It is seen to be believed how a large part of the world, especially the US, could shut its eyes to the surging violence unleashed on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank. Going by accepted parameters, nothing short of genocide is taking place by Israel, armed to the teeth itself and getting steady supply of ammunition from the US. Volker Türk, the UN human rights chief, has called the situation “potentially explosive,” warning the violence would get even more intensified and discrimination against Palestinians more painful. What is worse, Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu is in denial mode about the inhuman treatment being meted out to the Palestinians hounded out of their homes, packed like cattle in military trucks to the southern part of Gaza, while the WHO fears public health disaster is staring in the face of the displaced millions. The Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and a UN rapporteur have said that Palestinians are already subject to a form of apartheid.
Unfortunately, acts of ethnic cleansing and forced displacement in Gaza are being reported that are glossed over by allies of Israel as “evacuations” and Israel’s self-defence against “terror.” While that may be partially true, the truth is hundreds of thousands of civilians living under Israel’s occupation are under threat of bombs and bullets along with apartheid laws and policies.
What is being witnessed in Palestine is, in the assessment of human rights groups, genocide as defined in the 1948 Genocide Convention. According to it acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group are to be classified as genocide. This is done in five ways – killing members of the group, causing them serious bodily or mental harm, imposing living conditions intended to destroy the group, preventing births, and forcibly transferring children out of the group. Many genocide and international law experts across the world agree that what Israel has committed in Gaza is at least meeting the first three acts in this list.
Last week 55 scholars in holocaust and genocide studies published an open letter condemning Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel. In the same breath they castigated Israel for the continuing forced displacement of Palestinian civilians in Gaza which, according to them, raises the question of genocide, especially in view of the intentions expressed by Israeli leaders. Significantly, activists are moving courts in the US and launching peaceful public protests to make Israel and countries supporting its genocidal activities accountable. Human and constitutional rights organisations have taken their case on the Gaza genocide to courts in the US. Centre for Constitutional Rights (CCR), a non-profit legal advocacy organisation, published its legal analysis of what it calls US complicity in Israel’s unfolding genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. It took its case directly to Congress notifying representatives that if they vote for an aid package to Israel they could face criminal and civil liability for aiding and abetting genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. It went on to file a lawsuit accusing President Joe Biden and his secretaries of State and Defence of enabling Israel’s genocide. It submitted before the US District Court for Northern California that the Biden administration’s unconditional support for Israel constitutes a breach of US responsibilities under customary international law, as codified in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Katherine Gallagher, the lead lawyer for CCR’s lawsuit against Biden and his officials, explained at a presentation in New York City that the US actions in support of Israel, including sending expedited military and economic aid, blocking UNSC resolutions to implement a ceasefire and giving Israel advanced weapons that few other states get, clearly cross the lines of complicity in genocide. The US administration reacted by moving the California District Court to throw out the lawsuit on jurisdictional grounds. But the plaintiffs say the US is bound by the Genocide Convention it ratified to stop a genocide. The WHO has also said the healthcare situation in Gaza is “catastrophic” and warned that disease is spreading among the 1.9 million Palestinians in Gaza forced from their homes by Israel. The situation is likely to worsen because of overcrowding in areas where civilians are seeking shelter. Another international organisation – Save the Children – said that in Gaza it had documented cases of more than 7,000 children under the age of five who were so malnourished that they required urgent medical treatment to avoid death.
The war must stop and Israel’s conscience needs to wake up.