The world has been held hostage to scenes and eye witness reports of the systematic destruction of the Al-Shifa Hospital complex in Gaza, horrified by the depths of Israel's depravity. On November 18, the World Health Organization (WHO) was able to lead a high-risk joint humanitarian mission to Al-Shifa Hospital after Israel's Defence Forces (IDF) had forced most staff and patients to leave the hospital at gunpoint. The conditions the WHO reported on and what the team saw bring to mind the horrors and unspeakable inhumanity the soldiers who liberated the concentration camps at the end of World War II were confronted with.

The WHO issued a report about the conditions there, the full text of which is posted below.

WHO Statement on Findings at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza

Some of the 179 bodies buried on November 14, 2023, in a mass grave at the hospital complex, of those killed by Israel at the hospital, through military assaults or being deprived of the necessities of life, whose bodies could not be buried elsewhere due to encirclement by the Israeli military.

Earlier today, a joint UN humanitarian assessment team led by WHO accessed Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza to assess the situation on the ground, conduct a rapid situational analysis, assess medical priorities and establish logistics options for further missions. The team included public health experts, logistics officers and security staff from OCHA [United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs], UNDSS [UN Department for Safety and Security], UNMAS/UNOPS [United Nations Mine Action Service/United Nations Office for Project Services], UNRWA [United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East] and WHO.

The mission was deconflicted with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to ensure safe passage along the agreed route. However, this was a high-risk operation in an active conflict zone, with heavy fighting ongoing in close proximity to the hospital.

Earlier in the day, the IDF had issued evacuation orders to the remaining 2,500 internally displaced people who had been seeking refuge on the hospital grounds. They, along with a number of mobile patients and hospital staff, had already vacated the facility by the time of the team's arrival.

Due to time limits associated with the security situation, the team was able to spend only one hour inside the hospital, which they described as a "death zone," and the situation as "desperate." Signs of shelling and gunfire were evident. The team saw a mass grave at the entrance of the hospital and was told more than 80 people were buried there.

Bodies of victims of an Israeli airstrike at the Al-Shifa Hospital on November 10, 2023 are covered up.

Lack of clean water, fuel, medicines, food and other essential aid over the last 6 weeks have caused Al-Shifa Hospital -- once the largest, most advanced and best equipped referral hospital in Gaza – to essentially stop functioning as a medical facility. The team observed that due to the security situation, it has been impossible for the staff to carry out effective waste management in the hospital. Corridors and the hospital grounds were filled with medical and solid waste, increasing the risk of infection. Patients and health staff with whom they spoke were terrified for their safety and health, and pleaded for evacuation. Al-Shifa Hospital can no longer admit patients, with the injured and sick now being directed to the seriously overwhelmed and barely functioning Indonesian Hospital.

There are 25 health workers and 291 patients remaining in Al-Shifa, with several patient deaths having occurred over the previous two to three days due to the shutting down of medical services. Patients include 32 babies in extremely critical condition, two people in intensive care without ventilation, and 22 dialysis patients whose access to life-saving treatment has been severely compromised. The vast majority of patients are victims of war trauma, including many with complex fractures and amputations, head injuries, burns, chest and abdominal trauma, and 29 patients with serious spinal injuries who are unable to move without medical assistance. Many trauma patients have severely infected wounds due to lack of infection control measures in the hospital and unavailability of antibiotics.

UN and Al-Shifa Hospital staff evacuate premature babies, November 18, 2023. They had been deprived of incubators for several days by Israeli attacks and two more babies died that morning before they could be transferred to another hospital.

Given the current state of the hospital, which is no longer operational or admitting new patients, the team was requested to evacuate health workers and patients to other facilities. WHO and partners are urgently developing plans for the immediate evacuation of the remaining patients, staff and their families. Over the next 24-72 hours, pending guarantees of safe passage by parties to the conflict, additional missions are being arranged to urgently transport patients from Al-Shifa to Nasser Medical Complex and European Gaza Hospital in the south of Gaza. However, these hospitals are already working beyond capacity, and new referrals from Al-Shifa Hospital will further strain overburdened health staff and resources.

WHO is deeply concerned about the safety and health needs of patients, health workers and internally displaced people sheltering at the few remaining partially functional hospitals in the north, which are facing the risk of closure due to a lack of fuel, water, medical supplies and food, and the intense hostilities. Immediate efforts must be made to restore the functionality of Al-Shifa and all other hospitals to provide urgently needed health services in Gaza.

WHO reiterates its plea for collective efforts to bring an end to the hostilities and humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. We call for an immediate ceasefire, the sustained flow of humanitarian assistance at scale, unhindered humanitarian access to all of those in need, the unconditional release of all hostages, and the cessation of attacks on health care and other vital infrastructure. The extreme suffering of the people of Gaza demands that we respond immediately and concretely with humanity and compassion.

Unprecedented Israeli Depravity at
Al-Shifa Hospital

The Al-Shifa Hospital complex under Israeli bombardment, with thousands of displaced persons sheltering inside and outside the buildings.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) invaded the Al-Shifa Hospital complex in Gaza City on November 15 with tanks and bulldozers. The attack followed several days of encirclement by Israeli forces. The day before the raid, hospital staff said that they were barred from exiting the facility by the Israeli military. The Israeli forces said that this was to be a "limited" operation to root out Hamas whom it claimed were entrenched in tunnels under the hospital. The depravity that the Israeli forces have visited upon Gaza's largest hospital, its staff, patients and the thousands of displaced persons who sought shelter there is unimaginable. Moreover, the Israelis have produced no evidence to corroborate their claim of resistance tunnels under the hospital, several days after the hospital has been fully under their control.

On November 18, three days after its invasion, the IDF ordered doctors, patients and displaced people at Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital to evacuate at gunpoint, doctors and Palestinian officials told Al Jazeera. Dr. Muhammad Zaqout, director general of Gaza hospitals, said the Israeli army called the hospital management at 8:00 am [05:00 GMT] and told them to evacuate the complex, the largest hospital in Gaza, within an hour. They were directed to exit along a route where "charred bodies" were strewn across the street, he added. After the Israeli army's impossible deadline passed, Ismail al-Thawabta, director general of the government media office in Gaza, said the Israeli army forced out more than 500 wounded people and patients at gunpoint. Those who could leave, did so on foot as no means of evacuation was provided. There is no fuel for ambulances or other vehicles.

Munir al-Barsh, a doctor at the hospital, said that the Israeli army warned that all those leaving had to wave a white handkerchief and walk in a single line. "They were humiliated by soldiers all along the road," al-Barsh told Al Jazeera. "Many of the patients were put on wheelchairs or rolling beds. Family members were forced to carry their wounded children or parents themselves. [...] These are horrible, unprecedented scenes," he said.

Patients who cannot move, amputees, and those with critical conditions have had to remain behind with a handful of medical staff, Muhammad Abu Salmiya, the director of Al-Shifa Hospital, told Al Jazeera. "The situation is really dire," he said.

Nearly 300 patients still require care and could not evacuate, including dozens of premature babies, several of whom died in the past week due to being deprived of the necessary incubators and oxygen by Israel's attacks on the hospital and overall siege of Gaza. The Palestinian Minister of Health Mai al-Kaila said international institutions should intervene so that they are transferred to hospitals in the occupied West Bank or Egypt. On November 19, Medhat Abbas, a spokesman for the Gaza Health Ministry, confirmed the evacuation to Egypt of at least 30 premature babies in a phone call with the Associated Press.

Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, described "horrifying images" from Al-Shifa, while Egypt called the events there a "war crime" and "a deliberate insult to the United Nations."

November 15 Raid by Israeli Forces

According to eye witness reports by medical personnel, Israeli forces fired indiscriminately within the hospital during their raid on November 15. As for the Hamas fighters said to be sheltering within the hospital, Dr. Zaqout told Al Jazeera, "Not a single bullet was fired from inside the hospital during the occupation forces' storming of the complex. He stressed that the Israeli army did not find any evidence of the members of the Palestinian resistance hiding in or around the hospital, contrary to their claims before assailing the complex.

The IDF raid forces Al-Shifa Hospital to disconnect patients from life-saving equipment and push then into the hallways, where they attempt to provide care manually. At right, a young girl receives manual ventilation to keep her alive.

Normally there are 1,500 medical staff members at the hospital. At the time of the Israeli assault, about 1,000 staff were trapped on site, but had been unable to treat patients due to lack of fuel for generators and medicine. The hospital had about 700 patients, 100 in critical condition, 36 premature babies without incubators and more than 7,000 displaced Palestinians. On November 13 Israeli forces destroyed the hospital's solar panel system that provided electricity to its main departments. The hospital had run out of fuel to power generators over the November 11-12 weekend, resulting in the death of dozens of patients, including premature babies.

Al-Shifa Hospital staff also reported that the Israeli soldiers used loudspeakers and ordered young men to surrender themselves. Those within the hospital said about 30 people were taken out into the courtyard, stripped of their clothes, blindfolded and interrogated by Israeli soldiers. Israeli forces also blew up a warehouse containing medicine and medical devices, sources said.

The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said during a briefing in Geneva: "The Israeli military invasion of the Al-Shifa hospital in the city of Gaza is totally unacceptable." He said emphatically that "hospitals are not battlefields." Under international humanitarian law, medical facilities, personnel and vehicles "must be protected from any warfare," he said.

(With files from WHO, Al Jazeera, Reuters, France24.)

Claims of Hamas Tunnels Under Al-Shifa Hospital Debunked

The so-called evidence Israel provided alleging that Hamas had a headquarters in Al-Shifa Hospital has been debunked, news agencies which conducted analysis of Israel's claims report. Middle East Monitor reviewed analysis of Israel's claims through a video broadcast by CNN in the U.S. CNN was shown a shaft, which an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson said was an entrance tunnel to operation headquarters under the hospital. Wires leading into the shaft provided power to the tunnel from solar panels fixed onto the roof of the Hamas commander's house, he said. A view of the alleged commander's house was shown in the vicinity of the hospital. "We put a robot inside the tunnel and the robot saw a massive door, a door that is in the direction of the hospital," the IDF person said. He said that Hamas in particular, was using the hospital as a human shield for military operation headquarters supposedly located in tunnels underground. Other analysis of IDF footage by the BBC came to the conclusion that "Israel is either lacking evidence or not sharing it."

Even before the raid, Ashraf al-Qidra, a spokesman for the Health Ministry, said on November 14 that the hospital had repeatedly invited international organizations to tour Al-Shifa, but did not receive a response.

Seventy-two hours after the raid, the IDF were still unable to produce any evidence to substantiate its claim. Israeli military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht admitted as much: "We understand that there's a substantial Hamas infrastructure in the area, in the vicinity of the hospital. Potentially under the hospital, and it's something we're working on. It'll take us time. This war is a complex war," he said.

CNN published the claim without question and the likes of U.S. President Biden have repeated that there is proof that Al-Shifa Hospital is used by Hamas as a headquarters. Similarly, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby declared, "We have information that Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad use some hospitals in the Gaza Strip, including Al-Shifa, and tunnels underneath them to conceal and to support their military operations and to hold hostages." Such disinformation will go down as another moment in history like that of the "weapons of mass destruction" asserted by George W. Bush and Tony Blair in 2002, or the U.S. fabricated videos of Iraqi soldiers killing babies in a Kuwaiti hospital in 1990.

The false story that Hamas uses civilians, patients, refugees and medical personnel as human shields is repeated over and over again to suggest that Israeli atrocities and crimes are justified in order to destroy a terrorist organization driven by hate and without any conscience or humanity.

As is also the case of the false claims that Hamas murdered men, women and children, decapitated babies and raped women on October 7 and other claims which have been debunked, it turns out that "the tunnel they claim to be a Hamas tunnel is actually an electrical wire assembly point." A hospital representative said, "We raised the wires to prevent any electrical shocks caused by floods."

The other claims made by the Israeli military spokesperson on the CNN video have also been debunked. He pointed to a calendar on the wall declaring, "This is the guard list. Every terrorist has his own shift" which again CNN sensationally broadcast without question. Arabic speakers have pointed out that the calendar simply gives the days of the week since October 7, written in Arabic. The IDF spokesperson also displayed some weapons and a computer as evidence of Hamas' military operations inside the hospital. Investigators on social media analyzed the image on the laptop and found the home screen to be a picture of a female IDF soldier. A baby's milk bottle and some women's clothes were provided as evidence that hostages were held in the tunnel.

Despite facts which refute the CNN video, CNN continues to post the video on its website. Investigators say they will persist in pouring over the footage to determine whether or not these are genuine Hamas items. Given the previous cases of false evidence, along with verified accounts of the kind of carnage and revenge seeking IDF soldiers are carrying out in Gaza, such claims are cause for doubt every time.

Hamas called these Israeli claims silly propaganda. Israeli forces have done the same in the past, the spokesperson, said, "finding" weapons in hospitals IDF forces have attacked and invaded. "We have repeated more than once and for two weeks our call on the UN and international organizations to form an international committee to visit the hospitals and check on their conditions to expose the occupation's lies and false claims because we are aware of the size of its fabrications and deception that aim to cover up its crimes against children, women and defenceless civilians," Hamas said. Doctors, health providers and hospital administrators have publicly rejected the Israeli claims as completely unsubstantiated.

U.S. President Biden, in an interview following the APEC summit in San Francisco on November 11-17, said it is "not realistic" to expect Israel to stop its ongoing war in the Gaza Strip. "Hamas has already said publicly that they plan on attacking Israel again like they did before. So the idea that they're going to just stop and not do anything is not realistic." He repeated the Israeli claims of resistance operations based from hospitals to justify Israeli war crimes of attacking hospitals. "It is not carpet bombing. This is a different thing. They're going through these tunnels, they're going into the hospital. So this is a different story than I believe it was occurring before, the indiscriminate bombing," he said.

Recent Reports

Massive Loss of Life, Housing and
Employment in Gaza

The death toll from the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip since October 7 "has likely risen to 20,000 dead Palestinians, including those missing under the rubble with little hope of survival" the organization Euro-Med Monitor reported on November 17. It estimates that "at least 15,271 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed, including 3,561 women and 6,403 children," adding that another estimated 4,000 people are "missing beneath the debris of buildings hit by Israeli air and artillery strikes, with little chance of their survival." Over 32,310 additional people have been injured by the Israeli attacks, many of whom are in critical condition and unable to receive the bare minimum of medical attention due to Israel's destruction of Gaza's health system. Among those killed are at least 203 health workers and 36 civil defence workers, while more than 210 health workers have been injured, Gaza's Health Ministry reported on November 10.

The Ministry also said that 197 Palestinians were killed by Israeli army gunfire in the occupied West Bank since October 7, and 2,750 were injured.

Over 1.65 million Gazans have been internally displaced, about half of whom are living in severely overcrowded facilities run by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. These are neither intended nor suitable for shelter, added Euro-Med Monitor.

The Israeli bombing on Gaza during that period has caused damage to more than 50 per cent of the housing units across Gaza, local authorities said. Euro-Med Monitor states that 55,200 housing units have been completely destroyed by the Israeli attacks, while 160,700 others have been partially damaged. One hundred and seventeen health facilities, as well as 223 schools, 821 industrial facilities, 177 press offices, 75 mosques, and three churches, have been targeted.

The preliminary losses in the housing sector and to infrastructure are estimated to be $2 billion each, the Gaza government's media office noted.

Some 390,000 jobs have been lost. Poverty is also expected to rise sharply by between 20 and 45 per cent, depending on the duration of the war on Gaza.

Palestinian officials have reported that as of November 10 the Israeli regime has dropped more than 32,000 tons of explosives on the Gaza Strip since the start of the Israeli offensive on the besieged territory on October 7. This is roughly the equivalent to 2.5 times the explosive force of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in World War II.

Information about Israel's Use of White Phosphorus

On November 16, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor issued a statement which said it had documented more than 1,000 strikes of the Israeli Armed Forces utilizing internationally prohibited white phosphorus on populated areas since it started its genocidal war on the Gaza Strip on October 7. People exposed to white phosphorus can suffer from respiratory damage, organ failure, and other serious and life-altering injuries, including burns that are extremely difficult to treat and cannot be relieved with water. White phosphorus is an "incendiary substance that burns human flesh and causes lifelong suffering," the organization said. Its team has received testimonies affirming that on the evening of November 15 alone, the Israeli army carried out 300 strikes with white phosphorus bombs and projectiles within a period of about 40 minutes on a residential block in Beit Lahia town, north of Gaza.

"The night before, a large number of white phosphorus shells were reportedly seen falling on a crowded populated area in Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, north of Gaza City. Similar attacks also occurred on several occasions in al-Shati refugee camp in western Gaza and the town and camp of Jabalia, north of the Strip," Euro-Med elaborated.

"Palestinian residents said they suffered from severe shortness of breath and coughing as a result of inhaling white phosphorus in the midst of extremely unpleasant odors spreading in the air and severe blurred vision due to the thick white smoke," Euro-Med said.

"The escalating use of white phosphorus and smoke bombs against densely populated areas comes within the framework of forced displacement and ethnic cleansing that are being practiced by the Israeli army in order to force half of the Gaza's population to leave their homes, shelters and hospitals and move to areas in the south of the Gaza Valley."

Euro-Med accused Israel of persisting in violating the principles of proportionality and precaution by launching random attacks on the Gaza Strip and directly targeting the lives and health of civilians, and using internationally prohibited weapons in flagrant violation of the international humanitarian law and the rules of war.

"In addition to that, Israel uses bombs with huge destructive power against populated areas, and such bombs pose the single greatest threat to civilians in modern armed conflicts. This explains the severity of the massive destruction that turns entire residential neighborhoods into rubble and ruins in the Gaza Strip," it said.

Israeli Settlers Threaten Armenian Quarter in
East Jerusalem

A convoy of Israeli settlers' cars and motorcycles entered the Armenian Quarter in occupied East Jerusalem on November 16 looking to usurp the Armenian-held area, the community has said in a statement. The attempt by armed settlers, backed by Israeli security forces, to occupy almost 25 per cent of the Armenian Quarter is an 'existential threat' to the centuries-old community, the Movement for the Protection and Preservation of the Armenian Quarter informed in a post on Instagram.

Tensions were high and Israeli police "without probable cause" arrested three Armenians, including a minor, while backing Israeli settlers.

"Instead of removing the trespassers, the Israeli police permitted a few settlers to continue their presence intended to possess the Armenian property," the community said in a statement.

The community explains that with Israel's war on Gaza taking much of the world's attention, Israeli settlers in the occupied territories, including the Old City in East Jerusalem, have increasingly used the distraction to press illegal land claims. The movement said that the attempt by Israeli settlers to overrun the "Armenian Gardens" -- known as the "Cows' Garden" in the Old City of Jerusalem, was a "malicious attempt to change facts on the ground."

"We are fighting now for the integrity of the Armenian and Christian quarters," said Hagop Djernazian, a co-founder of the movement to save the Armenian quarter, and member of the Jerusalemite Armenian Community.

The dispute started after the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem signed a murky and secretive deal with a company named Zana Capital, leasing the historical Armenian Gardens, to build a luxury hotel, he explained.

"We may face an existential threat, not only to the Armenian presence in Jerusalem, but also to the Christian," Djernazian said. "Unfortunately this deal includes manipulations and fraud," he said speaking to Middle East Eye.

The deal would see some 25 per cent of the Armenian quarter sold on a 99-year lease to Israeli settler communities looking to purportedly build a luxury development.

The Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem announced on October 26 that a letter was sent to the companies managing the development that the deal would be cancelled.

Though signed in 2021, the deal became public in 2023 when one of the Israeli businesses sought to take ownership, sparking protests from the Armenian community. The Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem considered it an existential threat and announced on October 26 that a letter was sent to the companies managing the development that the deal would be cancelled.

"Since October 26, the so-called Zana Company, which turns out was backed by settlers and Ateret Cohanim, a settler organization trying to change the demographic makeup of the Old City into a Jewish majority, are trying to provoke and to take over parts of the land by force," said Djernazian. Israeli settlers had attempted to intimidate the community and the movement to save the Armenian Quarter by, amongst other things, bringing bulldozers and trucks to demolish walls and the land, said Djernazian.

"They brought in armed settlers two weeks ago to take over the land by force using armed settlers and attack dogs," he said. "Yesterday and today the so-called company brought a security company so they can take over the land by force with the support and cooperation of the Israeli police."

The Israeli government which is also comprised of settlers, has created an even more permissive climate for such land grabs.

"Authorities are not doing anything to save and help the Armenian community," said Djernazian, adding that "they are doing the opposite of saving the Armenian community. They are pressuring us."

Djernazian said that they now believe Israeli settlers are behind the deal whereby the land was initially sold to an Australian businessman.

"If we succeed in this struggle to protect the integrity of the Armenian Quarter to protect our lands, we can continue and live in Jerusalem as we did since the fourth century by encouraging our youth to stay here," said Djernazian. "But, unfortunately, if we do not succeed to cancel the deal officially, we may face an existential threat, not only to the Armenian presence in Jerusalem, but also to the Christian presence, because this deal puts the Armenian and Christian quarters in great danger," added Djernazian.

"Christians should unite and join forces with the Armenians in order to protect the status quo and the mosaic of the holy city of Jerusalem and also for us to have a future in this city," he said.

(Middle East Eye, November 16, 2023)

Attempts to Hold Israel, U.S. and Their Accomplices to Account

International Calls to Reaffirm Palestine's Right to Be and Hold Israel to Account

UN Third Committee Reaffirms Palestinian People's Right to Self-Determination

At the United Nations, the Third Committee, which deals with Social, Humanitarian and Cultural issues, overwhelmingly approved a draft resolution reaffirming the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, by a recorded vote of 168 in favour to five against (Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, United States), with nine abstentions (Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guatemala, Kiribati, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Togo, Tonga, Vanuatu). The resolution instructs the General Assembly to stress the urgency of achieving without delay an end to the Israeli occupation that began in 1967 and a just, lasting and comprehensive peace settlement between the Palestinian and Israeli sides.

The resolution, introduced by Egypt on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, 1. Reaffirms the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, including the right to their independent State of Palestine; 2. Urges all States and the specialized agencies and organizations of the United Nations system to continue to support and assist the Palestinian people in the early realization of their right to self-determination.

Arab League Meetings

Foreign ministers of the Arab League, at a November 8 meeting in Riyadh headed by Saudi Foreign Minister, Faisal Bin Farhan, discussed the Israeli aggression on Gaza and ways to stop it. They prepared draft resolutions related to this single item to be presented at the League's extraordinary meeting at the summit level that followed. The foreign ministers categorically rejected the displacement of Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan as well as Israel's occupation of the Gaza Strip, and called for "holding Israel accountable for its crimes against the Palestinian people before the relevant international courts." In a joint statement issued after the meeting, the ministers condemned "the Israeli occupation and its aggression against the Gaza Strip and called for it to be held accountable for its crimes against the Palestinian people and rejected Israel's reoccupation of the Gaza Strip and any other Palestinian lands."

The extraordinary joint Islamic-Arab summit took place in Riyadh on November 18, with dozens of leaders taking part, including Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad whose country rejoined the Arab League this year.

The summit called for an immediate end to military operations in Gaza, rejecting Israel's justification of its actions against Palestinians as self-defence. The summit's final communiqué urged the International Criminal Court to investigate "war crimes and crimes against humanity that Israel is committing" in the Palestinian territories.

U.S. diplomats have warned the Biden administration that continued support by the U.S. for Israel's military action in Gaza is provoking fury in the Arab world, according to a diplomatic cable obtained by CNN. The cable, received by the White House on November 8 from its embassy in Oman, added that the conclusion was drawn from conversations with "a wide range of trusted and sober-minded contacts."

President Biden told reporters at the White House on November 9 that there is presently "no possibility" of a ceasefire in Israel's war on Gaza, claiming that doing so would only serve to allow Hamas an opportunity to regroup.

Türkiye Decries Israel's Crime Against Humanity

President of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan on November 10 accused Israel of committing crimes against humanity as it continues its bombing campaign on Gaza. Erdogan called Israel's actions "a disaster, a tragedy" and said "a crime against humanity is committed in Gaza before the eyes of the whole world."

On November 18, President Erdogan said, "If a ceasefire is reached, we will do whatever is necessary to compensate for the destruction caused by Israel," saying it will make efforts to rebuild damaged infrastructure, hospitals and schools in Gaza.

Türkiye has sent 666 tonnes of humanitarian aid, medicine and medical equipment and a medical team to Egypt for Gazans so far, Reuters reports. Türkiye said it is working with Egyptian and Israeli authorities as part of a coordination mechanism to bring cancer patients and some wounded civilians to Türkiye for treatment.

Calls for Israel's Nuclear Weapons Program to Be Dismantled

On November 13, Iran called on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to notify the UN Security Council of Israel's threat to use nuclear weapons in Gaza. Iran was referring to Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu's threat that use of an atomic bomb against the Palestinian people in Gaza was an "option." The threats "revealed that the regime possesses nuclear weapons," he said, adding that by threatening the oppressed and helpless people of Gaza, the regime has "challenged the fundamental principles of the International Humanitarian Law." The Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Mohammad Eslami said, "it is expected that the Agency, according to its statutory duties, while condemning these statements which are contrary to the International Law, reflects dangerous consequences of use or threat to use of nuclear weapons posed by this fake regime to the United Nations Security Council." Iran's permanent ambassador to the UN called on the international community to push Israel to fully cooperate with the UN nuclear agency and dismantle its nuclear weapons program amid the regime's brutal aggression on the besieged area.

The President of Türkiye on November 15 also called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to announce whether or not Israel had nuclear weapons, and called for nuclear weapons inspections. "As Türkiye, we are making this call. Israel's nuclear weapons must be inspected beyond doubt before it is too late. We will follow up on this," he said.

Case Filed at International Criminal Court by Palestinian Rights Organizations

Palestinian Rights Organizations, Al-Haq, Al Mezan, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, filed a lawsuit with the ICC calling on the institution to probe Israel for allegations of "apartheid" and "genocide" while seeking the issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli leaders. The lawsuit emphasizes the need for immediate "attention to the continuous barrage of Israeli air strikes on densely populated civilian areas within the Gaza Strip." The legal document also urged the ICC to broaden its ongoing investigation into war crimes by examining issues such as "the suffocating siege imposed on [Gaza], the forced displacement of its population, the use of toxic gas, and the deprivation of essential necessities like food, water, fuel, and electricity." These actions, as asserted in the lawsuit, constitute "war crimes" and "crimes against humanity," encompassing allegations of "genocide." The three organizations are calling for the issuance of arrest warrants targeting Israel's President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to take action to hold Israel accountable for the crimes it is committing against Palestinians in Gaza. He stated that in Palestine under occupation, all human, moral, religious, and legal standards and values have crumbled due to the brutal massacres carried out by the occupying forces against the Palestinian people.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said of Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory on November 10: "The solution to this situation is the end of the occupation, and full respect for the right to self-determination for Palestinians. As I have said time and again, for the violence to end, the occupation needs to end. Member States need to invest all the effort that is necessary into finding a sustainable peace for all Palestinians and Israelis."

Another Case Filed at International Criminal Court

A group of lawyers representing Palestinian victims of Israeli attacks on Gaza have filed a complaint to the International Criminal Court (ICC), arguing that Israel's actions amount to the crime of genocide, Al Jazeera reports.

Gilles Devers, a veteran French lawyer and the victims' representative before the ICC, submitted the complaint to the prosecutor as part of a four-person delegation in The Hague on November 13. They are seeking arrest warrants against Prime Minister Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders.

"It is clear for me that there are all the criteria for the crime of genocide," Devers told Al Jazeera, adding that cases such as the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda set the precedent against which the complaint had been submitted.

"So this is not my opinion, it's the reality of law," Devers said adding that Israel has made no attempt to hide the hallmarks of genocide, by cutting food and electricity to Gaza, attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure and using dehumanizing talk that likens people to "animals."

The lawyers have also collected the witness accounts of Palestinian victims whom they legally represent in court.

With mounting allegations of serious war crimes being committed in Gaza, Devers said governments that do not wish to be found complicit should refrain from backing Israel.

"Governments must choose which camp they are on, if they support human rights or genocide. They cannot give speeches about international law and human rights and then accept Israel's attack without doing anything," he said.

"If the ICC does nothing, then it's the end of the ICC," he said. "We have sufficient proof for an arrest warrant against Mr Netanyahu," Devers said.

This is one in a number of lawsuits presented to the ICC in the past weeks, Al Jazeera informs.

On November 9, three Palestinian human rights groups urged the ICC to investigate Israel for "apartheid" as well as "genocide" and issue arrest warrants for Israeli leaders.

#JusticeForGaza, has initiated a petition "which aims to bring together diverse voices from international civil society, political leaders and representatives to petition the court. Prominent European politicians who have advocated for Palestinian rights, include Spain's Ione Belarra and Britain's Jeremy Corbyn," Al Jazeera informs.

Palestinians Sue Biden in U.S. Federal Court

On November 13, Palestinians asked a federal court to enjoin President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin from providing further arms, money, and diplomatic support to Israel on grounds that there is an unfolding genocide by the State of Israel against the civilian population of Gaza and the U.S. officials have a legal duty to prevent, and not further, this most serious of crimes.

The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) which has filed the case on behalf of the plaintiffs with the law firm of Van Der Hout, LLP, informs that leading genocide and holocaust experts are submitting declarations in support of the federal case.

U.S. President Biden, Secretary of State Blinken and Secretary of Defense Austin, as outlined in the complaint, are sued in their official capacity for failing to prevent an unfolding genocide where they have influence over the State of Israel to do so, and directly abetting its development with weapons, funds, and diplomatic cover, in breach of duties enshrined in the Genocide Convention and customary international law. The Genocide Convention is also written into U.S. law.

The filing is accompanied by a declaration from the leading legal expert on genocide, William Schabas, who identifies features of the Israeli government's statements, deadly military assault, and total siege as signs of genocide and affirms the United States' breach of its legal duty to prevent genocide. A separate expert declaration by the genocide and Holocaust scholars Drs. John Cox, Victoria Sanford, and Barry Trachtenberg, explains how the genocidal intentions and actions of Israeli leadership resemble other genocides in recent history.

The complaint, which seeks declaratory and injunctive relief, cites the U.S. government's unconditional support for Israel as it bombs the people of Gaza and deprives them of food, water, and other necessities. The complaint states that even the crimes committed by the military wing of Hamas on October 7 that killed an estimated 1,200 Israeli people, including many civilians, and kidnapped 240, cannot legally justify the forms of targeting an entire population and collective punishment meted out by the Israeli government, let alone genocide. Since October 8, Israel has killed over 11,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip -- mostly civilians, including more than 4,600 children -- and displaced 1.5 million. Thousands of Palestinians remain missing, and Israel's destruction of hospitals, schools, and most infrastructure in Gaza -- as well as intentional deprivation of access to food, water, electricity, and medicine -- has rendered life in Gaza impossible.

Dr. Omar Al-Najjar, a 24-year-old intern physician at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis and a plaintiff in the case, is quoted saying: "To be honest, it's difficult to revisit all the scenes of the past weeks. They open a door to hell when I recall them. " He said, "I've lost five relatives, treated too many children who are the sole survivors of their families, received the bodies of my fellow medical students and their families, and seen the hospital turn into a shelter for tens of thousands of people as we all run out of fuel, electricity, food, and water. The U.S. has to stop this genocide. Everyone in the world has to stop this."

In addition to Dr. Al-Najjar, the other plaintiffs in the case are the Palestinian human rights organizations Defense for Children International-Palestine and Al-Haq; the individuals Ahmed Abu Artema, and Mohammed Ahmed Abu Rokbeh, who are in Gaza; and Mohammad Monadel Herzallah, Laila Elhaddad, Waeil Elbhassi, Basim Elkarra, and "A.N.," who are U.S. citizens with family in Gaza. All have had multiple family members killed, subjected to the closure of Gaza, and displaced.

The complaint provides extensive evidence that the acts of the Israeli government represent an unfolding genocide, which the Genocide Convention defines as acts committed "with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group," and which can be accomplished through killing, inflicting serious bodily or mental harm upon a targeted group, or by "inflicting upon the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part." The Israeli military has targeted civilian areas and infrastructure, including using chemical weapons, and deprived Palestinians of basic necessities for life, the complaint says, while dehumanizing Palestinians as "human animals" that are undeserving of human rights protections and vowing to "eliminate everything," making clear the "emphasis is on damage and not accuracy." Gaza had already been subject to five prior bombing campaigns and a nearly 17-year military closure and ongoing occupation that had made Gaza an open air prison.

"For the last five weeks, President Biden and Secretaries Blinken and Austin have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with an Israeli government that has made clear its intention to destroy the Palestinian population in Gaza. As neighbourhood after neighbourhood, hospital after hospital, and sheltering displaced Palestinians were bombed, while subject to a total siege and closure that denies 2.2 million people basic necessities for life, they have continued to provide both military and political support for Israel's unfolding genocidal campaign while imposing no red lines," said Katherine Gallagher, a senior attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights and one of the lawyers who brought the case. "The United States has a clear and binding obligation to prevent, not further, genocide. They have failed in meeting their legal and moral duty to use their considerable power to end this horror. They must do so."

The United States has a duty under Article 1 of the Genocide Convention to prevent and punish acts of genocide, an obligation the U.S. Congress made law in 1988 when it ratified the Convention and passed the Genocide Convention Implementation Act (18 U.S.C. § 1091). The duty to prevent is heightened given the United States' considerable influence on Israel. The Biden administration, plaintiffs say, is not merely failing to prevent Israel's genocide of Palestinians, it is actively abetting it. From the start of the bombing, Biden has repeatedly reaffirmed, through word and deed, "unwavering" U.S. support.

Courts have identified the providing of weapons and other materials to the perpetrators of genocide as a form of complicity. To be culpable, the provider need not share the recipients' genocidal intent.

Genocide expert Schabas wrote in his declaration in the case, "I conclude that there is a serious risk of genocide committed against the Palestinian population of Gaza and that the United States of America is in breach of its obligation, under both the 1948 Genocide Convention to which it is a party as well as customary international law, to use its position of influence with the Government of Israel and to take the best measures within its power to prevent the crime taking place."

"Palestinian children in Gaza are undoubtedly targets as repeated Israeli military offensives destroy their homes, schools, and neighbourhoods, as Israeli forces use U.S.-made and funded weapons to kill them and their families with impunity," said Khaled Quzmar, general director at Defense for Children International -- Palestine. "While people protest in the streets, world leaders show, day after day, that they lack the temerity to end the catastrophic and unprecedented destruction of Palestinian life in Gaza. We need the American people to join us to force an end to this genocide."

Local counsel Marc Van Der Hout of the law firm Van Der Hout, LLP said, "The United States must fulfill its obligations under the Genocide Convention and international law to prevent escalating atrocities in Gaza. The killings and kidnappings perpetrated by Hamas on Oct 7, horrendous as they were, in no conceivable way justify the massacres now being perpetrated by the State of Israel with the unconditional support and acquiescence of the United States. The courts must now force the U.S. to comply with its obligations under the law."

"We have lost so many people, but there are still many more who are living, and we owe it to them to do everything possible to stop this genocide," said Mohammad Herzallah, one of the plaintiffs in the case who has family in Gaza. "I have done everything in my power: I have participated in protests, sit-ins, wrote letters to my representatives, civil disobedience. Now I am asking the courts to end this ongoing genocide."

For more information and to read the complaint, visit the Center for Constitutional Rights case page here.

According to their website, the CCR "works with communities under threat to fight for justice and liberation through litigation, advocacy, and strategic communications. Since 1966, the Center for Constitutional Rights has taken on oppressive systems of power, including structural racism, gender oppression, economic inequity, and governmental overreach."

(With files from ccrjustice.org.)

Attempt to Hold Canada to Account for Complicity in Israeli War Crimes

On November 16, the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians Legal Working Group for Canadian Accountability (ICJP LWGCA) notified the Canadian government of its intention to prosecute Prime Minister Justin Trudeau along with other Cabinet Ministers for their role in aiding and abetting Israel's perpetration of war crimes.

The centre served notice on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly, Minister of National Revenue Marie-Claude Bibeau and Attorney General Arif Virani. "The notice included a stark warning that Canadian government officials could be individually liable and face charges before the International Criminal Court if there is evidence they have aided and abetted Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity," the organization writes.

The ICJP LWGCA has called on the Government of Canada to end its complicity in war crimes by calling for a ceasefire, canceling all arms exports permits to Israel, prosecuting those recruiting Canadian volunteers for Israel's armed forces, and preventing millions of dollars from being unlawfully sent by some Canadian organizations with charitable status to benefit Israel's military.

The organization informs that it "continues to gather evidence in relation to the conduct of Canadian officials and intends to pursue all appropriate courses of action to ensure that those responsible for aiding and abetting war crimes are held accountable before the International Criminal Court and in other appropriate legal forums."

The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians is an independent organization of lawyers, politicians and academics who support the rights of Palestinians and aim to protect their rights through the law.

Former Biden Campaign Staff Demand
Immediate Ceasefire

Five hundred staff members from the Biden 2020 presidential election campaign released a public letter demanding that he call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The Biden Alumni for Peace and Justice letter states: "We fought tirelessly to organize millions of Americans to cast their votes for you. Like you, we believe in the dignity and value of every human life and the need for moral courage from our country's leadership. We implore you, President Biden, to live that moral courage right now by stepping up to be a leader we can be proud of in the face of injustice. As President of the United States, you have significant influence in this perilous moment -- you must call for a ceasefire, hostage exchange, and de-escalation, and take concrete steps to address the conditions of occupation, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing at the root of the horrific violence we are witnessing now.

"....[W]e were shocked and saddened to see you justify the death of Palestinian children as "the price of waging a war."

"Leading human rights organizations agree that Israel is imposing collective punishment on the 2 million people in Gaza -- half of whom are children -- by cutting them off from food, electricity, and water. And now, trapped in constant terror for their lives and families, Palestinians in Gaza are facing an urgent existential threat at the hands of the Israeli military. [...]

"The majority of Americans (66 per cent) and Democrats (80 per cent), are in agreement -- a ceasefire is the bare minimum. Across the country, tens of thousands of people are rising up in protest, demanding an end to Israel's brutal siege of Gaza, and to the United States' continued support of Israel's occupation and war crimes. ...

"... The only way to achieve lasting justice and peace for Palestinians and Israelis is to take concrete steps to end the brutal conditions of apartheid, occupation, and siege that are at the root of the violence we are witnessing now. If you don't use the tremendous power of your position to call for a ceasefire immediately, we may never get that chance.

"... [W]e are calling on you to: Publicly call for -- and use financial and diplomatic leverage to bring about -- an immediate ceasefire; Advocate for de-escalation in the region, including demanding that Hamas release all hostages and that Israel release over 1,200 people in administrative detention -- 99 per cent of whom are Palestinians -- being held without charge; End unconditional military aid to Israel; Investigate whether Israel's actions in Gaza violate the Leahy Law, prohibiting U.S. military aid from funding foreign military units implicated in the commission of gross violations of human rights; Take concrete steps to end the conditions of apartheid, occupation, and ethnic cleansing that are the root causes of this devastation."

Journalists' Open Letter Denounces Dehumanizing Coverage and Killing of Their Counterparts

More than 750 journalists have signed an open letter published on November 9 condemning Israel's killing of reporters in Gaza and slamming Western media's coverage of the war, the Washington Post reported. The letter, which includes signatories from Reuters, the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe and the Washington Post, states that newsrooms are "accountable for dehumanizing rhetoric that has served to justify ethnic cleansing of Palestinians." The Washington Post said, "For some of the journalists, signing the letter was a daring or even risky move," adding "Reporters have been fired from some newsrooms for espousing public political stances that could open them to accusations of bias." Much of the text of the letter "focuses on the journalists who have been killed in the month-long conflict." The government media office in the Gaza Strip said on November 6 that 46 journalists have been killed there, including targeted assassinations, since the beginning of the Israeli aggression on Gaza on October 7.

Another open letter, signed by hundreds of Jewish writers, and first published in N+1 magazine, stated: "We are horrified to see the fight against anti-Semitism weaponized as a pretext for war crimes with stated genocidal intent."

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) issued the most complete list to date of journalists killed in the line of duty. As of November 12, CPJ's preliminary investigations showed at least 40 journalists and media workers had been killed. CPJ is investigating all reports of journalists and media workers killed, injured, or missing in the war, which has led to the deadliest month for journalists since CPJ began gathering data in 1992. CPJ acknowledges that its accounting is not complete saying its database will not reflect many of these casualties until they have fully investigated the circumstances surrounding them. The CPJ report names each journalist killed, the date each was killed and the media organization each worked for.

United Nations Experts Decry Mounting Evidence
of Israeli Genocide

On November 16, UN Special Rapporteurs associated with the UN Human Rights Commissioner's office provided evidence of increasing genocidal incitement, overt intent to "destroy the Palestinian people under occupation," loud calls for a "second Nakba" in Gaza and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory, and the use of powerful weaponry with inherently indiscriminate impacts, resulting in a colossal death toll and destruction of life-sustaining infrastructure.

"Many of us already raised the alarm about the risk of genocide in Gaza," the experts said. "We are deeply disturbed by the failure of governments to heed our call and to achieve an immediate ceasefire. We are also profoundly concerned about the support of certain governments for Israel's strategy of warfare against the besieged population of Gaza, and the failure of the international system to mobilize to prevent genocide." they added. After providing detailed evidence of the death and destruction in both Gaza and the West Bank by the Israeli forces, they said: "The international community has an obligation to prevent atrocity crimes, including genocide, and should immediately consider all diplomatic, political and economic measures to that end." They urged immediate action by UN Member States and the UN system as a whole.

The Human Rights Commissioner called for: "The deployment of an international protective presence in the occupied Palestinian territory under the supervision of the UN; Collaboration of all parties with the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, and the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on the investigation opened in March 2021, as well as crimes arising from the recent events, underlining that the crimes committed today are partly due to a lack of deterrence and continued impunity; Implement an arms embargo on all warring parties; Address the underlying causes of the conflict by ending the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territory."

"The international community, including not only States but also non-State actors such as businesses, must do everything it can to immediately end the risk of genocide against the Palestinian people, and ultimately end Israeli apartheid and occupation of the Palestinian territory," the experts said.

The statement of the Special Rapporteurs is available here.

For Your Information

Defining Genocide

Chicago, October 21, 2023

The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, or the Genocide Convention, is an international treaty that criminalizes genocide and obligates state parties to pursue the enforcement of its prohibition. It is an instrument of international law that codified for the first time the crime of genocide.

The Genocide Convention was the first human rights treaty adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1948 and signified the international community's commitment to 'never again' after the atrocities committed during the Second World War. Its adoption marked a crucial step towards the development of international human rights and international criminal law as we know it today.

According to the Genocide Convention, genocide is a crime that can take place both in time of war as well as in time of peace. The definition of the crime of genocide, as set out in the Convention, has been widely adopted at both national and international levels, including in the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Importantly, the Convention establishes on State Parties the obligation to take measures to prevent and to punish the crime of genocide, including by enacting relevant legislation and punishing perpetrators, "whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals" (Article IV). That obligation, in addition to the prohibition not to commit genocide, have been considered norms of international customary law and therefore, binding on all States, whether or not they have ratified the Genocide Convention.

The Genocide Convention has been ratified or acceded to by 153 States (as of April 2022). The other 41 United Nations Member States have yet to do so. Of those, 18 are from Africa, 17 from Asia and six from America. Canada signed the Convention on November 28, 1949 and ratified it on September 3, 1952. The United States signed on December 11, 1948 and ratified it on November 25, 1988. It records the following reservations and understandings:

Reservations:

"(1) That with reference to article IX of the Convention, before any dispute to which the United States is a party may be submitted to the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice under this article, the specific consent of the United States is required in each case.

"(2) That nothing in the Convention requires or authorizes legislation or other action by the United States of America prohibited by the Constitution of the United States as interpreted by the United States."

Understandings:

"(1) That the term 'intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group as such' appearing in article II means the specific intent to destroy, in whole or in substantial part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group as such by the acts specified in article II.

"(2) That the term 'mental harm' in article II(b) means permanent impairment of mental faculties through drugs, torture or similar techniques.

"(3) That the pledge to grant extradition in accordance with a state's laws and treaties in force found in article VII extends only to acts which are criminal under the laws of both the requesting and the requested state and nothing in article VI affects the right of any state to bring to trial before its own tribunals any of its nationals for acts committed outside a state.

"(4) That acts in the course of armed conflicts committed without the specific intent required by article II are not sufficient to constitute genocide as defined by this Convention.

"(5) That with regard to the reference to an international penal tribunal in article VI of the Convention, the United States declares that it reserves the right to effect its participation in any such tribunal only by a treaty entered into specifically for that purpose with the advice and consent of the Senate."

Israel signed the Convention on August 17, 1949 and ratified it on March 9, 1950.

Israeli historian Raz Segal published an article in Jewish Currents entitled "A Textbook Case of Genocide: Israel has been explicit about what it is carrying out in Gaza. Why isn't the world listening?" Segal points out that at least three of the five acts stated in the 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention are being carried out at this moment in Gaza: 1. Killing members of the group. 2. Causing serious bodily and mental harm to members of the group. 3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.

Evidence that Israel Is an Apartheid State

While Canada attempts to criminalize everyone who publicly defends the conclusion that Israel is an Apartheid State, many human rights organizations, academics, members of past Israeli governments, personalities -- including Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu -- and many others have stood with the people of Palestine to provide evidence that Israel is in fact an apartheid state as defined in international law.

Israel has never recognized the armistice lines of 1949, and considers historic Palestine a single jurisdiction between the river and the sea (the Jordan River to the Mediterranean). Israel applies different legal systems to the people that live "between the river and the sea." It uses warfare against the people of Gaza, martial law in the West Bank, administrative and civil law in East Jerusalem and civil law within Israel to rule Palestinians and deprive them of rights. All of the systems are based on the assertion that only the Jewish people have a right to national self-determination within historic Palestine. They all have a common aim of Jewish supremacy and advancing the aim of seizing more and more land for exclusive Jewish land and settlement.

The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights has a database of over 60 laws that demonstrates how Israel either explicitly violates the rights of Palestinian citizens or does it by disparate impact.

The Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem identifies four broad areas where Israel imposes an apartheid regime -- land, citizenship, freedom of movement, and political participation.

Citizenship and the Right to Return

The Law of Return of 1950 allows any Jewish person, defined as anyone with one Jewish grandparent, the right to return to Israel -- the right to move to Israel and automatically become a citizen of Israel. The spouse of any Jewish person also has that right unless they are Palestinian. The law denies Palestinian refugees and their descendants legal status, the right to return, and all other rights in their homeland, even if they, their parents, or their grandparents were born and lived there, and even if they were forcibly driven from their homes. It defines Palestinians present in Israel, who make up about 20 per cent of the population, as Israeli citizens without a nationality. Residents of East Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in 1967, are considered "permanent residents," do not hold Israeli passports and their status can be revoked if they are living abroad. Palestinians who marry Israelis are denied status within pre-1967 borders. They can obtain temporary, two-year residence permits, which can be revoked at any time, forcing a family to either live apart or emigrate. This and other laws including the Nationality Law of 1952 were aimed at preventing a return of Palestinians who were the victims of ethnic cleansing in 1948.[1]

Other laws which further establish who can live within the state of Israel (pre-1967 borders) and which deny Palestinians the right to return and live in their homeland include the Absentees' Property Law of 1950; Entry into Israel Law of 1952; World Zionist Organization -- Jewish Agency (Status) Law of 1952; Land Acquisition Law (Validation of Acts and Compensation) of 1953; and Basic Law: Israel Lands of 1960.

The Israeli Nation State Law lays claim to all of historic Palestine as the "homeland of the Jewish people" in which Jewish supremacy must be established and maintained. The law, enacted in 2018, defines Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people, and adds that "fulfilling the right to national self-determination in the state of Israel is unique to the Jewish people." The law also stipulates the protection of illegal Jewish settlement as a national value and that "Israel will labour to encourage and promote its establishment and development." This law declares that the annexation by force of Palestinian land is a protected right for Jews. It also downgraded Arabic from an official state language to one with "special status." The law was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2021.

"The Nation-State Law is intended to end the aspirations of the Palestinian people more generally. The law establishes the "Land of Israel," that is, Palestine from river to the sea, as territory open to Jewish self-determination. All parts of Palestine are in principle a frontier for expansion, annexation, and the imposition of Israeli sovereignty."

For further information on the Nation State Law click here.

Land

Israel practices a policy of "Judaizing" historic Palestine. This is a continuous process practiced with respect to land within pre-1967 borders and applied to Palestinians in the Occupied Territories since 1967. "Judaizing" takes the form of expansion of illegal settlements, expropriation of land, house demolitions, confiscation and destruction of property, and forced displacement which are all illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention.

B'Tselem points out that Jewish citizens live as though the entire area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea were a single space, excluding the Gaza Strip from where Israeli settlers were removed before Gaza was turned into a concentration camp. Whether they live in Israel or in settlements not formally annexed to Israel, is irrelevant to their rights or status.

"Where Palestinians live, on the other hand, is crucial. The Israeli regime has divided historic Palestine into units that it defines and governs differently, according Palestinians different rights in each. This division is relevant to Palestinians only. The geographic space, which is contiguous for Jews, is a fragmented mosaic for Palestinians:"

The Absentee Property Law mandates expropriation of land belonging to Palestinians who were expelled or fled in 1948. This land has been used exclusively to build communities for Jewish citizens, with not a single community for Palestinians. Communities can legally establish "admission committees" to refuse all Palestinian applicants from living in their communities on the grounds of "cultural incompatibility."

Administrative law (regulations) are used to prevent Palestinians from accessing land for their growing population. A separate planning system for Palestinians in the West Bank is designed to prevent construction and development. Land is declared state land, a firing zone, a nature reserve or a national park to prevent Palestinians from building on the land, while illegal settlements proliferate.

Freedom of Movement

Israeli citizens can leave and reenter the country at any time, and have freedom of movement within the entire area controlled by Israel. Palestinian subjects, on the other hand, are strictly regulated and require a special Israeli permit to travel between the units which Israel has established and sometimes inside them, and to travel abroad. The process for receiving a travel permit is both lengthy and arbitrary.

Gazans are imprisoned within Gaza, and except under exceptional circumstances, no one can enter or leave. Israel controls all routes between what have become Palestinian enclaves in the West Bank. Israel can close off access to villages, block roads and stop passage through checkpoints at will. Palestinians are barred from accessing their land, including farmland, between the apartheid wall and the pre-1967 border, subject to the same permit regime.

Palestinians are not permitted to enter the illegal Israeli settlements.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has documented 645 physical obstacles to movement in the West Bank including checkpoints, roadblocks, road gates, earth walls and mounds, road barriers and trenches. Many checkpoints are fortified with metal detectors, surveillance cameras and facial recognition technology, and with facilities for detention and interrogation. A checkpoint can be closed at any moment. OCHA has assessed more than half of the obstacles to have a severe impact on Palestinians by preventing or restricting access and movement to main roads, urban centres, services, and agricultural areas.

Denial of Human Rights to Freedom of Speech,
Association and Political Participation

Collective Rights: The roughly 5 million Palestinians who live in the occupied territories, including East Jerusalem, live under Israeli rule. Collective political rights are reserved for Jews and denied to Palestinians, who constitute more than half of the population in what the law calls "Land of Israel" -- that is, historic Palestine. Palestinians governed by the laws of the State of Israel are by law considered to have no nationality, and no collective rights as Palestinians. The Interior Minister can strip citizens of their citizenship if convicted of acts that amount to "breach of allegiance to the state." The law has exclusively been applied to Palestinians.

In the West Bank, demonstrations are illegal, and political activity is effectively illegal. The United Nations reports that since 1967, when Israel occupied East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, 1 million -- or one in five Palestinians -- has been arrested and charged under the 1,600 military orders that control every aspect of their lives under military occupation.

There were about 5,200 Palestinians in Israeli prisons prior to October 7. There are now more than 10,000 as of October 21, including 4,000 workers from Gaza who are being held in military bases, and 1,070 Palestinians arrested in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Palestinians can be held indefinitely under administrative detention without charges or a trial. If brought to trial, prosecution takes place in military courts, while settlers in the West Bank are under civil law, although in reality they are free to commit crimes against Palestinians with impunity.

The director of the Palestinian Authority Detainees Affairs Commission reports that prisoners are subjected to starvation and thirst, denied medical attention and medicine, and water and electricity are cut off. Torture and beating of Palestinian prisoners is well documented.

Palestinian citizens of Israel are being arrested, fired and suspended from their jobs, and expelled from school for expressing solidarity with Gaza, on a variety of charges ranging from "publication of incitement" and "behaviour that could harm public order," to "support for terrorist organizations." All demonstrations in solidarity with Gaza are banned.

Expulsion Law: Palestinians within Israel can run for seats in the Knesset. However, a majority of 90 Knesset members can remove a serving member of the Knesset on the following three grounds, as enumerated in Section 7A of the Basic Law -- The Knesset: (1) denial of the existence of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state; (2) incitement to racism; and (3) support for armed struggle of an enemy state or a terrorist organization against Israel. Political parties can also be banned from participating in elections by the Elections Commissioner on the basis of this law.

Disparate Impact

The following are examples of disparate impact. A landlord can refuse to rent to anyone who has not served in the army, which Palestinians do not, and jobs can be denied on the same basis. There are Palestinian towns within Israel whose existence Israel does not recognize and to which it provides no services whatsoever -- no water supply, no garbage collection, no parks and playgrounds, and where the people live in abject poverty. There are many more.

The laws, practices and organized violence speak for themselves. They enshrine in law the supremacy of Jewish people and demonstrate that Israel more than meets the criteria as defined in international law to conclude that it is an apartheid state.

Human Rights Organizations that Concluded Israel Is an Apartheid State

The following human rights organizations have concluded that Israeli law and practices constitute apartheid as defined in international law. This list may not be comprehensive.

Adalah -- The Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel
Amnesty International
B'Tselem (Israeli human rights organization)
Centre for Human Rights Dialogue
Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN)
Human Rights Watch
International Commission of Jurists
International Federation for Human Rights
South African Human Sciences Research Council
UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Michael Lynk
Yesh Din (Israeli human rights organization)

Note

1. Palestinians constitute a demographic majority, with an estimated population of 7.503 million or 51.16 per cent while Jews comprise 46-47 per cent of all inhabitants in historic Palestine. More than 2 million of the Palestinians living in historic Palestine are refugees from their homes, including more than a million people in Gaza, around 750,000 in the West Bank, and about 250,000 in Israel proper (2022). (Wikipedia)

International Law on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid

The International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid was adopted by the General Assembly in 1973, with 91 votes in favour, four against (Portugal, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States), and 26 abstentions. It came into force on July18, 1976, and has now been ratified by 109 states. Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and many European countries have not ratified the Convention.

Additional Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 recognized apartheid as a "grave breach" of the Protocol in 1977 regardless of geographic location.

The Draft Code of Crimes against the Peace and Security of Mankind recognizes apartheid as a crime on the basis of institutionalized racial discrimination as a species of crimes against humanity.

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (1988) included the crime of apartheid as a crime against humanity.

The International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment
of the Crime of Apartheid

Article I

1. The States Parties to the present Convention declare that apartheid is a crime against humanity and that inhuman acts resulting from the policies and practices of apartheid and similar policies and practices of racial segregation and discrimination, as defined in article II of the Convention, are crimes violating the principles of international law, in particular the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, and constituting a serious threat to international peace and security.

2. The States Parties to the present Convention declare criminal those organizations, institutions and individuals committing the crime of apartheid.

Article II

For the purpose of the present Convention, the term "the crime of apartheid," which shall include similar policies and practices of racial segregation and discrimination as practiced in southern Africa, shall apply to the following inhuman acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them:

(a) Denial to a member or members of a racial group or groups of the right to life and liberty of person:

(i) By murder of members of a racial group or groups;

(ii) By the infliction upon the members of a racial group or groups of serious bodily or mental harm, by the infringement of their freedom or dignity, or by subjecting them to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;

(iii) By arbitrary arrest and illegal imprisonment of the members of a racial group or groups;

(b) Deliberate imposition on a racial group or groups of living conditions calculated to cause its or their physical destruction in whole or in part;

(c) Any legislative measures and other measures calculated to prevent a racial group or groups from participation in the political, social, economic and cultural life of the country and the deliberate creation of conditions preventing the full development of such a group or groups, in particular by denying to members of a racial group or groups basic human rights and freedoms, including the right to work, the right to form recognized trade unions, the right to education, the right to leave and to return to their country, the right to a nationality, the right to freedom of movement and residence, the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association;

d) Any measures including legislative measures, designed to divide the population along racial lines by the creation of separate reserves and ghettos for the members of a racial group or groups, the prohibition of mixed marriages among members of various racial groups, the expropriation of landed property belonging to a racial group or groups or to members thereof;

(e) Exploitation of the labour of the members of a racial group or groups, in particular by submitting them to forced labour;

(f) Persecution of organizations and persons, by depriving them of fundamental rights and freedoms, because they oppose apartheid.

The full text can be found here.

(To access articles individually click on the black headline.)

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