Corbyn Demands Answers About Who Authorised British Participation in the Gaza Genocide
Israel Psychostate
International Legal Coalition Launched to ‘Pursue Israeli War Crimes Suspects’
Original article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
“Under international law, states have a duty to investigate and prosecute war crimes, yet these obligations have been systematically neglected,” one of the initiative’s founders lamented.
Lawyers from half a dozen countries on Tuesday launched a coalition dedicated to bringing Israelis and dual nationals accused of war crimes in Palestine to justice.
The U.K.-based International Center of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) hosted a launch event in London for the new initiative, called Global 195. ICJP said lawyers will “pursue Israeli war crimes suspects across the world” via arrest warrant applications and the initiation of legal proceedings including private prosecutions against implicated members and veterans of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), as well as “figures spanning the entire Israeli military and political chain of command, from senior policymakers to operational personnel, who are directly or indirectly responsible for violations of international law.”
Participants include attorneys from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Malaysia, Norway, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, where “advanced preparations have already been made to pursue legal action against British citizens suspected of joining the IDF or committing war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank.”
For the past 18 months, ICJP has been collecting evidence as part of its Justice for Gaza campaign, including 135 eyewitness testimonies backed by open-source intelligence. Documented violations of international law include indiscriminate and disproportionate bombing of civilians, attacks on designated “safe zones,”s airstrikes targeting refugee camps, use of starvation as a weapon of war, and forced displacement.
“The obstruction of international legal institutions in pursuing individuals responsible for war crimes in Palestine, coupled with the failure of national police forces to fulfill their obligations under humanitarian law and universal jurisdiction principles, has allowed impunity for Israeli suspected war criminals to persist,” ICJP director Tayab Ali said in a statement.
“Under international law, states have a duty to investigate and prosecute war crimes, yet these obligations have been systematically neglected,” Ali added. “The launch of Global 195 is a necessary legal intervention to remedy this failure. By activating domestic legal mechanisms across multiple jurisdictions, we are ensuring that those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza are subject to legal accountability and no longer have anywhere to hide.”
Huseyin Disli, vice president of the Worldwide Lawyers Association, noted that “no domestic court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli genocide war criminals, exposing the failure of the international legal order” and called the global legal community “incoherent in its goals.”
Israel is currently the subject of an International Court of Justice genocide case filed by South Africa, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant are fugitives from the International Criminal Court, which last November issued arrest warrants over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. However, key nations including the United States—which has not ratified the Rome Statute upon which the ICC is based—have ignored the warrants, and last month the Trump administration imposed sanctions on the tribunal.
Since October 2023, Israeli forces have killed or wounded more than 175,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including people who are missing and presumed dead and buried beneath rubble, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. On Tuesday, Israel unilaterally abandoned an eight-week cease-fire and resumed its assault on Gaza, killing more than 400 people including at least 174 children in airstrikes that wiped out entire families.
United Nations experts, international jurists, human rights groups, and others have found that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, as well as crimes including indiscriminate and disproportionate killing of civilians, extrajudicial killing, torture, sexual violence including rape, use of starvation as a weapon of war, and forced displacement.
The launch of Global 195 follows the establishment last September of the Hind Rajab Foundation, a Belgium-based legal group that pursues arrest warrants for alleged Israeli war criminals traveling abroad. The organization is named after a 6-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed—along with six relatives—by Israeli forces in January 2024 while trying to flee to safety in a car. Two paramedics who tried to rescue her were also killed.
Original article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
Greens repeat call for UK to suspend all arms exports to Israel
Reacting to the resumption of attacks by Israeli forces on Gaza, Ellie Chowns, MP for North Herefordshire and Green Party Foreign Affairs spokesperson, said:
“As Israel returns to its bombardment of Gaza, hundreds more lives have been lost. Families, children, entire communities – gone in an instant. This is horrific. Each of these lives mattered. Each of these deaths was preventable.
“The UK cannot remain complicit while bombs rain down on civilians. The government must act now: we must use all diplomatic means necessary to secure an immediate ceasefire and suspend all arms exports to the Israeli military including components of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which evidence suggests have been used in ways that violate international law and exacerbate the humanitarian crisis. There can be no justification for continuing to supply arms while international law is being violated and humanitarian catastrophe unfolds.
“The people of Gaza are not only facing bombardment – they are also being starved. The blockade is preventing essential food, water, and medical aid from reaching those in desperate need. The UK government must demand the full and immediate flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza and apply real diplomatic pressure to make that happen.
“We also repeat our call for the release of the hostages still held in Gaza. The families of those hostages deserve to see their loved ones return home.
“For too long, the UK has failed to take the necessary steps towards justice and peace. We must formally recognise the State of Palestine – a vital step towards a future based on equality, dignity, and the rule of law.
“The cycle of violence will not end without justice. There must be accountability for war crimes, an end to the occupation, and a real commitment to peace. The UK government must make a stronger stand now, before more lives are lost.”
With unwavering US support, Israel resumes its genocidal assault on Gaza
Original article by Aseel Saleh republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.
Israel resumed its genocidal violence against the people of Gaza a day before the Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu was set to stand trial for corruption and face rallies against his move to dismiss the Shin Bet chief.
Israel resumed its genocidal aggression on Gaza in the early hours of Tuesday, March 18, with a series of airstrikes that killed over 400 Palestinians, many of them women and children. Hundreds more were injured.
Shortly after the attacks were launched, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that Israel consulted the United States on its intention to launch aerial attacks on the besieged enclave.
“As President Trump has made it clear – Hamas, the Houthis, Iran, all those who seek to terrorize not just Israel, but also the United States of America, will see a price to pay. All hell will break loose,” Leavitt emphasized.
Israel determined to continue its genocide
Briefly after the deadly assaults took place in Gaza, Israeli officials delivered statements that confirmed Israel’s intention to proceed with the genocide indefinitely.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a recorded speech on Tuesday that the airstrikes, which targeted Gaza, are “only the beginning” and that all ceasefire talks going forward will be held “under fire”.
Meanwhile, Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened that if Hamas does not release all Israeli captives, “blows will only increase and intensify”.
The resumption of the genocide came after Israel obstructed negotiations on the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire and prisoners for captives swap deal. It also followed more than two weeks of Israel’s full blockade on humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
It’s worth noting that Israel reportedly committed hundreds of violations of the ceasefire agreement in its first phase, which included:
- killing civilians
- home demolitions
- land bulldozing
- preventing displaced persons from returning to their home regions
- military advances beyond the agreed-upon withdrawal lines
- obstructing reconstruction
- airspace violations
- delaying prisoners’ releases
Despite these violations, Hamas continued to accelerate their end of the agreement, releasing more captives than promised in an effort to begin second-phase negotiations in good faith.
Reactions to the resumption of the war
All major Palestinian factions have categorically condemned Israel’s unilateral violation of the ceasefire deal and demanded that the deal’s guarantors and mediators, as well as the rest of the international community take immediate action to stop the return to genocide.
Hamas
For its part, Hamas vehemently condemned Israel’s actions and accused the Trump administration of being complicit in Israel’s resumption of the genocide in Gaza. “The US administration’s admission that it was informed in advance of the Zionist aggression confirms its direct complicity in the war of extermination against our people,” it said in a statement.
“This admission once again reveals America’s blatant complicity and bias towards the occupation, and exposes the falsity of its claims about its commitment to calm,” Hamas added.
“With its unlimited political and military support for the occupation, Washington bears full responsibility for the massacres and killing of women and children in Gaza,” the movement stressed, calling upon the international community to take urgent action “to hold the occupation and its supporters accountable for these crimes against humanity.”
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) held the US accountable as well, labelling it as a partner in the massacres committed by Israel against the Palestinians in Gaza.
Islamic Jihad
For its part, the Islamic Jihad movement confirmed that “the renewed aggression will neither give Israel the upper hand over the resistance nor extricate Netanyahu and his regime from the crises they are escaping from. Rather, it will further weaken them and accumulate more failures, leaving them humiliated and submissive.”
Ansar Allah
The Supreme Political Council of Ansar Allah in Yemen issued a statement holding Israel and the US “fully responsible for violating the ceasefire agreement, thwarting all efforts to move to the second phase, remilitarizing the seas, and escalating tensions in the region.”
The council further warned the two countries “to bear the consequences and repercussions, no matter how severe.”
Ansar Allah’s response was not limited to issuing a statement, as the armed forces affiliated with the movement targeted Israel’s Nevatim airbase in the southern occupied territories on Tuesday, using a Palestine-2 hypersonic ballistic missile.
Hezbollah
Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah issued a statement, denouncing the “US full partnership” and the “shameful silence” of the international community to the decision of “Netanyahu’s terrorist government to turn against the ceasefire and resume the war.”
The Lebanese resistance group pointed out that the renewed aggression “confirms that this rogue entity and the US administration do not respect any commitments and agreements and that they are two sides of the same coin that thirsts for blood and knows only the rhetoric of killing and destruction.”
International condemnation
A number of countries also condemned the resumption of the aggression, or expressed their concern about the repercussions of the escalation in the region, including: China, Russia, Egypt, Qatar, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Türkiye, France, United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, and Australia.
The United Nations, including Secretary-General António Guterres, sharply condemned Israel’s aggression, with Guterres saying he was “outraged” by the airstrikes.
People’s movements and organizations across the globe that have been mobilizing for the past 16 months against Israel’s genocide in Gaza also responded to Israel’s attacks and called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
The International Peoples’ Assembly (IPA) condemned that, “The US has directly supported Israel’s renewed aggression, offering unlimited political and military backing while pushing for further escalation with inflammatory rhetoric and threats. This aggression extends beyond Palestine, with attacks on Yemen, fueling regional tensions and conflict. Meanwhile, the international community remains silent and fails to act on these escalating violations.“ The IPA called for people across the world to mobilize from March 18 to 30 “to reject the escalation of Zionist aggression on the people of Gaza and to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people”.
On March 18, people in major cities in the United States, Morocco, Italy, and other countries, were already on the streets demanding an arms embargo on Israel and a return to the ceasefire.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad mourn leaders, including IJ spokesperson Abu Hamza
Hamas announced in a statement on Tuesday that a number of its governmental leaders were killed in the Israeli attacks across the war-torn strip.
The movement confirmed in a press statement that among those assassinated were the Head of Government Issam al-Dallis, Deputy Minister of Justice Ahmed al-Hitta, Deputy Minister of Interior Major General Mahmoud Abu Wafa, and Director General of the Internal Security Service Major General Bahjat Abu Sultan.
Meanwhile, the Islamic Jihad movement announced the assassination of its iconic masked spokesperson and leader, Naji Abu Seif, who was long known by his nom de guerre Abu Hamza.
Mourning Abu Hamza, the movement said in a statement: “The martyred spokesperson was known as a voice of the resistance, fearing no reproach in his devotion to Allah, eloquent in his speech, and courageous in his heroic positions in defense of the resistance and the rights of our people, never wavering in his stance.”
Netanyahu resumed the war to evade his own political crisis
Several analysts suggest that Netanyahu resorted to resuming the war on Gaza to escape from an imminent political impasse, especially as he was set to testify in his corruption trial on Tuesday.
Taking the resumption of the war as a pretext, Netanyahu submitted a delay request to the concerned court saying: “Hours ago, the IDF commenced a military operation in the Gaza Strip. This morning at 11, an urgent security consultation will take place that will include the prime minister, defense minister and heads of the IDF security apparatus.”
Some consider the war option was also a savior for Netanyahu, as mass demonstrations were planned to take place in Jerusalem during the week to protest his declared intention to fire the chief of the Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) Ronen Bar.
Original article by Aseel Saleh republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.