The World Knows Israel Is Committing Genocide in Gaza
This article was originally posted 6/12/24 but was deleted probably by mistake.
Original article by Ramzy Baroud republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
And no amount of Israeli or U.S. government propaganda will change that.
The ongoing war and genocide in Gaza is unprecedented. Nothing that Israel and its supporters can say or do will avoid the historical accountability of the extermination of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.
The above assertion is critical, both for ending the Israeli occupation of Palestine and achieving Palestinian freedom. This is why.
In all past wars and adjoining war crimes, Israel managed to push the reset button in its relationship with occupied Palestinians.
Following each war, the Israeli hasbara, propaganda machine, would start – utilizing the always-willing western mainstream media – to paint Palestinians in a negative light and to present Israel, a country that is supposedly in a permanent state of self-defense, as the victim, or even the lone defender of western civilization.
This campaign is always paralleled with the whitewashing of Israel in popular entertainment, from Hollywood movies to TV sit-coms, to magazine covers with such titles as “Gorgeous Photos Capture The Unseen Lives Of Female Soldiers In Israel”.
Generally, Western politicians of varied ideologies, along with intellectuals, news talking heads and church leaders all praise, in tandem, the miracle that is Israel.
At the beginning of Israel’s genocidal war in October 2023, for example, British playwright Tom Stoppard said that “before we take up a position on what’s happening now, we should consider whether this is a fight over territory or a struggle between civilization and barbarism.” He, of course, leaned towards the latter.
This Israeli tactic always includes the demonization of Palestinians as well, where the victim becomes the ‘terrorist’ and those under siege become the besiegers. This last claim, in particular, was expressed in the words of former US Secretary of State Madeline Albright who said, in an interview with NBC in August 2000, that “the Israelis feel under siege from the Palestinian rock throwers and the various gangs that have been roaming around.”
Why will those same Israeli tactics fail this time? Indeed, they will fail, not due to Israel’s lack of trying. In fact, Israel is already bracing for the fight of a lifetime.
One new tactic that Israel is already employing in ‘friendly’ countries, like the United States, is the passing of laws to block the mere conversation on the Israeli genocide in Gaza, so that it will have exclusive access to the American public.
On November 14, the US House of Representatives passed two bills: H.R.6408 and H.R.9495. The latter, in particular, aimed at giving the Treasury Secretary the authorization to revoke an organization’s tax-exempt status and decide when the designation would end.
Now, there can be no reset buttons. Rather, the global momentum of Palestine’s liberation will accelerate in the coming months and years.
Once these bills pass the Senate and are approved by the president, the most democratic and peaceful expressions of rejecting the Israeli occupation of Palestine and demanding sensible US foreign policy will be equated to a direct violation of the law and, in some cases, to terrorism – as defined by the Department of Treasury, at the behest of the pro-Israeli lobby.
But even these desperate attempts will not quell the anger or distract from the conversation, for the following reasons:
One, not only did Israel commit genocide in the Gaza Strip, but this genocide and extermination are being investigated and are acknowledged by the world’s largest legal institutions, namely the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Two, unlike previous investigations, for example, the Goldstone Report probing the 2008-09 war on Gaza, the international community has already taken some practical steps to hold Israeli war criminals accountable, including an arrest warrant issued on November 21 against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Three, those who routinely come to Israel’s defense, the US and other Western governments, are now directly clashing with the very international law they helped articulate after World War II, depriving them of any credibility as ‘neutral’ parties in this conflict.
For example, Biden said that the warrants were “outrageous” while the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs claimed that Netanyahu and other ministers enjoy immunity since Israel is not a party to the ICC.
Four, despite the inherent bias of western media, Palestinian journalists, isolated and killed in large numbers, managed to communicate the genocide to the rest of the world, making it impossible for Israel to hide its crimes.
Five, the impact of the Israeli genocide on Gaza has already penetrated the various layers of public opinion, unprecedented in history.
Typically, the conversation on Palestine is confined to specific strata of society, reaching academics, social justice activists and other groups interested in politics and global issues.
Today, ordinary people have been made aware of the conversation, to the extent that it is widely believed that anger over Gaza has contributed in determining the outcome of the latest US elections.
In Africa, the growing political and public interest in the Palestinian struggle have re-enlivened the spirit of anti-colonial, liberation struggles on the continent, bringing many countries, from South Africa to Algeria, back to the frontlines of global solidarity.
No amount of Israeli propaganda, unjust laws, unfair categorizations of Palestinians or the hardly-clad models of the IDF, will ever succeed in reversing these realities.
Now, there can be no reset buttons. Rather, the global momentum of Palestine’s liberation will accelerate in the coming months and years.
The price exacted from the Palestinian people for this earth-shattering moment has been high and painful, but the history of all national liberation struggles, Palestine included, demonstrates that the price for freedom is always high.
Original article by Ramzy Baroud republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
US use of ‘Hague Invasion Act’ to threaten ICC sparks backlash
This article was originally posted 6/12/24 but was deleted probably by mistake.
US officials have sparked controversy by invoking the so-called “Hague Invasion Act” in response to the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his former Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, Anadolu Agency reports.
Matthew Hoh, Associate Director of the Eisenhower Media Network – a group of former US military, intelligence and national security officials that provides analysis of Washington’s foreign policy — criticised the threats for Anadolu, highlighting their implications for international law.
Hoh reflected on the origins of the act and its renewed relevance following the decision by the ICC.
The 2002 law, officially titled the “American Service-Members’ Protection Act,” was enacted during President George W. Bush’s administration to shield the US and its allied nationals from ICC prosecution.
Known informally as the “Hague Invasion Act”, it authorises the US to use all means, including force, to protect its nationals from ICC jurisdiction.
Hoh explained that the legislation was originally designed to block ICC investigations into potential US war crimes.
OPINION: The US President is authorised to invade The Hague if any Israeli is held by the ICC
The ICC’s past investigations into US personnel in Afghanistan drew similar threats, with the US imposing sanctions on the Court and its officials.
He said the law resurfaced in the American Congress after the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant.
‘Decision-makers within the US are doing to hasten the end of the US Empire’
Hoh criticised the US response as an overreach to protect Israel.
“The US has, within its own law, the authorisation to use military force against institutions like the ICC,” he said. “Certainly this action […] contravenes the US’ own stated desires, its own slogans [..]. that it believes in such things as international law.”
Hoh also noted the broader implications of the US’ confrontational approach toward the ICC.
“By doing this, by reacting this way to the International Criminal Court and by requiring its allies to do so, it is giving more credence, more validity, more reason for alternative institutions, alternative mechanisms, alternative alliances to grow and expand against the American Empire,” he said. “Decision-makers within the US are doing to hasten the end of the US Empire.”
Double standards in the US approach to the ICC have drawn further scrutiny. Hoh pointed out the stark contrast in US reactions to ICC warrants against Russian President, Vladimir Putin, and Netanyahu.
“When the ICC issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, the Americans across the board, political class, media class, military class, so on and so forth, were excited about that development and they were very pleased to see the arrest warrants,” he said.
When it comes to Israel, the response is different, he noted.
Hoh said the West sees international law as a tool not to be used against those in power. He argued it is there to be used against those in the “developing world, those who do not have power, those who are not within the upper levels in the imperial world order.”
He added that international law is meant to keep people other than “white people” in check, to keep nations out of power and under the subjugation of the existing world order.
READ: US Senator threatens military action against ICC after Netanyahu arrest warrant
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Government forced to review ‘legally untenable’ F-35 exports
This article was originally posted 6/12/24 but was deleted, probably my mistake.
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/government-forced-review-legally-untenable-f-35-exports
THE government has been forced to review its decision to export F-35 fighter jet components to Israel, legal groups announced today.
Global Legal Action Network (Glan) and Al-Haq wrote to the government last month, threatening to file an emergency injunction over its failure to revoke licences for all arms to the country as it continues its genocide in Gaza.
Labour eventually moved to suspend just 30 out of 350 arms exports in September, but components for F-35s, which have dropped 2,000lb bombs on Gaza, were exempt.
In the High Court last month, the government admitted that there was a “clear risk” that the components could be used by Israel to violate international humanitarian law.
But it continued to export them anyway after Defence Secretary John Healey warned that it would disrupt the global supply programme they are part of and “undermine US confidence in the UK.”
Glan and Al-Haq said that they have now been notified that the government is reconsidering its decision.
Glan lawyer Dearbhla Minogue said: “The position they took is, in our estimation, legally untenable and we hope they will finally do the only reasonable thing — stop the transfer of any British weapons for use by Israel against Palestinians.”
…
Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/government-forced-review-legally-untenable-f-35-exports
Israel military warns 30 troops against travel abroad amid legal cases over Gaza war crimes
Israel’s military has warned dozens of its personnel who participated in the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip to avoid foreign travel after complaints were filed against them for war crimes.
According to the Israeli outlet, Ynet News, the Israeli military’s warning was given to around 30 soldiers and officers who fought in Gaza and who had then travelled abroad to countries including Cyprus, Slovenia and the Netherlands.
At least eight of those personnel were reportedly ordered to immediately depart from those foreign nations due to apparent fears they could be arrested or questioned, after human rights organisations and pro-Palestinian groups filed complaints against them over their war crimes in Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
The cases filed against Israeli leaders and military personnel number in the dozens, with a notable organisation involved in the legal work being the Hind Rajab Foundation – named after the five-year-old Palestinian girl killed by Israeli forces in Gaza back in January this year – which filed a landmark challenge targeting 1,000 Israeli soldiers.
READ: War crimes complaint filed against Israel’s military attaché in Belgium
According to the Turkish news outlet, Anadolu Agency, the Foundation’s lawyer, Haroon Raza, told it that the “case includes all types of charges of war crimes specified in the Rome Statute”, explaining that the list includes “the crime of starvation, the crime of attacking civilians, crime of attacking civilian objects, et cetera.”
The case is also reportedly supported by a mass of evidence, with the Foundation’s website stating that “over 8,000 pieces of verifiable evidence – including videos, audio recordings, forensic reports and social media documentation – demonstrates the soldiers’ direct involvement in these atrocities”.
The statement added that all of the soldiers named and identified – largely through their own social media presence and boasts of their exploits – “were located in Gaza during the genocidal assault, and the evidence reveals their participation in violations of international law.”
While the Israeli military does not bar soldiers en masse from travelling abroad as a general policy, it reportedly actively takes a “risk assessment” for troops who served in Gaza before approving their request.
OPINION: Prosecution of dual-national Israeli soldiers
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