demolitions, mass killings, military raids on refugee camps,
unrelenting siege and daily humiliation. In recent weeks, Israeli forces
repeatedly stormed the holiest Muslim sites in Jerusalem.
For 16 years, the Israeli government has suffocated Palestinians in Gaza
under a draconian air, sea and land military blockade, imprisoning and
starving two million people and denying them medical aid. The Israeli
government routinely massacres Palestinians in Gaza; ten-year-olds who live
in Gaza have already been traumatized by seven major bombing campaigns in
their short lives.
For 75 years, the Israeli government has maintained a military occupation
over Palestinians, operating an apartheid regime. Palestinian children are
dragged from their beds in pre-dawn raids by Israeli soldiers and held
without charge in Israeli military prisons. Palestinians homes are torched
by mobs of Israeli settlers, or destroyed by the Israeli army. Entire
Palestinian villages are forced to flee, abandoning the homes and orchards
and land that were in their family for generations.
The bloodshed of today and the past 75 years traces back directly to U.S.
complicity in the oppression and horror caused by Israel's military
occupation. The U.S. government consistently enables Israeli violence and
bears blame for this moment. The unchecked military funding, diplomatic
cover, and billions of dollars of private money flowing from the U.S.
enables and empowers Israel's apartheid regime. Those who continue calling
for "ironclad" U.S. support for the Israeli military are only paving the
path to more violence.
From the U.S., there are no sidelines. We will uproot complicity where we
are: we demand that the U.S. government immediately take steps to withdraw
military funding to Israel and to hold the Israeli government accountable
for its gross violations of human rights and war crimes against
Palestinians. We commit to escalating our campaigns for boycott, divestment
and sanctions to end the billions pouring into the Israeli war machine from
corporations and private foundations.
Inevitably, oppressed people everywhere will seek - and gain - their
freedom. We all deserve liberation, safety, and equality. The only way to
get there is by uprooting the sources of the violence, beginning with our
own government's complicity.
ENDWhy pro-Israel lobby group Aipac is backing election deniers and extremist Republicans
- Details
- Written by Chris McGreal Chris McGreal
- Published: 18 October 2022 18 October 2022
The group places support for Israel over all over considerations, endorsing extreme rightwing candidates in the midterm election
The US’s largest pro-Israel lobby group is backing dozens of racists, homophobes and election deniers running for Congress next month because they have pledged to defend Israel against stiffening criticism of its oppression of the Palestinians.
The powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) has justified endorsing Republicans with extremist views, including members of Congress with ties to white supremacist groups and representatives who attempted to block Joe Biden’s election victory, on the grounds that the singular issue of support for Israel trumps other considerations.
But Aipac’s support for rightwing politicians has privately embarrassed some Democrats also endorsed by the powerful group and drawn accusations from more moderate pro-Israel organisations that it is attempting to stifle legitimate criticism of hardline Israeli policies.
Logan Bayroff, a spokesman for J Street, a group campaigning for Washington to take a stronger stand to end the occupation of Palestinian territories, accused Aipac of attempting to impose a narrow definition of what it is to be pro-Israel amid shifting views in Democratic ranks.
“Their actions have made clear that they view pro-Israel, pro-peace progressive Democrats as threats – and Trumpist Republicans as allies. That worldview could not be more out of touch with the vast majority of American Jews,” he said.
“Aipac may hope to silence and intimidate political leaders who believe that settlement expansion, endless conflict and permanent occupation are harmful to Israel, the Palestinian people and US interests. Ultimately, however, these common-sense views are too popular, widespread and important to be suppressed, and will continue to gain strength within American politics and among the American Jewish community.”
Aipac’s backing of extreme rightwing Republicans follows its $27m advertising campaign during the Democratic primaries to defeat candidates who spoke up for Palestinian rights, mostly with attacks over issues that had nothing to do with Israel.
US senators refuse to let killing of Shireen Abu Akleh drop with Israel
- Details
- Written by Peter Miller Peter Miller
- Published: 26 September 2022 26 September 2022
Click here for original document
Article on The Guardian: US senators refuse to let killing of Shireen Abu Akleh drop with Israel
The Honorable Joseph R. Biden
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Biden:
June 23, 2022
It has now been over a month since American citizen and journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot to death while reporting on an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin. Since that time, there has been no significant progress toward the establishment of an independent, thorough, and transparent investigation into her killing. We believe that, as a leader in the effort to protect the freedom of the press and the safety of journalists, and given the fact that Ms. Abu Akleh was an American citizen, the U.S. government has an obligation to ensure that a comprehensive, impartial, and open investigation into her shooting death is conducted — one in which all parties can have full confidence in the ultimate findings.
It is clear that neither of the parties on the ground trust the other to conduct a credible and independent investigation. Therefore, at this point, we believe the only way to achieve that goal is for the United States to be directly involved in investigating Ms. Abu Akleh’s death. Last month, 57 members of the House of Representatives requested that the State Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) launch an independent investigation under U.S auspices to determine the truth. We join in that request, which has been made even more urgent by the new information that has emerged in recent weeks.
Video footage confirms that Ms. Abu Akleh and her journalist colleagues were wearing helmets and protective blue vests identifying themselves as members of the press at the time of the shooting. According to one of her colleagues, the group stood in front of the Israeli military convoy to ensure the soldiers knew they were members of the news media before moving toward the entrance of Jenin refugee camp.1 Minutes later, Ms. Abu Akleh was fatally shot in the head, and another journalist, Ali al-Samoudi, was wounded by a shot in the back.
Israeli authorities have said that Ms. Abu Akleh was killed in an exchange of fire between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants.2 However, since Ms. Abu Akleh's death, a number of respected independent news organizations have reached a different conclusion. These organizations, including The Washington Post,3 CNN4 and the Associated Press5, reviewed video feed, photos and geospatial images of the scene; interviewed individuals present; and consulted with outside experts. They have concluded that there was no Palestinian gunfire emanating from the location of the shooting at the time of Ms. Abu Akleh’s killing.
Israeli military authorities have stated that it is vital to their investigation that the Palestinian Authority provide them with the bullet removed from Ms. Abu Akleh’s head. The Palestinian Authority has refused this request, stating that it will only provide the bullet to an outside third party or UN investigation.6 On May 26, the Palestinian Authority’s investigation concluded that an Israeli soldier deliberately shot Ms. Abu Akleh in the head with an armor piercing bullet. Israeli Minister of Defense Gantz responded that, “Any claim that the IDF intentionally harms journalists or uninvolved civilians, is a blatant lie.”7 This impasse further underscores the need for the U.S to be directly involved in any investigation.
On the day Shireen Abu Akleh was shot and killed, an Israeli military spokesperson, Ran Kochav, stated that Ms. Abu Akleh and her film crew “were armed with cameras, if you’ll permit me to say so.”8 We know you agree that journalists must be able to perform their jobs without fear of attack. As you stated just weeks ago on World Press Freedom Day: “The free press is not the enemy of the people. Quite the opposite...the free press is the guardian of truth.”9 In order to protect freedom of the press, a thorough and transparent investigation under U.S. auspices must be conducted to get to the truth and provide accountability for the killing of this American citizen and journalist.
Thank you for your timely consideration of this matter. We respectfully look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Chris Van Hollen, United States Senator
Tammy Baldwin, United States Senator
Sherrod Brown, United States Senator
Tammy Duckworth, United States Senator
Martin Heinrich, United States Senator
Angus S. King, Jr., United States Senator
Patrick Leahy, United States Senator
Thomas R. Carper, United States Senator
Richard J. Durbin, United States Senator
Tim Kaine, United States Senator
Amy Klobuchar, United States Senator
Ben Ray Luján, United States Senator
Edward J. Markey, United States Senator
Christopher S. Murphy, United States Senator
Jack Reed, United States Senator
Brian Schatz, United States Senator
Tina Smith, United States Senator
Jeffrey A. Merkley, United States Senator
Patty Murray, United States Senator
Bernard Sanders, United States Senator
Jeanne Shaheen, United States Senator
Raphael G. Warnock, United States Senator
Elizabeth Warren, United States Senator
Sheldon Whitehouse, United States Senator
CC:
Secretary of State, Antony Blinken
Attorney General, Merrick Garland
Federal Bureau of Investigation Director, Christopher Wray
1 https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/24/middleeast/shireen-abu-akleh-jenin-killing-investigation-cmd-intl/index.html 2 https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2022-05-11/ty-article/.premium/initial-idf-probe-not-clear-if-reporter-was- killed-by-israeli-or-palestinian-fire/00000180-d633-d572-aba5-debf984c0000
3 https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2022/shireen-abu-akleh-death/
4 https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/24/middleeast/shireen-abu-akleh-jenin-killing-investigation-cmd-intl/index.html 5 https://apnews.com/article/politics-west-bank-middle-east-israel-8df6c999627efcef2fe0ca2b401e7a2c
- . 6 https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/article-706666
- 7 https://www.timesofisrael.com/pa-probe-claims-idf-deliberately-shot-journalist-as-she-fled-israel-a-blatant-lie/
- 8 https://www.timesofisrael.com/veteran-al-jazeera-journalist-shot-dead-during-israeli-raid-in-jenin/
- 9 https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/05/03/statement-by-president-joe-biden-on-the-occasion-of-world-press-freedom-day-2022/
More Articles ...
