Nine nations aim to hold Israel accountable for crimes against humanity and implement arms embargo

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Original article by Natalia Marques republished from peoples’ dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Photo via Progressive International

Nine countries including South Africa, Namibia, and Chile formed the Hague Group to hold Israel accountable for its crimes

On Friday, January 31, nine nations took coordinated action to form the Hague Group to hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law in Palestine. Representatives from the governments of Belize, Bolivia, South Africa, Namibia, Colombia, Cuba, Honduras, Malaysia, and Senegal gathered in The Hague, in the Netherlands, to inaugurate the collective action.

Today, nine nations — collectively known as The Hague Group — gathered in The Hague to coordinate legal, diplomatic and economic measures against Israel’s violations of international law. pic.twitter.com/uP1UCMAr4x

— Progressive International (@ProgIntl) January 31, 2025

Jeremy Corbyn, former leader of the United Kingdom’s Labour Party, also joined the representatives at the Hague. “One year after the [International Court of Justice] heard the South African application on the issue of genocide by Israel against the people of Palestine, [nine nations] have declared their support for the outcomes of that legal process,” Corbyn said. These nine nations “are determined to hold Israel to account, and all those nations that are continuing to supply weapons to Israel that are being used in the genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza.” 

Together, the nine nations intend to uphold international law in the face of Israel’s crimes. This is in relation to the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants against both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and the the provisional measures of the International Court of Justice, issued on January 26March 28, and May 24 of last year. The Hague Group also declared its intention to prevent the transfer of arms to the Zionist state “in all cases where there is a clear risk that such arms and related items might be used to commit or facilitate violations of humanitarian law” and also prevent the docking of vessels “in all cases where there is a clear risk of the vessel being used to carry military fuel and weaponry to Israel, which might be used to commit or facilitate violations of humanitarian law, of international human rights law, and of the prohibition on genocide in Palestine.” The nations referenced international action to implement an arms embargo against apartheid South Africa. 

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn explains why he’s at The Hague today as nine nations take co-ordinated action against Israel. pic.twitter.com/8lnOcRTXTw

— The National (@ScotNational) January 31, 2025

“We will take further effective measures to end Israeli occupation of the State of Palestine and remove obstacles to the realisation of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, including the right to their independent State of Palestine,” read a joint statement issued by the representatives inaugurating the Hague Group. The representatives issued a call for other nations to join the Group “in the solemn commitment to an international order based on the rule of law and international law, which, together with the principles of justice, is essential for peaceful coexistence and cooperation among States.”

Original article by Natalia Marques republished from peoples’ dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Continue ReadingNine nations aim to hold Israel accountable for crimes against humanity and implement arms embargo

Government refuses to answer MPs’ questions on Gaza genocide

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Image of Jeremy Corbyn MP, former leader of the Labour Party
Jeremy Corbyn MP, former leader of the Labour Party

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/government-refuses-answer-mps-questions-gaza-genocide

FORMER Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn MP has criticised the government for “making no attempt” to answer MPs’ questions over its complicity in the Gaza genocide.

A five-strong pro-Palestine group of MPs, forming the Independent Alliance parliamentary group, has asked for the government’s definition of genocide, what advice it has received over its applicability in Gaza and what it was doing to fulfil its legal obligations to prevent genocide.

In letters sent to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, Foreign Secretary David Lammy and the Attorney General Richard Hermer, they also asked whether RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus, is being used as a route for weapons to be deployed in Gaza and what legal advice the government has received over its use to support Israeli military operations.

Replying to Mr Corbyn two months after the letters were sent, Middle East minister Hamish Falconer did not address the questions.

Mr Corbyn shared a copy of The Independent Alliance’s written response to Mr Falconer on social media.

It said: “We are extremely disappointed that you’ve made no attempt whatsoever to answer any of these questions.

“It remains unknown whether the government has refused to seek legal advice over the definition of genocide, or whether the legal advice it has received is at direct odds with the statement the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary have made.”

They added that it is “particularly concerning” that the government failed to provide any detail on how it has met its obligations to prevent genocide.

“We say again: we deserve to know the full scale of our government’s complicity and participation in genocide,” it added.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/government-refuses-answer-mps-questions-gaza-genocide

UK Foreign Minister David Lammy confirms that UK government and military are active participants in Israel’s genocides and that the F-35 parts that they suspended from supplying to Israel are instead simply diverted via the United States. He says see https://youtu.be/QILgUHrdWRE
UK Foreign Minister David Lammy confirms that UK government and military are active participants in Israel’s genocides and that the F-35 parts that they suspended from supplying to Israel are instead simply diverted via the United States. He says see https://youtu.be/QILgUHrdWRE
Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
Continue ReadingGovernment refuses to answer MPs’ questions on Gaza genocide

Israel’s ‘genocide general’ welcomed in London – and the media yawns

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https://www.declassifieduk.org/israels-genocide-general-welcomed-in-london-and-the-media-yawns/

General Basyuk (second from right) with Netanyahu and Gallant – both wanted by the ICC. (Photo: GPO)

Why is it only Declassified seeking to hold to account General Basyuk, who oversaw Israel’s slaughter in Gaza, as he meets UK officials?

Last week, Declassified UK carried out one of the fundamental duties of journalism. Its reporter Alex Morris sought to hold accountable a war crimes suspect evading justice. And not just any suspect.

Morris doorstepped Major General Oded Basyuk as he led an Israeli military delegation through the streets of London in meetings with the Ministry of Defence and the Royal United Services Institute, a UK “security think-tank” with close ties to the British government.

Basyuk, sometimes spelt Basiuk, heads the Israeli military’s operations directorate, whose responsibilities have included the development of the military strategy that guided Israel’s brutal 15-month assault on Gaza.

The International Court of Justice ruled a year ago that a “plausible” case had been made that Israel was committing a genocide in Gaza. Israel has effectively been on trial ever since.

Further, Britain’s universal jurisdiction laws mean serious crimes can be prosecuted in the UK wherever they occurred, and separately from the ICC. A private application for his arrest could have been issued while he was here.

The only plausible answer is that the government of Keir Starmer gave him a gold-plated assurance that he would not be arrested under any circumstances during his visit.

That is precisely what happened back in November when Israel’s now-outgoing military chief of staff, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, visited Britain to meet officials from the Ministry of Defence and Foreign Office.

Starmer’s government issued Halevi with diplomatic immunity – a so-called “special mission certificate” – that blocked any possibility of legal redress against him.

As a signatory to the Rome Statute, it should be noted, Britain is legally obliged to enforce an arrest warrant issued by the ICC, though it has equivocated about whether in practice it would carry out an arrest of either Netanyahu or Gallant, if put to the test.

See the original article at https://www.declassifieduk.org/israels-genocide-general-welcomed-in-london-and-the-media-yawns/

Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
Continue ReadingIsrael’s ‘genocide general’ welcomed in London – and the media yawns

UK has been ‘active participant in Israel’s genocide in Gaza’, new report claims

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https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250128-uk-has-been-active-participant-in-israels-genocide-in-gaza-new-report-claims

The UK has been an active participant in Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza for the last 15 months, a new report published by the British Palestinian Committee (BPC) reveals today.

The 22-page document entitled ‘British military collaboration with Israel’ says: “The UK has not simply failed to meet its third-party responsibilities to uphold international law, including its duty to prevent genocide, but has been an active participant in Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza for the last 15 months.”

Cataloguing evidence of the “many layers of collaboration between the UK and Israel in this genocidal project”, the report details the UK’s active involvement in the Israeli arms industry, British provisions of logistical support and weapons transfers to the Israeli military, British protection of Israel’s military infrastructure, direct military intervention from the UK in Yemen to support Israel’s goals and repeated, ongoing intelligence provision from the UK to Israel via surveillance flights.

BPC Director, Dr Sara Husseini, said: “This report shows that UK complicity in Israel’s crimes goes far beyond arms sales.”

Highlighting the International Court of Justice (ICJ)’s ruling that Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to “plausible genocide”, Husseini added: “As the world looked on in horror, Israel continued its genocidal aggression in Gaza for a further 12 months. The UK has provided active military assistance to Israel throughout.”

This, she continued, implicates “its institutions and officials in the gravest breaches of international law.”

READ: Israel transfers military equipment to Syrian demilitarised zone

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

UK Foreign Minister David Lammy confirms that UK government and military are active participants in Israel’s genocides and that the F-35 parts that they suspended from supplying to Israel are instead simply diverted via the United States. He says see https://youtu.be/QILgUHrdWRE
UK Foreign Minister David Lammy confirms that UK government and military are active participants in Israel’s genocides and that the F-35 parts that they suspended from supplying to Israel are instead simply diverted via the United States. He says see https://youtu.be/QILgUHrdWRE
Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
Continue ReadingUK has been ‘active participant in Israel’s genocide in Gaza’, new report claims

‘This is Ethnic Cleansing’: Trump’s Idea for Jordan and Egypt to Take Gazans Triggers Outrage

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Original article by Eloise Goldsmith republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

A picture painted on the rubble of houses by a Palestinian artist who returned home after the cease-fire and hostage-prisoner swap deal between Hamas and Israel on January 20, 2025. (Photo by Mahmoud Bassam/Anadolu via Getty Images)

After Trump floated a plan to “clean out” Gaza, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that “the idea of helping [Gazans] find other places to start new, better lives is a great idea.”

Speaking to reporters Saturday, U.S. President Donald Trump said he would like to see most of the population of war-torn Gaza be relocated to Jordan and Egypt, a plan that a number of observers said was tantamount to ethnic cleansing. Trump made the remarks the same day that he lifted a Biden-era hold on the supply of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel.

“I’d like Egypt to take people. And I’d like Jordan to take people,” Trump said, according to the Financial Times. “You’re talking about a million and half people, and we just clean out that whole thing.” Gaza’s population was 2.2 million in 2023.

“‘Clean out’ is barely even a euphemism. This is ethnic cleansing, call it what it is,” wrote Assal Rad, the author of a book on modern Iran, on X, reacting to an Associated Press article about Trump’s comments.

The independent reporter Talia Jane wrote: “What’s it called when you clean out an ethnic group from a region.”

“He’s just openly endorsing/encouraging ethnic cleansing,” wrote the journalist Mehdi Hasan on Saturday. Others chimed in with similar remarks.

Trump’s comments were made nearly a week after a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas went into effect, halting 15 months of war that was triggered by a Hamas deadly attack on Israel in October, 2023 and which left tens of thousands of Palestinians dead, according to local health officials.

Homes, shelter, and infrastructure has also been largely decimated in the Gaza Strip by Israel’s military campaign there. Trump said that Gaza is “literally a demolition site right now. Almost everything’s demolished and people are dying there, so I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing in a different location where I think they could maybe live in peace for a change,” per CNN.

“What the occupation has failed to achieve through its criminal bombardment and genocide in Gaza will not be implemented through political pressures,” said independent Palestinian politician Mustafa Barghouti, according to CNN. “The conspiracy of ethnic cleansing will not succeed in Gaza or the West Bank.”

Trump also told reporters that he had already discussed the idea to relocate Gazans with King Abdullah of Jordan on Saturday. He said he planned to bring up the plan during a Sunday phone call with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah A-Sisi.

Trump’s proposal would be a departure from the United States’ official position of forging a negotiated “two state solution” for Israel and Palestine, although some say that the United States’ policies towards the region, including the nearly unqualified support for Israel during its campaign in Gaza, have undercut that goal.

Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich endorsed Trump’s remarks, according to CNN, saying “the idea of helping [Gazans] find other places to start new, better lives is a great idea.”

Original article by Eloise Goldsmith republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Continue Reading‘This is Ethnic Cleansing’: Trump’s Idea for Jordan and Egypt to Take Gazans Triggers Outrage