ANPBekladding Monument op de Dam bij Dodenherdenking 2026/Never Again is Now/Ja en Nee
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NOTEN 19 T/M 21/DUBBEL
Inclusieve dodenherdenking – 4 mei 2026 in Den Haag
Op 4 mei herdenken we de slachtoffers van oorlog. Maar herdenken mag geen ritueel worden dat alleen naar het verleden kijkt. Daarom organiseren wij opnieuw een inclusieve dodenherdenking in Den Haag, waar we stilstaan bij alle slachtoffers van oorlogsgeweld – toen én nu.
In een tijd waarin oorlog terugkeert in Europa, de internationale rechtsorde onder druk staat en wereldwijd burgers slachtoffer worden van geweld, vinden wij het belangrijk om het jaarlijks ritueel van herdenken te verbreden. Herdenken betekent niet alleen terugkijken, maar ook verantwoordelijkheid nemen voor het heden.
Op deze dag willen we expliciet ruimte maken voor empathie met álle slachtoffers van oorlog en geweld. Want de impact van oorlogsleed kent geen grenzen
Kom herdenken
Iedereen is welkom bij de inclusieve dodenherdenking op 4 mei in Den Haag, op het Lange Voorhout om 19:00.
De herdenking is ook live te volgen op Youtube. Klik HIER om bij de livestream te komen.
Samen herdenken we. Samen spreken we ons uit. Samen weigeren we weg te kijken.
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NOTEN 15 T/M 18/DUBBEL
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NOOT 14/DUBBEL
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NOOT 12/DUBBEL
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NOOT 11/DUBBEL
Broodkruimels als antwoord op genocide
Het was een pijnlijk moment in het debat over de regeringsverklaring van het kabinet-Jetten: de foto van premier Jetten bij de Rode Lijn-demonstratie werd omhooggehouden, gevolgd door de vraag waarom de woorden van toen nu verdampt zijn. ‘Toen zei Rob Jetten dat Palestina erkend moet worden, dat Israël een genocide pleegt, dat Israël oorlogsmisdaden pleegt en dat er tegen Israël sancties moeten komen’, hield Van Baarle (DENK) hem voor. En nu? ‘Israël “maar eventjes gaan aanspreken”.’
Laten we eerlijk zijn: ja, dit kabinet zet een paar mini-stapjes de goede kant op. Het herstellen van de relatie met UNRWA en het weer vrijmaken van budget daarvoor is nodig en welkom. Juist nu honger, ziekte en ontwrichting dagelijks levens kosten. Jetten wijst op de afronding van de onderzoeken naar UNRWA om de relatie te herstellen. Ook de belofte om humanitaire toegang tot Gaza te verbeteren en humanitaire organisaties te steunen die door Israël het werken in Palestina onmogelijk wordt gemaakt, is essentieel. Niemand kan dat ontkennen.
Maar de vraag is niet of er wel of niet iets gebeurt. De vraag is of het genoeg is. En het antwoord is: bij lange na niet.
Politieke speelbal
De coalitie heeft het over het einde van ‘(de uitbreiding van) illegale nederzettingen’, het beëindigen van het belemmeren van noodhulp, het herstellen van de relatie met UNRWA en het in stand houden van nationale en Europese sancties ‘jegens (leden van) de regering-Netanyahu’. Dat klinkt principieel, maar de praktijk die in het debat zichtbaar werd is er vooral een van compromissen: net genoeg om te kunnen zeggen dat de coalitie ‘iets’ doet, maar veel te weinig om de druk op te bouwen die de misdaden doet stoppen.
Zo zeggen D66 en de premier zélf al langer dat erkenning van Palestina logisch en noodzakelijk is. En toch gebeurt het niet. Omdat VVD en CDA weigeren en D66 dat accepteert als prijs om te kunnen regeren. Jetten zei het in de Kamer ronduit: De drie fracties […] kijken alle drie net op een andere manier naar het moment en de manier waarop je de Palestijnse Staat erkent.’ Met andere woorden: van een volk dat onder bezetting, apartheid en structureel geweld leeft, wordt erkenning gedegradeerd tot punt van onderhandeling. Zo wordt het recht op zelfbeschikking van het Palestijnse volk tot politieke speelbal gemaakt.
Nog steeds medeplichtig
Dat is niet alleen politiek lelijk, het is moreel onhoudbaar. Over genocide, apartheid en etnische zuivering sluit je geen compromissen. Je kunt je niet ‘een beetje’ verzetten tegen genocide. Je kunt je niet ‘half’ verzetten tegen apartheid. Je kunt je niet ‘gedeeltelijk’ verzetten tegen etnische zuivering, marteling en buitengerechtelijke executies. Een beetje wegkijken blijft wegkijken. Een beetje meewerken blijft meewerken. En een beleid dat vooral ontworpen is om VVD en CDA binnenboord te houden, blijft, hoe mooi de woorden ook zijn, medeplichtigheid in stand houden.
Want terwijl het kabinet enkele halve sancties noemt, blijft Nederland nog altijd economische relaties gedogen die de bezetting en nederzettingen voeden. Het probleem is dat de bezettings- en nederzettingeneconomie verweven is met de Israëlische economie als geheel. Een handelsverbod dat zich beperkt tot een paar producten of labels – terwijl handelsstromen, investeringen, aanbestedingen en samenwerking met betrokken bedrijven gewoon doorgaan – is geen ‘drukmiddel’ maar een ‘gedoogmiddel’, bedoeld om de coalitie mogelijk te maken.
En ondertussen blijft Nederland samenwerken met een bezettingsleger dat de wereld dagelijks confronteert met massaal geweld tegen Palestijnse burgers. Je kunt niet enerzijds zeggen dat je pal staat voor de internationale rechtsorde en anderzijds militaire samenwerking normaliseren, aankopen doen bij Israëlische bedrijven die hun wapens testen op de Palestijnse bevolking, of de doorvoer en export van militair relevante goederen slechts gedeeltelijk begrenzen.
Aan de slag!
Dit kabinet doet niet wat veel Nederlanders vragen. Peilingen van Ipsos, Motivaction en EenV
Wie de Rode Lijn serieus neemt, moet ophouden met kruimels strooien en beginnen met daden die ertoe doen. Dat betekent ten minste:
- Erken de Staat Palestina nu, niet ‘aan het eind van een proces’ dat ondertussen wordt gesaboteerd door annexatiepolitiek.
- Een volledig wapenembargo: export, import, doorvoer en elke vorm van militaire samenwerking stopzetten — geen uitzonderingen die de regel uithollen.
- Echte sancties: niet alleen tegen een paar ‘extremistische’ figuren, maar tegen verantwoordelijke bestuurders, entiteiten en bedrijven die geweld, bezetting en nederzettingen mogelijk maken.
- Een volledig verbod op handel en investeringen die bijdragen aan nederzettingen en bezetting — inclusief financiële stromen, pensioenbeleggingen en publieke aanbestedingen.
Morele ondergrens
Dit kabinet belooft meer dan de vorige kabinetten. Dat kon ook moeilijk anders: de werkelijkheid heeft de oude praatlijnen ingehaald. De vraag is of het kabinet nu eindelijk kiest voor rechtvaardigheid, of opnieuw voor pappen-en-nathouden, met VVD en CDA op de rem en D66 dat ‘het maximaal haalbare’ verkoopt als moreel succes.
Broodkruimels zijn niet genoeg voor een bevolking die doelbewust wordt uitgehongerd. En ‘foei zeggen’ helpt niet tegen een regime dat zich al decennia schuldig maakt aan oorlogsmisdaden en misdaden tegen de menselijkheid. Op dit dossier bestaat geen middenweg. Wie met compromissen reageert op onrecht, kiest in de praktijk de kant van het onrecht.
De Rode Lijn is niet bedoeld als decor voor campagnefoto’s. Het is een morele ondergrens.
Palestina
Jetten was er met zijn coalitiepartners niet uitgekomen, zei hij tijdens het Tweede Kamerdebat over de regeringsverklaring van 25 en 26 februari. Een rechtvaardig beleid voor Palestijnen én Israëli’s, gebaseerd op het internationaal recht, bleek voor de VVD en het CDA onbespreekbaar. Die twee ‘kijken daar nét op een andere manier naar’, in de woorden van Jetten. Daar had hij zich bij neergelegd.
Dus is de kwestie-Palestina weer een ‘ingewikkeld conflict’, mag de Israëlische genocide in Gaza niet zo genoemd worden, en is erkenning van de Staat Palestina ondenkbaar: de VVD is mordicus tegen en het CDA stelt eigen voorwaarden aan het zelfbeschikkingsrecht van de Palestijnen.
Iran
Twee dagen na het debat startten Israël en de VS hun naar alle maatstaven illegale oorlog tegen Iran. Nederland liet na die te veroordelen. Sterker, het kabinet-Jetten toont er ‘begrip’ voor en zet met het uitzenden van het fregat Zr. Ms. Evertsen de eerste schreden op weg naar betrokkenheid. De kans bestaat dat Nederland zo de oorlog wordt ingerommeld, aan de zijde van de agressors.
Dat Israël en de VS het internationaal recht schenden – een feit dat door deskundigen uitvoerig is belicht – wilde het kabinet niet expliciet uitspreken. Na zware kritiek liet premier Jetten weten dat zowel de aanvallen van de VS en Israël als die van Iran ‘buiten de kaders van het internationaal recht vallen’. Maar, schrijft Trouw, diezelfde avond karakteriseerde Jettens coalitiegenoot en minister van Defensie Dilan Yesilgöz (VVD) dat standpunt als ‘morele verhevenheid’ waaraan vooral niet moet worden vastgehouden.
Eerder stelde minister van Buitenlandse Zaken Tom Berendsen (CDA) al dat ‘het internationaal recht niet het enige kader is dat je op de situatie kunt leggen’. Het kabinet hanteert ook eigen criteria. Want het Iraanse regime onderdrukt de bevolking en vormt een ‘dreiging voor de regio en de hele wereld’, volgens Berendsen. Dat zijn stuk voor stuk criteria die het kabinet ook ‘op Israël kan leggen’, zelfs moet leggen, maar dat al jaren nalaat.
Libanon
Intussen dient de derde testcase zich aan in Libanon, waar Israël 816.000 Libanese burgers heeft verdreven en hun woongebieden met de grond gelijk maakt. Dit als gevreesde opmaat naar permanente Israëlische bezetting en kolonisering van Zuid-Libanon – en daarmee de permanente verdrijving van de bevolking.
In het land dreigt een crisis, met de kans dat vluchtelingenstromen op gang komen naar instabiele buurlanden en de Europese Unie. Dit naast het risico dat het geweld in en rond Libanon escaleert, boven op de regionale schokgolven waar we al getuige van zijn.
Maar in Den Haag is het stil. Het kabinet maakt geen aanstalten om Israëls geweld in Libanon te veroordelen als een flagrante schending van het internationaal recht en als een ‘dreiging voor de regio en de hele wereld’.
Overeenkomsten
De overeenkomst tussen Palestina, Iran en Libanon is de complete destructie die Israël er aanricht, met als expliciet doel die staten te ontwrichten, ongeacht de gevolgen voor hun bevolkingen. De tweede overeenkomst is dat Nederland het laat gebeuren en bereid is daarvoor zijn verplichtingen onder het internationaal recht opzij te zetten – steeds met Israël als begunstigde.
Het verschil met de Nederlandse reactie op de Russische inval in Oekraïne is groot. Waar Rusland hard wordt gesanctioneerd, blijft een veroordeling van Israëls geweld driemaal achtereen uit – laat staan dat het land met sancties iets in de weg wordt gelegd.
Met zijn handelwijze ondermijnt het kabinet de internationale rechtsorde en Nederlands rol als consequente hoeder daarvan. Ook dreigt schade aan de belangen van Nederlandse burgers. Die kan serieuze vormen aannemen, schreef NRC in zijn Commentaar van 6 maart over de oorlog tegen Iran. De krant laat zien hoe de stijging van de olieprijs de inflatie aanjaagt en leidt tot een afname van de economische groei.
Van ver zien aankomen
Hoe kan een kabinet onder D66-leiderschap dat laten gebeuren? Het antwoord: de VVD en het CDA. Die kijken niet ‘nét op een andere manier’ naar Israëls schendingen van de rechtsorde, maar hebben daar een fundamenteel andere opvatting over.
Dat zag Jetten uiteraard van ver aankomen toen hij aanschoof bij de VVD en het CDA. De vraag was of hij dat in zijn eigen kabinet zou dulden, of dat hij een einde zou maken aan decennia van pro-Israëlbeleid. Jetten was in de positie om af te dwingen dat Nederland onder zijn hoede zal voldoen aan zijn verplichtingen onder internationaal recht. Dat heeft hij nagelaten.
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NOOT 10/DUBBEL
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL INVESTIGATION CONCLUDES ISRAEL
IS COMMITTING GENOCIDE AGAINST PALESTINIANS IN GAZA
5 DECEMBER 2024
Amnesty International’s research has found sufficient basis to conclude that Israel has committed and is continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip, the organization said in a landmark new report published today.
The report, ‘You Feel Like You Are Subhuman’: Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza, documents how, during its military offensive launched in the wake of the deadly Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on 7 October 2023, Israel has unleashed hell and destruction on Palestinians in Gaza brazenly, continuously and with total impunity.
“Amnesty International’s report demonstrates that Israel has carried out acts prohibited under the Genocide Convention, with the specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza. These acts include killings, causing serious bodily or mental harm and deliberately inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction. Month after month, Israel has treated Palestinians in Gaza as a subhuman group unworthy of human rights and dignity, demonstrating its intent to physically destroy them,” said Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International.
“Our damning findings must serve as a wake-up call to the international community: this is genocide. It must stop now.
“States that continue to transfer arms to Israel at this time must know they are violating their obligation to prevent genocide and are at risk of becoming complicit in genocide. All states with influence over Israel, particularly key arms suppliers like the USA and Germany, but also other EU member states, the UK and others, must act now to bring Israel’s atrocities against Palestinians in Gaza to an immediate end.”
Over the past two months the crisis has grown particularly acute in the North Gaza governorate, where a besieged population is facing starvation, displacement and annihilation amid relentless bombardment and suffocating restrictions on life-saving humanitarian aid.
“Our research reveals that, for months, Israel has persisted in committing genocidal acts, fully aware of the irreparable harm it was inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza. It continued to do so in defiance of countless warnings about the catastrophic humanitarian situation and of legally binding decisions from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordering Israel to take immediate measures to enable the provision of humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza,” said Agnès Callamard.
“Israel has repeatedly argued that its actions in Gaza are lawful and can be justified by its military goal to eradicate Hamas. But genocidal intent can co-exist alongside military goals and does not need to be Israel’s sole intent.”
Amnesty International examined Israel’s acts in Gaza closely and in their totality, taking into account their recurrence and simultaneous occurrence, and both their immediate impact and their cumulative and mutually reinforcing consequences. The organization considered the scale and severity of the casualties and destruction over time. It also analysed public statements by officials, finding that prohibited acts were often announced or called for in the first place by high-level officials in charge of the war efforts.
“Taking into account the pre-existing context of dispossession, apartheid and unlawful military occupation in which these acts have been committed, we could find only one reasonable conclusion: Israel’s intent is the physical destruction of Palestinians in Gaza, whether in parallel with, or as a means to achieve, its military goal of destroying Hamas,” said Agnès Callamard.
“The atrocity crimes committed on 7 October 2023 by Hamas and other armed groups against Israelis and victims of other nationalities, including deliberate mass killings and hostage-taking, can never justify Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.”
International jurisprudence recognizes that the perpetrator does not need to succeed in their attempts to destroy the protected group, either in whole or in part, for genocide to have been committed. The commission of prohibited acts with the intent to destroy the group, as such, is sufficient.
Amnesty International’s report examines in detail Israel’s violations in Gaza over nine months between 7 October 2023 and early July 2024. The organization interviewed 212 people, including Palestinian victims and witnesses, local authorities in Gaza, healthcare workers, conducted fieldwork and analysed an extensive range of visual and digital evidence, including satellite imagery. It also analysed statements by senior Israeli government and military officials, and official Israeli bodies. On multiple occasions, the organization shared its findings with the Israeli authorities but had received no substantive response at the time of publication.
Unprecedented scale and magnitude
Israel’s actions following Hamas’s deadly attacks on 7 October 2023 have brought Gaza’s population to the brink of collapse. Its brutal military offensive had killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, including over 13,300 children, and injured over 97,000 more, by 7 October 2024, many of them in direct or deliberately indiscriminate attacks, often wiping out entire multigenerational families. It has caused unprecedented destruction, which experts say occurred at a level and speed not seen in any other conflict in the 21st century, levelling entire cities and destroying critical infrastructure, agricultural land and cultural and religious sites. It thereby rendered large swathes of Gaza uninhabitable.
Mohammed, who fled with his family from Gaza City to Rafah in March 2024 and was displaced again in May 2024, described their struggle to survive in horrifying conditions:
“Here in Deir al-Balah, it’s like an apocalypse… You have to protect your children from insects, from the heat, and there is no clean water, no toilets, all while the bombing never stops. You feel like you are subhuman here.”
Israel imposed conditions of life in Gaza that created a deadly mixture of malnutrition, hunger and diseases, and exposed Palestinians to a slow, calculated death. Israel also subjected hundreds of Palestinians from Gaza to incommunicado detention, torture and other ill-treatment.
Viewed in isolation, some of the acts investigated by Amnesty International constitute serious violations of international humanitarian law or international human rights law. But in looking at the broader picture of Israel’s military campaign and the cumulative impact of its policies and acts, genocidal intent is the only reasonable conclusion.
Intent to destroy
To establish Israel’s specific intent to physically destroy Palestinians in Gaza, as such, Amnesty International analysed the overall pattern of Israel’s conduct in Gaza, reviewed dehumanizing and genocidal statements by Israeli government and military officials, particularly those at the highest levels, and considered the context of Israel’s system of apartheid, its inhumane blockade of Gaza and the unlawful 57-year-old military occupation of the Palestinian territory.
Before reaching its conclusion, Amnesty International examined Israel’s claims that its military lawfully targeted Hamas and other armed groups throughout Gaza, and that the resulting unprecedented destruction and denial of aid were the outcome of unlawful conduct by Hamas and other armed groups, such as locating fighters among the civilian population or the diversion of aid. The organization concluded these claims are not credible. The presence of Hamas fighters near or within a densely populated area does not absolve Israel from its obligations to take all feasible precautions to spare civilians and avoid indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks. Its research found Israel repeatedly failed to do so, committing multiple crimes under international law for which there can be no justification based on Hamas’s actions. Amnesty International also found no evidence that the diversion of aid could explain Israel’s extreme and deliberate restrictions on life-saving humanitarian aid.
In its analysis, the organization also considered alternative arguments such as ones that Israel was acting recklessly or that it simply wanted to destroy Hamas and did not care if it needed to destroy Palestinians in the process, demonstrating a callous disregard for their lives rather than genocidal intent.
However, regardless of whether Israel sees the destruction of Palestinians as instrumental to destroying Hamas or as an acceptable by-product of this goal, this view of Palestinians as disposable and not worthy of consideration is in itself evidence of genocidal intent.
Many of the unlawful acts documented by Amnesty International were preceded by officials urging their implementation. The organization reviewed 102 statements that were issued by Israeli government and military officials and others between 7 October 2023 and 30 June 2024 and dehumanized Palestinians, called for or justified genocidal acts or other crimes against them.
Of these, Amnesty International identified 22 statements made by senior officials in charge of managing the offensive that appeared to call for, or justify, genocidal acts, providing direct evidence of genocidal intent. This language was frequently replicated, including by Israeli soldiers on the ground, as evidenced by audiovisual content verified by Amnesty International showing soldiers making calls to “erase” Gaza or to make it uninhabitable, and celebrating the destruction of Palestinian homes, mosques, schools and universities.
Killing and causing serious bodily or mental harm
Amnesty International documented the genocidal acts of killing and causing serious mental and bodily harm to Palestinians in Gaza by reviewing the results of investigations it conducted into 15 air strikes between 7 October 2023 and 20 April 2024 that killed at least 334 civilians, including 141 children, and wounded hundreds of others. Amnesty International found no evidence that any of these strikes were directed at a military objective.
In one illustrative case, on 20 April 2024, an Israeli air strike destroyed the Abdelal family house in the Al-Jneinah neighbourhood in eastern Rafah, killing three generations of Palestinians, including 16 children, while they were sleeping.
While these represent just a fraction of Israel’s aerial attacks, they are indicative of a broader pattern of repeated direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects or deliberately indiscriminate attacks. The attacks were also conducted in ways designed to cause a very high number of fatalities and injuries among the civilian population.
Inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about physical destruction
The report documents how Israel deliberately inflicted conditions of life on Palestinians in Gaza intended to lead, over time, to their destruction. These conditions were imposed through three simultaneous patterns that repeatedly compounded the effect of each other’s devastating impacts: damage to and destruction of life-sustaining infrastructure and other objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population; the repeated use of sweeping, arbitrary and confusing mass “evacuation” orders to forcibly displace almost all of Gaza’s population; and the denial and obstruction of the delivery of essential services, humanitarian assistance and other life-saving supplies into and within Gaza.
After 7 October 2023, Israel imposed a total siege on Gaza cutting off electricity, water and fuel. In the nine months reviewed for this report, Israel maintained a suffocating, unlawful blockade, tightly controlled access to energy sources, failed to facilitate meaningful humanitarian access within Gaza, and obstructed the import and delivery of life-saving goods and humanitarian aid, particularly to areas north of Wadi Gaza. They thereby exacerbated an already existing humanitarian crisis. This, combined with the extensive damage to Gaza’s homes, hospitals, water and sanitation facilities and agricultural land, and mass forced displacement, caused catastrophic levels of hunger and led to the spread of diseases at alarming rates. The impact was especially harsh on young children and pregnant or breastfeeding women, with anticipated long-term consequences for their health.
Time and again, Israel had the chance to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, yet for over a year it has repeatedly refused to take steps blatantly within its power to do so, such as opening sufficient access points to Gaza or lifting tight restrictions on what could enter the Strip or their obstruction of aid deliveries within Gaza while the situation has grown progressively worse.
Through its repeated “evacuation” orders Israel displaced nearly 1.9 million Palestinians – 90% of Gaza’s population – into ever-shrinking, unsafe pockets of land under inhumane conditions, some of them up to 10 times. These multiple waves of forced displacement left many jobless and deeply traumatized, especially since some 70% of Gaza’s residents are refugees or descendants of refugees whose towns and villages were ethnically cleansed by Israel during the 1948 Nakba.
Despite conditions quickly becoming unfit for human life, Israeli authorities refused to consider measures that would have protected displaced civilians and ensured their basic needs were met, showing that their actions were deliberate.
They refused to allow those displaced to return to their homes in northern Gaza or relocate temporarily to other parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territory or Israel, continuing to deny many Palestinians their right to return under international law to areas they were displaced from in 1948. They did so knowing that there was nowhere safe for Palestinians in Gaza to flee to.
Accountability for genocide
“The international community’s seismic, shameful failure for over a year to press Israel to end its atrocities in Gaza, by first delaying calls for a ceasefire and then continuing arms transfers, is and will remain a stain on our collective conscience,” said Agnès Callamard.
“Governments must stop pretending they are powerless to end this genocide, which was enabled by decades of impunity for Israel’s violations of international law. States need to move beyond mere expressions of regret or dismay and take strong and sustained international action, however uncomfortable a finding of genocide may be for some of Israel’s allies.
“The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity issued last month offer real hope of long-overdue justice for victims. States must demonstrate their respect for the court’s decision and for universal international law principles by arresting and handing over those wanted by the ICC.
“We are calling on the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to urgently consider adding genocide to the list of crimes it is investigating and for all states to use every legal avenue to bring perpetrators to justice. No one should be allowed to commit genocide and remain unpunished.”
Amnesty International is also calling for all civilian hostages to be released unconditionally and for Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups responsible for the crimes committed on 7 October to be held to account.
The organization is also calling for the UN Security Council to impose targeted sanctions against Israeli and Hamas officials most implicated in crimes under international law.
Background
On 7 October 2023 Hamas and other armed groups indiscriminately fired rockets into southern Israel and carried out deliberate mass killings and hostage-taking there, killing 1,200 people, including over 800 civilians, and abducted 223 civilians and captured 27 soldiers. The crimes perpetrated by Hamas and other armed groups during this attack will be the focus of a forthcoming Amnesty International report.
Since October 2023, Amnesty International has conducted in-depth investigations into the multiple violations and crimes under international law committed by Israeli forces, including direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects and deliberately indiscriminate attacks killing hundreds of civilians, as well as other unlawful attacks on and collective punishment of the civilian population. The organization has called on the Office of the ICC Prosecutor to expedite its investigation into the situation in the State of Palestine and is campaigning for an immediate ceasefire.
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
ISRAEL/OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY:
”YOU FEEL YOU ARE SUBHUMAN”:
ISRAEL’S GENOCIDE AGAINST PALESTINIANS IN GAZA
5 DECEMBER 2024
https://www.amnesty.org/en/
This report documents Israel’s actions during its offensive on the occupied Gaza Strip from 7 October 2023. It examines the killing of civilians, damage to and destruction of civilian infrastructure, forcible displacement, the obstruction or denial of life-saving goods and humanitarian aid, and the restriction of power supplies. It analyses Israel’s intent through this pattern of conduct and statements by Israeli decision-makers. It concludes that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
A stand-alone executive summary is available in English and other languages: ‘You Feel Like You Are Subhuman’: Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza: Executive Summary (Index: MDE 15/8744/2024).
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT
YOU FEEL YOU ARE SUBHUMAN
ISRAEL’S GENOCIDE AGAINST PALESTINIANS IN GAZA
DECEMBER 2024
file:///C:/Users/Astrid/
ZIE OOK
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Israel’s Crime of Extermination, Acts of Genocide in Gaza
Authorities’ Widespread Deprivation of Water Threatens Survival
19 DECEMBER 2024
https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/
- Israeli authorities have deliberately inflicted conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of part of the population in Gaza by intentionally depriving Palestinian civilians there of adequate access to water, most likely resulting in thousands of deaths.
- In doing so, Israeli authorities are responsible for the crime against humanity of extermination and for acts of genocide. The pattern of conduct, coupled with statements suggesting that some Israeli officials wished to destroy Palestinians in Gaza, may amount to the crime of genocide.
- Governments and international organizations should take all measures to prevent genocide in Gaza, including discontinuing military assistance, reviewing bilateral agreements and diplomatic relations, and supporting the International Criminal Court and other accountability efforts.
(Jerusalem) – Israeli authorities have intentionally deprived Palestinian civilians in Gaza of adequate access to water since October 2023, most likely resulting in thousands of deaths and thus committing the crime against humanity of extermination and acts of genocide, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
In the 179-page report, “Extermination and Acts of Genocide: Israel Deliberately Depriving Palestinians in Gaza of Water,” Human Rights Watch found that Israeli authorities have intentionally deprived Palestinians in Gaza of access to safe water for drinking and sanitation needed for basic human survival. Israeli authorities and forces cut off and later restricted piped water to Gaza; rendered most of Gaza’s water and sanitation infrastructure useless by cutting electricity and restricting fuel; deliberately destroyed and damaged water and sanitation infrastructure and water repair materials; and blocked the entry of critical water supplies.
“Water is essential for human life, yet for over a year the Israeli government has deliberately denied Palestinians in Gaza the bare minimum they need to survive,” said Tirana Hassan, executive director at Human Rights Watch. “This isn’t just negligence; it is a calculated policy of deprivation that has led to the deaths of thousands from dehydration and disease that is nothing short of the crime against humanity of extermination, and an act of genocide.”
Human Rights Watch interviewed 66 Palestinians from Gaza, 4 employees of Gaza’s Coastal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU), 31 healthcare professionals, and 15 people working with United Nations agencies and international aid organizations in Gaza. Human Rights Watch also analyzed satellite imagery, photographs, and videos captured between the beginning of the hostilities in October 2023 and September 2024, as well as data collected and estimates produced by doctors, epidemiologists, humanitarian aid organizations, and water and sanitation experts.
Human Rights Watch concluded that Israeli authorities have intentionally created conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinians in Gaza in whole or in part. This policy, inflicted as part of a mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, means Israeli authorities have committed the crime against humanity of extermination, which is ongoing. This policy also amounts to one of the five “acts of genocide” under the Genocide Convention of 1948. Genocidal intent may also be inferred from this policy, coupled with statements suggesting some Israeli officials wished to destroy Palestinians in Gaza, and therefore the policy may amount to the crime of genocide.
Immediately after the attacks in southern Israel by Hamas-led Palestinian armed groups in Gaza on October 7, 2023, which Human Rights Watch has found amounted to war crimes and crimes against humanity, Israeli authorities cut all electricity and fuel to the Gaza Strip. On October 9, then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced a “complete siege” of Gaza, stating: “There will be no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel, everything is closed.”
That same day, and for weeks thereafter, Israeli authorities cut off all water and blocked fuel, food, and humanitarian aid from entering the strip. Israeli authorities continue to restrict the entry of water, fuel, food, and aid into Gaza and to cut Gaza’s electricity, which is required to operate life-sustaining infrastructure. This continued even after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued provisional measures in January, March, and May 2024 ordering Israeli authorities to protect Palestinians in Gaza from genocide and, in so doing, provide humanitarian aid, specifying in March that this includes water, food, electricity, and fuel.
Israeli authorities have also barred nearly all water-related aid from entering Gaza, including water filtration systems, water tanks, and materials needed to repair water infrastructure.
Between October 2023 and August 2024, the Gaza Coastal Municipalities Water Utility, the UN, and other sources reported that people in Gaza did not have access to the minimum amount of water needed for survival in long-term emergency situations. In northern Gaza, the UN reported that people did not have access to potable water for over five months, between November 2023 and April 2024. While a study of water access in August showed that people’s access to water had increased, most people still did not have adequate water needed for drinking and cooking.
Human Rights Watch found that Israeli forces have deliberately attacked and damaged or destroyed several major water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) facilities. In several cases, Human Rights Watch found evidence that Israeli ground forces were in control of the areas at the time, indicating that the destruction was deliberate.
The decimation of Gaza’s healthcare system, including healthcare tracking, has meant that confirmed cases of disease, illnesses, and deaths possibly linked to water-borne disease, dehydration, and starvation are not being systematically tracked or reported. However, based on interviews with healthcare professionals and epidemiologists, it is likely that thousands of people have died as a result of the Israeli authorities’ actions. The deaths are in addition to the more than 44,000 people directly killed in the hostilities, as recorded by Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Hundreds of thousands of people have also contracted diseases and health conditions to which the lack of access to safe and sufficient water has likely caused or contributed, including diarrhea, hepatitis A, skin diseases, and upper respiratory infections. Water deprivation is particularly harmful to infants, pregnant and breastfeeding women, and people with disabilities.
The crime of genocide requires committing acts of genocide with genocidal intent. The ICJ has said that to infer such intent from a pattern of conduct by the state, it needs to be “the only reasonable inference to be drawn” from the acts in question. Human Rights Watch’s findings, and statements from Israeli officials suggesting that they wished to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza, may indicate such intent.
Human Rights Watch also found that some statements from senior Israeli officials calling for cutting water, fuel, and aid, in tandem with their actions, have amounted to direct and public incitement to genocide.
The Israeli government’s continuing blockade of Gaza, as well as its more than 17-year closure of the strip, also amounts to collective punishment of the civilian population, a war crime. The closure also constitutes part of the continuing crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution that Israeli authorities have been committing against Palestinians.
Several governments have undermined accountability efforts and continue to provide the Israeli government with arms despite the clear risk of complicity in serious violations of international humanitarian law.
“Governments should not contribute to the grave crimes that Israeli officials are committing in Gaza, including crimes against humanity and genocidal acts, and should take all steps possible to prevent further harm,” Hassan said. “Governments arming Israel should end their risk of complicity in atrocity crimes in Gaza and take immediate action to protect civilians with an arms embargo, targeted sanctions, and support for justice.”
THE END
OUR GENOCIDE
https://www.btselem.org/
Since October 2023, Israel has shifted its policy toward the Palestinians. Its military onslaught on Gaza, underway for more than 21 months, has included mass killing, both directly and through creating unlivable conditions, serious bodily or mental harm to an entire population, decimation of basic infrastructure throughout the Strip, and forcible displacement on a huge scale, with ethnic cleansing added to the list of official war objectives.
This is compounded by mass arrests and abuse of Palestinians in Israeli prisons, which have effectively become torture camps, and tearing apart the social fabric of Gaza, including the destruction of Palestinian educational and cultural institutions. The campaign is also an assault on Palestinian identity itself, through the deliberate destruction of refugee camps and attempts to undermine the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
An examination of Israel’s policy in the Gaza Strip and its horrific outcomes, together with statements by senior Israeli politicians and military commanders about the goals of the attack, leads to the unequivocal conclusion that Israel is taking coordinated, deliberate action to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip. In other words: Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The term genocide refers to a socio-historical and political phenomenon involving acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. Both morally and legally, genocide cannot be justified under any circumstance, including as an act of self-defense.
Genocide always occurs within a context: there are conditions that enable it, triggering events, and a guiding ideology. The current onslaught on the Palestinian people, including in the Gaza Strip, must be understood in the context of more than seventy years in which Israel has imposed a violent and discriminatory regime on the Palestinians, taking its most extreme form against those living in the Gaza Strip. Since the State of Israel was established, the apartheid and occupation regime has institutionalized and systematically employed mechanisms of violent control, demographic engineering, discrimination, and fragmentation of the Palestinian collective. These foundations laid by the regime are what made it possible to launch a genocidal attack on the Palestinians immediately after the Hamas-led attack on 7 October 2023.
The assault on Palestinians in Gaza cannot be separated from the escalating violence being inflicted, at varying levels and in different forms, on Palestinians living under Israeli rule in the West Bank and within Israel. The violence and destruction in these areas is intensifying over time, with no effective domestic or international mechanism acting to halt them. We warn of the clear and present danger that the genocide will not remain confined to the Gaza Strip, and that the actions and underlying mindset driving it may be extended to other areas as well.
The recognition that the Israeli regime is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip, and the deep concern that it may expand to other areas where Palestinians live under Israeli rule, demand urgent and unequivocal action from both Israeli society and the international community, and use of every means available under international law to stop Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is genocide?
How did you reach the conclusion that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza?
How did we get to a point where the Israeli regime is committing genocide against the Palestinians?
Why does the report warn of a risk that the genocide will spread to other areas under Israeli control?
How does the report address the Hamas-led attack on 7 October 2023?
What needs to be done now?
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