Amid States’ Negligence, Activists Working to Ensure Accountability for Israel’s Actions in Occupied Palestinian Territory, Civil Society Consultations Hear

(Note:  Owing to the liquidity crisis affecting our Organization, a complete summary of today's Palestinian Rights Committee meetings will be made available on Monday, 19 May.)

Speakers Call for Arms Embargo against Israel, Suspending its Membership in General Assembly, Re-establishing UN Special Committee against Apartheid

“We are doing this work because States are not,” civil society activists told the United Nations today at a special consultation on their initiatives to ensure accountability for Israel’s actions in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Hosted by the United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, the meeting brought together experts from various civil society organizations as part of a two-day event commemorating the Nakba of 1948.

Speaking during the first plenary meeting of the day, on the topic of “Best Practices to Bring Accountability and End the War:  Recent Civil Society Legal Actions and Arms Embargo”, Jake Romm of Hind Rajab Foundation, outlined a strategy for ensuring accountability for rank-and-file soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces.  His organization was established in 2024 in honour of Hind Rajab and all victims in the Gaza genocide.  The car in which Hind was murdered was riddled with at least 335 bullet holes. Despite the overwhelming evidence of criminal actions by the Israel Defense Forces, “not one soldier and not one official has yet been held to account,” he said.

The Foundation files requests for prosecution in national courts against “traveling soldiers” — a reference to Israeli soldiers traveling abroad.  In States that have incorporated the principle of universal jurisdiction into their criminal codes, jurisdiction can be established by the mere physical presence of a perpetrator on their territory.  It also files requests for prosecution in soldiers’ own countries — based on the principle of national jurisdiction.  “There is no statute of limitations for these crimes and States' responsibility to act never expires,” he said.  Finally, the Foundation shares information with international legal bodies like the International Criminal Court.  Noting that States need to step up accountability efforts, he invited Member States, saying:  “Let us work together to help you fulfill your international legal obligations.”

Many Governments, Corporations and Institutions Complicit in Genocide

“You cannot say you did not know,” Saleh Hijazi, Policy Coordinator of the Palestinian Boycott Divest Sanctions National Committee, said, noting that Israel’s genocide of Palestinians is “livestreamed by both its perpetrators and its victims”, as well as comprehensively documented in UN reports.  Highlighting the “complicity of States, corporations and institutions”, he said Israel depends almost entirely on military and intelligence support from the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom, among others.  States — including from the Global South — are also complicit by allowing the transit of weapons to Israel.  Further, trade with Israel enables and finances the commission of genocide, apartheid and ethnic cleansing, he added.

States are also complicit by allowing corporations domiciled in their jurisdiction to contribute to Israel's crimes, he added, noting the complicity of Google, Amazon, Microsoft and IBM, among others.  Some of these technology companies also “help to collect and store massive amounts of Palestinian civilian data in Israel's population registry computing system, which is instrumental to Israel's apartheid”.  In contrast, millions of ordinary people are mobilizing.  The Boycott Divest Sanctions movement — which is akin to the South African anti-apartheid movement — has grown exponentially.  States must build on this momentum and impose a comprehensive military embargo on Israel, suspend that country from the General Assembly and re-establish the UN Special Committee against Apartheid, he said.

UN Security Council’s Inaction Is ‘Blank Check’ for Israel and Its Allies

The UN was deeply complicit in the 1948 Nakba, Shir Hever, Coordinator of the BNC Arms Embargo Campaign, pointed out, adding:  “We all know that waiting for the UN Security Council to decree military embargo equals a blank check for Israel and its allies.”  The genocide is being perpetrated mostly with United States-made weapons, as well as dual-use material and military intelligence from Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, France, Netherlands, Greece, Cyprus, Serbia, India, Japan, even Viet Nam, among others.  Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Morocco are among those knowingly facilitating the transport of military material.

The corporations involved include Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Boeing, Rheinmetall, FUNAC, Chevron, Maersk and ZIM.  The Arms Trade Treaty prohibits arms transfers when there is a risk of war crimes or genocide, yet military exports continue, he warned.  The steps taken so far to halt arms transfers, though meaningful, are insufficient.  It is not too late to impose on apartheid Israel a comprehensive military embargo, as was done against apartheid South Africa.

Diala Shamas, an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, said her organization brought one of the few legal challenges inside the United States against the genocide.  She highlighted a lawsuit filed on behalf of Palestinian human rights organizations and individual Palestinian plaintiffs who were in or from Gaza. Recalling the devastating testimonies of her plaintiffs, she said, again and again, they returned to 1948.  The Nakba is why their families ended up in Gaza even though they were originally from Yaffa or elsewhere.  “The Nakba is not a distant origin point, it is the live wound that explains this moment,” she said.

Global South States Should Break Ranks with Western Complicity

“We represent Mahmoud Khalil, the United States Green Card holder of Palestinian origin”, who the United States has detained for protesting Israel’s genocide on his campus, she said. Highlighting the aggressive repression against students and universities, she said the United States Government has also made it clear that “it would take a sledgehammer to international institutions” in service of this genocide.  Stressing the need for an arms embargo, she said States must support efforts for accountability in international and mechanisms.  “We need States, especially Global South States, Arab States and those who bear the legacy of anti-colonial struggles, to break ranks with United States and Western complicity,” she said.

The second plenary meeting of the day, on the theme "Implementing General Assembly Resolution E-10/24:  Ending the Illegal Occupation", featured presentations by Michael Lynk, former UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967; Magnus Walan Head of Office, Diakonia Sweden; Alys Samson Estape, Spokesperson, RESCOP (Red Solidaria Contra la Ocupación Palestina); Roshan Dadoo, Member, Palestinian Solidarity Campaign South Africa, and Coordinator, BDS South Africa; and Philip Farah, Director, Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace.  Wrapping up the meeting, a representative of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and Riyad H. Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations, made closing remarks.

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