war crimes

Spanish Minister Says Netanyahu Should Be Brought Before ICC for War Crimes

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

Spanish Minister of Social Rights Ione Belarra delivers a statement on October 16, 2023. (Photo: Ione Belarra/Twitter.com)

“Using the horrific murders of Israeli civilians by Palestinian armed factions as an excuse to justify Israel’s crimes in general and the massacre in Gaza in particular is unacceptable,” said Spain’s minister of social rights.

Spain’s minister of social rights released a statement Monday calling on her country’s coalition government to petition the International Criminal Court to open a war crimes investigation into Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, citing the ongoing aerial bombardment of the Gaza Strip and the devastating blockade that has prevented the free flow of desperately needed humanitarian aid.

“Using the horrific murders of Israeli civilians by Palestinian armed factions as an excuse to justify Israel’s crimes in general and the massacre in Gaza in particular is unacceptable,” Ione Belarra, the leader of Spain’s left-wing Podemos party, said in a video statement posted to social media.

“We ask our partner, the Socialist Party, to work together to present on behalf of the government of Spain a petition to the prosecutor’s office of the International Criminal Court to investigate the war crimes committed in Palestine by Netanyahu, as was done recently in the case of the Spanish aid worker murdered in the Ukrainian war, as well as those perpetrated by Hamas in Israel and occupied territories against the civilian population,” said Belarra, who also called for immediate efforts to protect civilians and negotiate an end to the violence.

Israel is not a member state of the ICC, but the top prosecutor for the Netherlands-based court toldReuters last week that war crimes carried out by Hamas and the Israeli government fall under the body’s jurisdiction.

“It’s horrendous what’s going on, what we’re seeing on our television screens. There has to be a legal process to determine criminal responsibility,” said Karim Khan. “Willful killing, hostage-taking are grave breaches of the Geneva Convention and one has to comply with the law.”

In the wake of Hamas’ deadly October 7 attack on Israel, the Netanyahu government began what international human rights groups and legal experts have described as a campaign of collective punishment, bombarding the densely populated Gaza Strip, devastating civilian infrastructure, and cutting off the enclave’s supply of food, electricity, fuel, and other critical supplies.

Israeli officials have admitted that the assault on Gaza is primarily geared toward inflicting massive damage, not on precisely targeting Hamas.

More than 2,600 people in Gaza have been killed since Israel’s bombing campaign began and more than a million have been displaced. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) warned Sunday that the Israeli airstrikes and blockade have sparked “an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe” as Gaza’s healthcare system nears total collapse.

On Friday, the Israeli government ordered the entire population of northern Gaza—more than a million people—to evacuate ahead of an expected ground invasion, a demand that prompted global outrage. Rights groups said the directive could amount to the war crime of forcible transfer, given that Gazans have been given no guarantee of safe passage or clear assurance that they will be able to return to their homes.

Israeli bombing on Monday reportedly dashed hopes of a temporary agreement to allow people to flee Gaza and let humanitarian aid enter through a border crossing between Egypt and the occupied territory.

In her remarks on Monday, Belarra decried the complicity of European governments and the United States—Israel’s primary supplier of weaponry—in the devastating attack on Gaza and urged the E.U. to “stop blindly following” the U.S.

“The United States and the European Union are not looking the other way or acting in a neutral manner, they are encouraging the state of Israel in its policy of apartheid and occupation that seriously violates human rights,” said Belarra. “Using Hamas as an excuse to murder thousands of Palestinian civilians, including children, is unspeakable hypocrisy on the part of both Israel and the countries that justify it.”

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

Continue ReadingSpanish Minister Says Netanyahu Should Be Brought Before ICC for War Crimes

Amnesty International cricises Rishi Sunak for failing to mention Palestinian deaths

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Image of UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak
Rish! Sunak

In response to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s latest comments on the escalating conflict between Israel and Hamas, Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK’s Chief Executive, said:

“It is right that Rishi Sunak has expressed horror at the cruel and brutal crimes against Israeli civilians committed by Hamas a week ago, which showed a chilling disregard for life and included war crimes. 

“But for the Prime Minister not to mention the Palestinian civilians killed due to Israeli airstrikes or include any call for all parties to the conflict to uphold international humanitarian law, is deeply troubling. 

“Israel’s massive bombing campaign in Gaza has already killed at least 1,900 people and injured more than 8,000. The collective punishment of Gaza’s civilian population through restricting water, fuel, food and electricity is a war crime, and the Israeli army’s order to people in northern Gaza to ‘evacuate’ amounts to forced displacement.

“Now more than ever, world leaders should urgently pressure all parties to uphold international humanitarian law consistently and without double standards. The protection of all civilians – Israeli and Palestinian – must be prioritised.”

Continue ReadingAmnesty International cricises Rishi Sunak for failing to mention Palestinian deaths

Israel Accused of ‘Blatant War Crime’ as HRW Confirms White Phosphorus Used in Gaza

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An Israeli white phosphorus round (right) airbursts over densely populated Gaza City, Palestine on October 11, 2023. 
(Photo: Ali Jadallah/Anadolu via Getty Images)

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

“Any time that white phosphorus is used in crowded civilian areas, it poses a high risk of excruciating burns and lifelong suffering,” said one Human Rights Watch official.

Human Rights Watch on Thursday said it has confirmed reports that Israeli military forces unleashed white phosphorus munitions during artillery attacks on targets in Lebanon and Gaza this week, including over a heavily populated civilian area of the besieged Palestinian strip—an apparent war crime.

HRW said it has interviewed witnesses and verified video footage shot in Lebanon and Gaza on Tuesday and Wednesday “showing multiple airbursts of artillery-fired white phosphorus over the Gaza City port and two rural locations along the Israel-Lebanon border.”

The HRW announcement came as Israeli forces continue to bombard Gaza from air, land, and sea in an assault that has killed more than 1,500 Palestinians, including at least 500 children, in retaliation for Hamas’ surprise infiltration of Israel and killing of over 1,300 Israeli soldiers and civilians.

As HRW explained Thursday:

Upon contact, white phosphorus can burn people, thermally and chemically, down to the bone as it is highly soluble in fat and therefore in human flesh. White phosphorus fragments can exacerbate wounds even after treatment and can enter the bloodstream and cause multiple organ failure. Already dressed wounds can reignite when dressings are removed and the wounds are reexposed to oxygen. Even relatively minor burns are often fatal. For survivors, extensive scarring tightens muscle tissue and creates physical disabilities.

WP burns as hot as 1,500°F. Water does not extinguish it.

“Any time that white phosphorus is used in crowded civilian areas, it poses a high risk of excruciating burns and lifelong suffering,” HRW Middle East and North Africa director Lama Fakih said in a statement. “White phosphorous is unlawfully indiscriminate when airburst in populated urban areas, where it can burn down houses and cause egregious harm to civilians.”

“To avoid civilian harm, Israel should stop using white phosphorus in populated areas,” Fakih added. “Parties to the conflict should be doing everything they can to spare civilians from further suffering.”

HRW previously accused Israel of war crimes for using WP munitions in densely populated areas—including over a United Nations school—during the 2008-09 Operation Cast Lead invasion of Gaza. In response to a 2013 petition to Israel’s High Court of Justice filed by human rights groups including HRW, the Israel Defense Forces said it would no longer use WP in populated areas, with “very narrow exceptions” that it would not disclose.

Other countries’ militaries also use WP, most notably the United States, which fired the incendiary rounds during the 2004 battle for Fallujah and elsewhere in the so-called War on Terror.

In 2016, Saudi Arabia was condemned for allegedly firing U.S.-supplied WP munitions against Houthi rebels in Yemen. WP and other incendiary weapons have also been used by Syrian government and Russian forces fighting Islamic State and other militants during the Syrian civil war. Turkey has also been accused of firing WP rounds at Kurdish civilians in Syria.

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

Continue ReadingIsrael Accused of ‘Blatant War Crime’ as HRW Confirms White Phosphorus Used in Gaza

Activists launch ‘Stop the Arms Fair’ campaign ahead of DSEI arms trade event

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Stop the Arms Fair protest against Defence & Security Exports International (DSEI) fair London 2023.
Stop the Arms Fair protest against Defence & Security Exports International (DSEI) fair London 2023.

https://leftfootforward.org/2023/09/activists-launch-stop-the-arms-fair-campaign-ahead-of-dsei-arms-trade-event/

“Representatives from regimes such as Saudi Arabia, who have used UK-made weapons to commit war crimes in Yemen, will be wined and dined and encouraged to buy yet more arms.”

The biannual Defence & Security Exports International (DSEI) fair is taking place on September 12 – 15 in London. The event is one of the largest arms fairs in the world. It is attended by delegates from across the globe, including from some of the most oppressive regimes. This year’s fair will see over 2,800 manufacturers display their arms.

Ahead of the event, a group of activists are launching a campaign protesting the arms trade and the manufacturers showcasing their products at the trade show. They are campaigning under a ‘Stop the Arms Fair’ (STAF) banner. STAF formed in 2011 with the aim of putting a stop to arms fairs in the UK, particularly DSEI.

Every two years, DSEI brings thousands of arms buyers from over 100 countries worldwide together to network and make deals. The high-profile event connects governments, national armed forces, industry thought leaders and the entire defence and security supply chain on a global scale. The anti-arms trade activists say DSEI is an important event for the UK state, which ‘heavily subsidises and promotes the arms industry, and helps organise the arms fair.’

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/09/activists-launch-stop-the-arms-fair-campaign-ahead-of-dsei-arms-trade-event/

Continue ReadingActivists launch ‘Stop the Arms Fair’ campaign ahead of DSEI arms trade event