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France Asks Top Prosecutor to Probe Alleged Israeli Abuse of Gaza Flotilla Members

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Article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Global Sumud Flotilla member Meriem Hadjal speaks to the press after arriving at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris on May 22, 2026. (Photo by Firas Abdullah/Anadolu via Getty Images)

French nationals and people from dozens of countries who were abducted from the Global Sumud Flotilla say they were beaten, tortured, and sexually assaulted by their Israeli captors.

France’s government on Friday asked prosecutors to investigate Israel’s alleged mistreatment of French nationals aboard the last Global Sumud Flotilla, which was intercepted earlier this month in international waters while trying to break the illegal decadeslong Israeli blockade of Gaza.

“Based on ⁠a report I requested from our Consul General in Turkey—who informed me of sexual violence, exposure to the cold, beatings, and repeated humiliation of French nationals—all of these acts are likely to constitute criminal offenses,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said during an interview with France Inter, adding, “I decided yesterday to refer the matter to the public prosecutor.”

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The move follows France’s indefinite ban from its territory of far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who posted a video on social media showing him joyfully humiliating detained activists, journalists, and others who were mostly kneeling with their hands tied behind their backs and their foreheads forced to the ground following the May 18 interception of flotilla vessels off the coast of Cyprus and the abduction of all aboard.

“We cannot tolerate that French nationals can be threatened, intimidated, or brutalized in this way—all the more so by a public official,” Barrot said last week.

People from around 40 countries—including 37 French nationals—were seized from dozens of flotilla vessels and held in harsh conditions on what many of them called a “torture boat.”

According to Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF): “Detained humanitarians, doctors, and journalists were processed one by one through a darkened shipping container. Inside, groups of three to five soldiers systematically brutalized each person who came through the door while those waiting outside listened to the screams.”

French medical professional Meriem Hadjal said she was “subjected to torture” in the container, where at least one Israeli soldier allegedly sexually assaulted her.

“We were treated like animals,” Hadjal added, accusing her Israeli captors of “sadism.”

GSF said Tuesday that “legal proceedings are now active in Turkey, Italy, and Spain, with Italian prosecutors opening an investigation into kidnapping and sexual assault” of flotilla members.

Numerous national governments condemned Israel’s treatment of the flotilla abductees, including the United States. US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said that Ben-Gvir “betrayed the dignity” of his nation, which receives billions of dollars in annual armed aid and diplomatic cover from the United States to carry out what many experts say is a genocidal war on Gaza.

Malaysia is reportedly preparing to initiate proceedings against Israel at the International Court of Justice over the abduction and alleged torture of its citizens, 29 of whom were aboard the flotilla. The ICJ is currently weighing a genocide case against Israel filed by South Africa and formally supported by nearly 20 nations.

“We will not remain silent, we will not stop. While the legal team gathers all documentation on violations of international law; they were kidnapped more than once, they were tortured,” Amirudin Shari, chief minister of the Malaysian state of Selangor, said during a homecoming ceremony for the flotilla members at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

Israeli troops have physically and psychologically tortured past flotilla abductees. Dozens of members of the previous Global Sumud mission required medical attention for broken ribs, noses, and other injuries inflicted by Israeli forces. In 2010, Israeli troops killed nine activists aboard one of the first-ever Gaza flotillas, including Turkish-American teenager Furkan Doğan.

As some countries pursue justice for flotilla members, others have declined to act. In the United Kingdom, Zarah Sultana, who represents Coventry South for the socialist Your Party in Parliament, is demanding “urgent action” in the wake of abuse allegations made by British flotilla abductees.

“France is acting. Spain is showing leadership. Where is the UK government?” Sultana said Friday on X. “Nothing but a simp for Israel, a genocidal apartheid state.”

Article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Continue ReadingFrance Asks Top Prosecutor to Probe Alleged Israeli Abuse of Gaza Flotilla Members

Socialist Party of Malaysia demands Trump invitation be withdrawn, calls him a genocide enabler

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

Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim receives a courtesy call from the United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, at the Parliament Building in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. July 10, 2025. Photo: Izzuddin Abd Radzak/Office of the Prime Minister

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has been vocal against Israeli war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza and even demanded Israel’s expulsion from the UN.

The Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) condemned Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim for inviting US President Donald Trump to the country, calling it a betrayal to the Palestinian people who have faced the US-backed Israeli genocide in Gaza for almost two years now.

The statement, released by Choo Chon Kai, a central committee member of the PSM on Tuesday, July 15, claims that Trump’s invitation undermines all efforts by the government and the Malaysian people to express solidarity with Palestine.

PSM claimed that the Israeli massacre of Palestinians in Gaza would not have been possible without the active support of the US, both in terms of political backing and military supplies, and therefore Malaysia must not play host to the genocide enablers.

“There shall be no business as usual with the US administration until the world has put an end to the genocide against the Palestinian people,” PSM demanded.

“Genocide enablers”

Over 57,000 Palestinians, mostly children and women, have been killed and hundreds of thousands wounded in the Israeli war on Gaza which began on October 7, 2023. Israel has continuously bombed the besieged Palestinian territory, indiscriminately targeting houses, hospitals, schools, and other civilian infrastructure, displacing almost all of the pre-war Gaza population. It has also imposed a blockade on the supply of humanitarian aid into the territory, starving people and causing further deaths due to lack of medicine and other essential supplies.

Recently, the US and Israel co-launched an aid program in Gaza, after blocking the UN and other aid agencies. The US-Israeli aid program has been accused of facilitating fresh killings of hundreds of Palestinians while they seek aid at these distribution sites.

The US has blocked various ceasefire resolutions in the UN Security Council and suppressed countries, movements, and even individuals from expressing their disapproval of the Israeli actions in Gaza.

The US continues to supply billions of dollars worth of weapons to Israel to carry out its military operations in Gaza and several other neighboring countries, such as Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen.

The US, under the Trump administration, has also cracked down on the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which declared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and some other officials war criminals for carrying out systemic violations of human rights in the Palestinian territory.

Trump has threatened to depopulate Gaza and has arrested students leading protests against Israel’s crimes. It has recently sanctioned UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese for her documentation of Israel’s war crimes and atrocities.

Hypocrisy of Malaysian government

Malaysia has been a vocal critic of the Israeli war and has even officially supported South Africa’s genocide case against Israel in the ICJ. Ibrahim has repeatedly called for Israel’s expulsion from the UN over its repeated violations of resolutions and war crimes in Gaza.

Malaysia is also a member of the Hague group which is hosting a summit in Bogotá, Colombia, on July 15-16, seeking an urgent end to the Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. The Hague group was formed in January to follow and implement ICJ verdicts on the war in Gaza.

PSM notes that “the Trump administration has shown its unwavering support for Israel’s expansionism and recently joined Israel’s war against Iran” by directly bombing its nuclear facilities in complete violations of international laws.

“A top government leader who enabled and supported genocide, like Donald Trump, should be treated as a persona non grata rather than invited as a guest for a money-wasting diplomatic show,” PSM asserted.

Trump was invited by Ibrahim himself, who made the invitation to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio last week. Trump was also invited to join the ASEAN-US summit in October.

“It is also a sheer hypocrisy for a government to express solidarity with the Palestinian people while posing friendly gestures to the accomplice of the genocidal crime against the Palestinian people,” PSM underlined in the statement.

“We urge the government of Malaysia to retract the invitation to Donald Trump to visit Malaysia. We also called upon the government of Malaysia, as the chair of ASEAN this year, to cancel the ASEAN-US Summit as a symbolic protest against the US complicity in the genocide against Palestinian people.”

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

Continue ReadingSocialist Party of Malaysia demands Trump invitation be withdrawn, calls him a genocide enabler

12 countries commit to arms embargo on Israel to stop its attacks on Gaza

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

Hague Group Summit in Bogotá, Colombia. Photo: Abby Martin

In the final document, the signatory countries commit, among other things, to cease arms trade with Israel, review public contracts with that country, and seek accountability for war crimes.

Countries of the Global South have expressed their solidarity with the Palestinian people at the Emergency Ministerial Conference on Palestine organized by The Hague Group, which took place on July 15 and 16 in Bogotá, Colombia. The multilateral meeting was attended by representatives from Algeria, Bangladesh, Botswana, Brazil, Chile, China, Djibouti, Egypt, Slovenia, Spain, Honduras, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Mexico, Namibia, Nicaragua, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, South Africa, Turkey, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

Regarding the meeting, Colombia’s deputy secretary of state, Mauricio Jaramillo, said: “This conference is being convened by the Hague Group, but it is not an exclusive meeting of this group. Given the urgency of what is happening in the occupied territories, especially in Gaza, where today, for example, we have passed the threshold of 58,000 fatalities, we must commit ourselves to action.”

The conference, which was organized by the governments of Colombia and South Africa and attended by 30 countries, agreed that: “The era of impunity must end – and that international law must be enforced without fear or favor through immediate domestic policies and legislation – along with a unified call for an immediate ceasefire.”

The agreements

According to an official press release, the meeting laid out several measures to stop the genocide in Gaza:

  1. Prevent the provision or transfer of arms, munitions, military fuel, related military equipment, and dual-use items to Israel.
  2. Prevent the transit, docking, and servicing of vessels at any port … in all cases where there is a clear risk of the vessel being used to carry arms, munitions, military fuel, related military equipment, and dual-use items to Israel.
  3. Prevent the carriage of arms, munitions, military fuel, related military equipment, and dual-use items to Israel on vessels bearing our flag … and ensure full accountability, including de-flagging, for non-compliance with this prohibition.
  4. Commence an urgent review of all public contracts to prevent public institutions and funds from supporting Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian Territory and entrenching its unlawful presence.
  5. Comply with obligations to ensure accountability for the most serious crimes under international law, through robust, impartial, and independent investigations and prosecutions at national or international levels, to ensure justice for all victims and the prevention of future crimes.
  6. Support universal jurisdiction mandates, as and where applicable in national legal frameworks and judiciaries, to ensure justice for victims of international crimes committed in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Although 30 countries attended the meeting, only 12 countries committed to immediately complying with the agreements outlined in the final declaration: Bolivia, Cuba, Colombia, Indonesia, Iraq, Libya, Malaysia, Namibia, Nicaragua, Oman, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and South Africa. The others expected to join them by September 20, 2025 – the date of the 80th UN General Assembly. The group will also be consulting various other states on an ongoing basis for participation in the measures against Israel.

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro stated: “We came to Bogotá to make history — and we did … Together, we have begun the work of ending the era of impunity. These measures show that we will no longer allow international law to be treated as optional, or Palestinian life as disposable.”

“What we have achieved here is a collective affirmation that no state is above the law … The Hague Group was born to advance international law in an era of impunity. The measures adopted in Bogotá show that we are serious — and that coordinated state action is possible,” said South African Secretary of State Ronald Lamola.

The final agreement is historic as it is the first multilateral agreement that seeks to influence the Israeli government’s actions in its offensive against Gaza. In this sense, it is the first time that several countries have challenged the apparent immunity of the Israeli state in its actions in Gaza, which could have unpredictable diplomatic repercussions. It could also become the starting point for other countries to demand an end to the violence in Palestine jointly.

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

Continue Reading12 countries commit to arms embargo on Israel to stop its attacks on Gaza

Turkey, Malaysia Back South Africa’s ICJ Genocide Case Against Israel

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

A man holds both Palestinian and Turkish flags at a rally in Istanbul on January 1, 2024.  (Photo: Ilker Eray/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

“Israel’s murder of more than 22,000 Palestinian civilians, the majority of whom were women and children, in Gaza for nearly three months should not go unpunished in any way,” said a Turkish spokesperson.

South Africa is no longer alone in bringing its claim of genocide by the Israeli government to the International Court of Justice, following announcements from the Turkish Foreign Ministry and the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that they support the case.

Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oncu Keceli said Wednesday that those responsible for the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza since October 7 “must be held accountable before international law.”

“Israel’s murder of more than 22,000 Palestinian civilians, the majority of whom were women and children, in Gaza for nearly three months should not go unpunished in any way,” Keceli said. “We hope that the process will be completed as soon as possible.”

The ICJ is scheduled to hear the case on January 11-12. Israeli representatives are expected to appear at the hearing.

International rights groups issued a call on Wednesday for other countries to file Declarations of Intervention at the court, whose authority Israel recognizes, to bolster South Africa’s case.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said it expects “that within the framework of this application, the ICJ will decide on provisional measures involving those to stop Israel’s attacks on Gaza.”

The Malaysia Ministry of Foreign Affairs said late Tuesday that it “welcomes the application by South Africa instituting proceedings against Israel… concerning the violations by Israel of its obligations under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in relation to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”

A spokesperson for the South African Foreign Ministry told The Jerusalem Post that it expects other countries to soon follow Turkey and Malaysia’s lead and back its case.

In its 84-page complaint, South Africa detailed the genocidal intent that’s been displayed in numerous public statements by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog, and other top officials, as well as Israel’s bombardment of civilian targets and forced displacement of civilians.

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

Continue ReadingTurkey, Malaysia Back South Africa’s ICJ Genocide Case Against Israel