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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
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.
END
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/
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.
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?
RAPPORT BTSELEMOUR GENOCIDEJULY 2025
On October 13, 2023, the Israeli military ordered the evacuation of 22 hospitals in Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip. That day marked the start of an unprecedented assault on Gaza’s health system. Over the past 22 months, Israel has systematically targeted medical infrastructure across the Gaza Strip, attacking 33 of 36 of Gaza’s hospitals and clinics depriving them of fuel and water. More than 1800 of Gaza’s medical staff have been killed or detained.
Today, PHRI is releasing a position paper that documents this assault for what it is: a deliberate, cumulative dismantling of Gaza’s health system, and with it, its people’s ability to survive. This amounts to genocide. Israel’s bombing of hospitals, destruction of medical equipment, and depletion of medications have made medical care – both immediate and long-term – virtually impossible. The system has collapsed under the weight of relentless attacks and blockade.
Each day, dozens die of malnutrition. Ninety-two percent of infants aged six months to two years don’t get enough to eat. At least 85 children have already starved to death. Israel has displaced 9 in 10 Gazans, destroyed or damaged 92% of homes, and left over half a million children without schools or stability. It has wiped out essential health services – including dialysis, maternal care, cancer treatment, and diabetes management.
This is not a temporary crisis. It is a strategy to eliminate the conditions needed for life. Even if Israel stops the offensive today, the destruction it has inflicted guarantees that preventable deaths – from starvation, infection, and chronic illness – will continue for years. This is not collateral damage. This is not a side effect of war. It is the systematic creation of unlivable conditions. It is the denial of survivability. It is a genocide.
Governments and international bodies must act now:
• Compel Israel to cease its fire.
• Protect and restore Gaza’s health systems.
• Re-instate UN, international, and Palestinian mechanisms of support.
• Allow the free movement of aid.
• Ensure the safety of healthcare workers.
These actions are critical – and must be taken immediately – to prevent further loss of life. The health system’s minimal capacity today depends entirely on the efforts of Gaza’s medical professionals, to whom this report is dedicated.
RAPPORT PHYSICIANS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
DESTRUCTION OF CONDITIONS OF LIFE
A HEALTH ANALYSIS OF THE GAZA GENOCIDE
https://www.phr.org.il/wp-
Reacties uitgeschakeld voor NOOT 13/Astrid Essed pakt NOS Teletekst
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De Belgische koning Filip heeft de humanitaire situatie in Gaza “een schande voor de mensheid” genoemd. Hoewel hij zich niet specifiek tot Israël richtte, is het de eerste keer dat de vorst zich zo scherp uitspreekt over het conflict.
“Ik sluit me aan bij iedereen die de ernstige humanitaire wantoestanden in Gaza aan de kaak stelt, waar onschuldige burgers, gevangen in hun enclave, van honger sterven en bezwijken onder de bommen”, zei koning Filip in zijn jaarlijkse toespraak ter gelegenheid van de nationale feestdag van België, 21 juli. Hij riep op tot een onmiddellijk einde aan de “ondraaglijke crisis”.
Filip vertelde over een ontmoeting met een Palestijnse en een Israëlische vader die beiden een kind zijn verloren door de oorlog. “Ik was overweldigd door hun getuigenis. Ze hebben wraakgevoelens opzijgezet en ervoor gekozen om hun lijden om te zetten in een boodschap voor vrede.”
Het Vlaamse Forum der Joodse Organisaties heeft kritisch gereageerd op de toespraak. De koepel van belangenorganisaties begrijpt niet dat de koning zich niet uitspreekt over de Palestijnse terroristische aanval van oktober 2023 en de gijzelaars die sindsdien vastzitten in de Gazastrook.
“Sinds die gruweldag verkeren er nog steeds tientallen gijzelaars in de tunnels van Gaza, waar zij onder mensonwaardige omstandigheden worden vastgehouden. Voor hen en hun families is elke dag die in stilte voorbijgaat er één te veel”, staat in een verklaring.
België geldt samen met onder meer Noorwegen, Spanje en Ierland als de meest pro-Palestijnse landen in Europa. Die laatste drie hebben de Palestijnse staat vorig jaar al erkend. In België wordt er in de politiek over gesproken, al zijn de huidige regeringspartijen het daar vooralsnog niet over eens geworden
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Geert Wilders
@geertwilderspvv
Aan U de keuze op 29/10 https://t.co/royhcInDlm
13:13
4 augustus 2025
Nazi propaganda poster warning Germans about the dangers of east European “subhumans.” Germany, date uncertain.
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.
EN
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.
― Albert Einstein
ZIE LAATSTE RAMPENNIEUWS ROND FUHRER WILDERS!
Bij het landelijke meldpunt voor discriminatie zijn in een paar dagen tijd ruim 2500 meldingen binnengekomen over een afbeelding die Geert Wilders op sociale media heeft geplaatst. Het beeld toont twee halve gezichten: links een jonge blonde vrouw en rechts een norse, gerimpelde vrouw met hoofddoek.
“Aan U de keuze op 29/10”, staat bij de afbeelding. Daarmee doelt de PVV-leider op de datum van de Tweede Kamerverkiezingen, 29 oktober.
Onder de blonde vrouw staan de letters PVV, bij de vrouw met hoofddoek staat PvdA:
Geert Wilders
@geertwilderspvv
Aan U de keuze op 29/10 https://t.co/royhcInDlm
13:13
4 augustus 2025
Volgens het discriminatiemeldpunt komt het zelden voor dat er zo vaak melding wordt gemaakt over één zaak. “Het is een duidelijk signaal uit de samenleving. Voor veel mensen is de impliciete boodschap van het beeld kwetsend en roept het gevoelens op van uitsluiting en onveiligheid.”
Ook Meld.Online Discriminatie, dat zich specifiek richt op discriminatie op het internet, zegt meer dan honderd meldingen te hebben ontvangen. Zij hebben een verzoek tot verwijdering ingediend.
Het Openbaar Ministerie is bekend met het bericht van Wilders. Er is nog geen aangifte gedaan, maar zodra dat wel is gebeurd, zal het OM beoordelen of er strafbare feiten zijn gepleegd.
Discriminatie.nl zegt dat melders het bericht van Wilders ervaren als discriminatie op basis van afkomst en godsdienst. Ook wordt het discriminatie op basis van geslacht en leeftijd genoemd. Verder zouden veel mensen zich zorgen maken over het polariserende karakter van de afbeelding.
Het meldpunt keurt de afbeelding sterk af: “Door deze twee beelden van vrouwen tegenover elkaar te zetten, wordt een wij-zij-verhaal verteld dat haaks staat op de inclusieve samenleving die we in Nederland nastreven. Zulke beeldvorming kan vooroordelen versterken en de kloof tussen groepen vergroten.”
“We begrijpen dat veel mensen geraakt zijn en zich zorgen maken over de toon van het publieke debat. Dat is terecht. Politiek mag fel zijn, maar mag nooit aanzetten tot haat, uitsluiting of discriminatie.” Het meldpunt beraadt zich op vervolgstappen.
Ook online leidt de afbeelding tot boze reacties. Zo werd het bericht vergeleken met verkiezingspropaganda uit de Tweede Wereldoorlog, met aan de ene kant een fiere nazi en aan de andere kant een antisemitische karikatuur van een communist.
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DUIZENDEN MELDINGEN OVER SOCIALMEDIA
BERICHT WILDERS MET AFBEELDING VAN
VROUWENGEZICHTEN
7 AUGUSTUS 2025
Geert Wilders heeft op social media een afbeelding geplaatst van twee vrouwengezichten. Links staat een jonge, blonde vrouw met make-up en blauwe ogen, met daaronder ‘PVV’. Rechts staat een norse, oudere vrouw met rimpels en een hoofddoek, met daaronder ‘PvdA’. Daarbij staat de tekst: ‘Aan u de keuze op 29/10’.
Deze afbeelding heeft inmiddels al geleid tot een fors aantal meldingen bij Discriminatie.nl, namelijk ruim 2500. Zo’n groot aantal meldingen over een zaak komt zelden voor en is dan ook een duidelijk signaal uit de samenleving. Voor veel mensen is de impliciete boodschap van het beeld kwetsend en roept het gevoelens op van uitsluiting en onveiligheid.
Melders ervaren het als discriminatie op basis van afkomst en godsdienst. Maar ook discriminatie op basis van geslacht en leeftijd wordt gemeld. Veel melders maken zich daarnaast zorgen over het polariserende karakter van de afbeelding, die actief bijdraagt aan het wij-zij-denken. Smakeloos, haatdragend, verontrustend en racistisch zijn woorden die vaak vallen. Meerdere melders wezen bovendien op de zorgwekkende gelijkenis met de nazi-beeldtaal tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog.
Beelden zijn krachtig. Ze kunnen informeren en inspireren, maar ook stigmatiseren en polariseren. Door deze twee beelden van vrouwen tegenover elkaar te zetten, wordt een wij-zij-verhaal verteld dat haaks staat op de inclusieve samenleving die we in Nederland nastreven. Zulke beeldvorming kan vooroordelen versterken en de kloof tussen groepen vergroten.
Discriminerende en stigmatiserende beelden horen niet thuis in het publieke en politieke debat. Discriminatie.nl keurt de afbeelding die door Wilders is gebruikt sterk af en beraadt zich op mogelijke vervolgstappen. Alle meldingen worden zorgvuldig geregistreerd en meegenomen in de jaarlijkse rapportage Discriminatiecijfer
We begrijpen dat veel mensen geraakt zijn door deze afbeelding en zich zorgen maken over de toon van het publieke debat. Dat is terecht. Politiek mag fel zijn, maar mag nooit aanzetten tot haat, uitsluiting of discriminatie.
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Reacties uitgeschakeld voor Fascisme in de praktijk/DIT is ons Voorland, als er nu geen duizenden de straat op gaan!
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AFP
Getty Imagesvrijdag 25 juli 2025
Wat een vertoning. Macron, president van Frankrijk, gaat de ‘Palestijnse staat’ erkennen.(1) Prompt breekt alom discussie uit: of andere landen dat ook niet eens moeten doen. Duitsland zegt nee, het is niet het moment. Nederland zegt nee, het is niet het moment. GroenLinks PvdA zegt intussen: ja, doen, dat is een ‘stap naar vrede’. Illusiepolitiek is het, en niet veel meer. Het is vooral gebakken lucht.
Het is een fopspeen, waarmee geen hongerig kind in Gaza zich kan voeden. Het brengt geen vrede, het leidt vooral de aandacht af van wat er werkelijk gedaan hoort te worden: de genocide stoppen, de bezetting beëindigen en vrijheid garanderen voor Palestijnen in heel Palestina. Erkenning is een gebaar. Symbolisch wellicht van enige waarde, maar laten we er alsjeblieft geen core business van maken. Zeker: wie zich frontaal tegen deze erkenning uitspreekt, maakt daarmee een verwerpelijk gebaar tegen Palestijnse vrijheid, waardigheid en zelfbeschikking. Staten die zich er voor uitspreken maken een gebaar in tegenover gestelde richting. Dat Nederland met haar weigering om deze Palestijnse staat te erkennen zelfs dit gebaar weigert te maken, tekent de verachtelijkheid van de Nederlandse politiek nog eens helder. Zelfs deze diplomatieke stap die zo weinig voorstelt, gaat de Nederlandse regering al te ver. Maar ook waar de stap wel gezet wordt: meer dan een gebaar is het nog steeds niet. En gebaren zijn uitermate geschikt om aandacht van belangrijker zaken af te leiden.
Laten we eens kijken naar die Palestijnse staat die meneer Macron wil erkennen, overigens niet nu meteen, maar pas in september, weer 20.000 dode Palestijnen later. Geen haast! Maar eventjes, mijnheer Macron, waar is die staat die u gaat erkennen? Hoe ziet die er uit? Bij een staat denk je minstens aan drie dingen. Een grondgebied. Een bevolking die leeft op dat grondgebied. En een bestuursapparaat, in staat om het gezag over gebied en bevolking uit te oefenen en dus gewapend, met aan het hoofd ene regering. De Koerden bewonen een grondgebied verspreid over de Turkse, Syrische, Iraanse, Iraakse staat. Een gewapend bestuur met aan het hoofd er van een regering? Dat hebben Koerden niet. Er is dus geen Koerdische staat. Hoe erg dat is, dat is een interessante vraag, ik ben als anarchist sowieso geen liefhebber van gezag en staten en staatsvorming. Maar nu gaat het er vooral even om wat een staat eigenlijk is, en wat de erkenning van een Palestijnse staat te betekenen heeft.
Dus. Is er een Palestijnse staat? Palestijnen wonen in dat deel van Palestina dat in 1948 is bezet, ‘Israël’ geheten; in de delen van Palestina die sinds 1967 zijn bezet (Westelijke Jordaanoever en Gazastrook); en in ballingschap verspreid over tal van andere landen. Een territorium bewoond door Palestijnen en bestuurd door een Palestijnse instantie die gewapend haar gezag kan afdwingen, met aan het hoofd een Palestijnse regering? Die bestaat niet. Er is geen Palestijnse staat. Er valt dus niets te erkennen.
Er is in 1988 wel een Palestijnse staat geproclameerd door de Palestijnse Bevrijdingsorganisatie PLO. Intussen hebben heel veel landen die erkend. Kijk maar eens naar een paar grote landen die zo’n Palestijnse staat hebben erkend. Rusland, dat er zelf de nodige bezettingen op na houdt en feitelijk geen poot uitsteekt voor Palestina. China, dat als koloniale macht in Tibet en Xinjiang opereert en waar Palestijnen ook vrij weinig daadwerkelijke steun ondervinden. India, dat in Kashmir een bezetting uitoefent die verdacht veel op de Israëlische bezetting van Palestina lijkt. Wat hebben Palestijnen gehad aan de erkenning door deze drie toch bepaald niet machteloze staten? Het komt neer op zijn woorden en hoogdravende pretenties.
Het uitroepen en erkennen van een niet-bestaande staat maakt die staat nog steeds niet tot realiteit. De erkenning van Macron zal daar niets aan veranderen, tenzij Macron die niet-bestaande staat zou beginnen te bewapenen, zodat die zich daadwerkelijk tot staat zou kunnen omvormen, werkelijk gezag kunnen gaan uitoefenen en zich kan verdedigen. We zullen later echter zien dat Macron helemaal niet wil dat een Palestijnse staat over militaire capaciteit beschikt. Macron wil dus eigenlijk helemaal geen echte Palestijnse staat die tegenover Israël ook maar enige werkelijke autonomie heeft.
Ja, er is iets dat de naam draagt van ‘Palestijnse Autoriteit’, met aan het hoofd zelfs een heuse president, Mahmoud Abbas. Die autoriteit is uitkomst van afspraken tussen Israël en de Palestijnse Bevrijdingsorganisatie PLO zoals die in de jaren 1990 onder toezicht van de VS zijn gemaakt. Die autoriteit heeft zeggenschap over kleine stukken van de Westelijke Jordaanoever, en verder nergens. En die autoriteit werkt onder toezicht van Israël als bezettingsmacht. Ze werkt feitelijk als ordehandhaver namens Israël zodat niet bij elke demonstratie Israël alles zelf hoeft te doen. De Palestijnse historicus Rashid Khalili spreekt van ‘de quisling Palestijnse Autoriteit die een onderaannemer is voor de de bezetting. Ze heeft geen onafhankelijk bestaan. Ze heeft geen autoriteit, geen jurisdictie, gene soevereiniteit’. Het is, kortom, geen staat maar een bestuursorgaan ondergeschikt aan een staat, namelijk de Israëlische. De Nederlandse Voedsel- en Warenautoriteit NVWA heeft meer autoriteit in Nederland dan de Palestijnse Autoriteit in Palestina. Toch noemt niemand de NVWA een staat.
Is erkenning van de niet-bestaande Palestijnse staat een stap naar vestiging ervan als daadwerkelijke staat? Weinig kans. Khalidi weer.(4) ‘Het hoofdpunt is dat een Palestijnse staat en soevereiniteit, en een einde aan bezetting en nederzettingen, nooit op tafel hebben gelegen, ooit, ergens, door welke partij dan ook, de VS, Israël of wie dan ook.’ Steeds gingen onderhandelingen om iets dat ‘autonomie’ werd genoemd, maar waarvan zelfs de heilig verklaarde Israëlische premier Rabin kort voor zijn dood nadrukkelijk toelichtte dat het altijd nog het ‘minder dan een staat ‘zou zijn. Zelfs dat was nog te veel voor heel veel Israëli’s, die het liefst de Palestijnen van de aardbodem zouden zien verdwijnen. Rabin was tegen een Palestijnse staat, maar hij was voor rechtse Israëli’s waaronder toen ook al Netanyahu onvoldoende tegen Palestijnen als zodanig. Dat werd zijn dood.
Er is wel een gebied waar een Palestijns bestuur heeft gestaan dat niet het gezag van de Israëlische staat boven zich accepteerde, en een tijd lang daadwerkelijk het gezag over een stuk Palestina heeft uitgeoefend en dat deels nog steeds doet: Gaza, onder Hamas-bestuur. Om een of andere reden denk ik niet dat Macron hier aan denkt als hij zoekt naar een Palestijnse staat om te erkennen. Mocht ik me vergissen, dan merk ik dat wel, als Macron zich bereid toont de op 7 oktober 2023 gebruikte paragliders van Hamas netjes te vervangen door nieuwe, en ook wat raketten aan Hamas te leveren…
Macron preciseert zijn erkenning van die niet-bestaande Palestijnse staat trouwens, behulpzaam als hij is. De NOS citeert:(5) ‘Als laatste moet er een Palestijnse staat worden opgebouwd. Door demilitarisatie te accepteren en Israël volledig te accepteren, zal het leiden tot stabiliteit in het Midden-Oosten.’ Demilitarisering bij voorbaat, zonder dat hetzelfde van Israël wordt geeïst. Dat betekent feitelijk dat die ‘Palestijnse staat’ zich niet kan verdedigen als Israël besluit een stokje voor haar functioneren te steken. Dat betekent dat Israël de baas blijft over die ‘Palestijnse staat’. Zo krijg je inderdaad ‘stabiliteit’. Ongeveer zoals je ook stabiliteit kreeg vanaf 1890 in Zuid-Dakota in de VS, nadat de Lakota na een laatste uitbraak via het bloedbad bij Wounded Knee teruggejaagd waren naar hun reservaat. Dat is wat Israël maximaal – maar niet onder Netanyahu! Zelfs dat is al te veel! – bereid zal zijn te accepteren: een Palestijns reservaat, eventueel met vlag en postzegel. Maar dat maakt het nog niet tot staat.
Natuurlijk reageerde Israël erg boos op de ‘erkenning’ van de ‘Palestijnse staat’. Niet omdat ze zo’n staat ook maar een seconde serieus neemt. Wel omdat de woorden van Macron een erkenning inhouden van Palestijnen en hun politieke aspiraties. Wat Israël betreft dienen de Palestijnen als volk met nationale doelen en verlangens gewoon te verdwijnen. Dat streven zet de Israëlische staat kracht bij, met genocide in Gaza, met een campagne van terreur en etnische zuiveringen op de Westelijke Jordaanoever. Zelfs praten over een Palestijnse staat gaat dit Israël al te ver. Maar dat Israël razend is over de woorden van Macron, maakt die woorden nog niet tot serieuze stap ten gunste van Palestijnse vrijheid.
Nog iets om over na te denken voor degenen die, vaak met de beste bedoelingen, de erkenning van een Palestijnse staat zo toejuichen. Ze juichen vrijwel alleen. Geen serieuze Palestijnse verzetsorganisatie juicht mee. Geen serieuze Palestijnse verzetsbeweging eist vandaag de dag erkenning van een gedemilitariseerde Palestijnse staat naast een oppermachtig en tot de tanden bewapend Israël. Geen serieuze solidariteitsbeweging voert campagne voor die eis. Het onderwerp komt niet voor in de drie eisen waaromheen BDS – Boycot, Divestment en Sancties – campagne voert voor Palestijnse vrijheid.(6) Ook in de vier eisen voor de sit-ins van 24 juli op stations in tal van steden, te lezen op de Instagram-pagina van de Palestijnse Gemeenschap in Nederland,(7) zie ik ‘Erkenning van de Palestijnse staat’ eigenlijk nergens. Inzet van de solidariteit met Gaza zijn vooral leuzen als ‘Ceasefire Now!’, ‘Stop the Genocide! Erkenning van een Palestijns pseudostaatje past niet in de rij, en kom je in de solidariteitsbeweging eigenlijk niet tegen.
Het gaat in de kern ook niet om de vestiging van een Palestijnse staat naast een Israëlische staat. De zogeheten tweestaten-oplossing – waar die erkenning mee samenhangt – is voornamelijk een desastreuze illusie die de positie en oppermacht van Israël – kern van het probleem – onaangetast laat. Het gaat om het opdoeken van de Israëlische staat als apartheidsbewind, als koloniale en inmiddels openlijk genocidale bezettingsstaat. Wat er voor in de plaats komt? Dat is aan Palestijnen, zowel zij die er nu wonen als zij die het volste recht horen te hebben om terug te keren naar het land van waaruit ze zijn verdreven. Naar heel dat land, niet alleen naar Gaza en Westoever. Dat recht, dat is een waardevolle eis van solidariteitsbewegingen. De erkenning van een Palestijns semi-staatje naast een dominant Israël is dat niet.
Wie juichen er wel?(8) Het ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken van de Palestijnse Autoriteit; Fatah, de totaal gecorrumpeerde partij van Mahmoud Abbas die de de Palestijnse Autoriteit runt; de Palestijnse Nationale Raad, een soort parlement van die Palestijnse (niet-bestaande) staat . Plus Oman en Koeweit, twee conservatieve Arabische monarchieën die graag ‘stabiliteit’ willen, de Palestijnen graag een fooi toewerpen om aldus de felbegeerde ‘stabiliteit’ te verkrijgen op basis waarvan ze fijn zaken met Israël kunnen gaan doen.
En dat geldt ook voor die landen die Palestina als staat al hebben erkend of op het punt staan dat te doen. Die landen willen zich van de Palestijnse zaak af maken met woorden en symboliek. Die landen hopen kennelijk dat ‘erkenning’ van een niet-bestaande ‘Palestijnse staat’, aandacht weg trekt van dat maar al te evidente en schandalige feit: de staat Israël roeit Palestijnen in Gaza systematisch uit, met honger en met munitie. En ook Frankrijk legt dat genocidale Israël geen strobreed in de weg, voor zover het dat genocidale Israël al niet actief met economische en militaire steun te hulp komt. Erkenning van die Palestijnse staat stelt Macron in staat om zich voor te doen als vriend van de Palestijnen. Dat is hij helemaal niet. Net zo min als Modi, Poetin en Xi dat zijjn.
Laten we dus niet in de val van Macron trappen. Laten we blijven vechten voor waar het om gaat. Niet om een kleine machteloze Palestijnse staat. Wel om een einde aan de genocide, en om de vrijheid van Palestijnen om in vrijheid en gelijkwaardigheid te leven in heel Palestina, in een bestuur waarvan zij – en niet mijnheer Macron – als vrije en gelijkwaardige mensen de vorm bepalen. Al die aandacht rond al dan niet erkenning van die niet-bestaande Palestijnse staat? Fopspeenpolitiek is het. ook als we intussen een Nederlandse weigering om tot zo’n erkenning over te gaan, brandmerken als een zoveelste anti-Palestijns gebaar. Er zijn echt urgenter dingen. Er zijn monden te voeden, er is een genocide die gestopt dient te worden, er is collaboratie met die genocide waar we een eind aan dienen te maken. Snij elke steun vanuit Nederland aan de Israëlische genocidale staat af!
Noten:
(1) ‘Frankrijk zet door met erkenning Palestijnse staat, tot woede van Israël’, NOS, 24 juli 2025, https://nos.nl/artikel/
(2) Een post, op Bluesky gedeeld door Europees Parlementslid van GL-PvdA, wijst althans in die richting. Zie Tom van der Lee op Bluesky, 25 juli 2025, https://bsky.app/
(3) Rashid Khalili, ‘The Neck and the Sword’( interview with Tariq Ali), New Left Review 147, mei/juni 2024, https://newleftreview.
(4) Rashid Khalili, ‘The Neck and the Sword’( interview with Tariq Ali), New Left Review 147, mei/juni 2024, https://newleftreview.
(5) ‘Frankrijk zet door met erkenning Palestijnse staat, tot woede van Israël’, NOS, 24 juli 2025, https://nos.nl/artikel/
(6) ‘BDS call’, https://bdsmovement.
(7) Instagram-pagina van Palestijnse Gemeenchap in Nederland, https://www.
(8) ‘Palestine factions, Arab neighbours welcome France’s decision to recognise Palestine´, Aljazeera, 25 juli 2025, https://aje.io/kz0rhv?
Peter Storm
Reacties uitgeschakeld voor [Artikel Peter Storm]/Fopspeenpolitiek rond Palestina
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AFPGetty Imagesa sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises!”
Reacties uitgeschakeld voor Demonic Zionism gives birth to Terror State Israel/A Travel to a Dark Past
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2649 (XXV).
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The importance of the universal realization of the right of peoples
to self-determination and of the speedy granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples for the effective guarantee and observance of human rights |
The General Assembly,
Emphasizing the importance of the universal realization of the right of peoples to self-determination and of the speedy granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples for the effective guarantee and observance of human rights,
Concerned that many peoples are still denied the right to self-determination and are still subject to colonial and alien domination,
Regretting that the obligations undertaken by States under the Charter of the United Nations and the decisions adopted by United Nations bodies have not proved sufficient to attain respect for the right of peoples to self-determination in all cases,
Recalling its resolution 2588 B (XXIV) of 15 December 1969 and resolution VIII adopted by the International Conference on Human Rights held at Teheran in 1968, 1/
Considering that it is necessary to continue the study of ways and means of ensuring international respect for the right of peoples to self-determination,
Noting the Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, 2/ which elaborated the principle of self-determination of peoples,
Recalling its resolution 1514 (XV) of 14 December 1960 containing the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples,
Recalling its resolution 2621 (XXV) of 12 October 1970 on the programme of action for the full implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples,
1. Affirms the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples under colonial and alien domination recognized as being entitled to the right of self-determination to restore to themselves that right by any means at their disposal;
2. Recognizes the right of peoples under colonial and alien domination in the legitimate exercise of their right to self-determination to seek and receive all kinds of moral and material assistance, in accordance with the resolutions of the United Nations and the spirit of the Charter of the United Nations;
3. Calls upon all Governments that deny the right to self-determination of peoples under colonial and alien domination to recognize and observe that right in accordance with the relevant international instruments and the principles and spirit of the Charter;
4. Considers that the acquisition and retention of territory in contravention of the right of the people of that territory to self-determination is inadmissible and a gross violation of the Charter;
5. Condemns those Governments that deny the right to self-determination of peoples recognized as being entitled to it, especially of the peoples of southern Africa and Palestine;
6. Requests the Commission on Human Rights to study, at its twenty-seventh session, the implementation of the United Nations resolutions relating to the right of peoples under colonial and alien domination to self-determination, and to submit its conclusions and recommendations to the General Assembly, through the Economic and Social Council, as soon as possible.
1915th plenary meeting
30 November 1970.
_________________
1/ Final Act, (E.68.XIV.2), p.9.
2/ Resolution 2625 (XXV).
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Arise now, arise, Riders of Théoden!
Dire deeds awake: dark is it eastward.
Let horse be bridled, horn be sounded!
Forth Eorlingas![1]
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Arise, arise, Riders of Théoden! KING THEODEN’S BATTLE SPEECH |
Reacties uitgeschakeld voor Note 61/THIEVES AND VILLAINS
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
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.
For the Hebrew translation of this press release, click here.
MNESTY 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/
SEE ALSO
APARTHEDID
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
ISRAELI APARTHEID: ”A THRESHOLD CROSSED”
https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/
In April, Human Rights Watch released a 213-page report, “A Threshold Crossed,” finding that Israeli authorities are committing the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution. We reached this determination based on our documentation of an overarching government policy to maintain the domination by Jewish Israelis over Palestinians coupled with grave abuses committed against Palestinians living in the occupied territory, including East Jerusalem
In the months since, a growing chorus of voices, from former Israeli ambassadors to South Africa and current Knesset members to the ex-UN Secretary General and the French foreign minister, have referenced apartheid in relation to Israel’s discriminatory treatment of Palestinians, in particular in the occupied territory. Yet many in Germany, including those critical of Israeli human rights abuses, remain hesitant to apply the label to Israeli conduct.
Given history, one can certainly understand Germany’s concern for the welfare of the Jewish people, but that should not carry over to an endorsement of abusive and discriminatory Israeli government conduct, especially in the occupied territory. As recognition grows that these crimes are being committed, the failure to recognize that reality requires burying your head deeper and deeper into the sand.
The problem begins with the Israeli government having exercised primary control for more than a half-century over the land between the Mediterranean Sea and Jordan River, encompassing Israel and the occupied territory, where two main groups of people of roughly equal size live. Throughout this area, Israeli authorities methodologically privilege one of the groups, Jewish Israelis, who are governed under the same body of laws with the same rights and privileges wherever they live. At the same time, authorities allocate different baskets of inferior rights to the other, Palestinians, systematically discriminating against them wherever they live and most severely in the occupied territory.
Our sense that our research was not capturing this underlying reality led us to write this report. Reporting on “separate, not equal” schools for Palestinians inside Israel, Palestinians being forced out of their homes in occupied East Jerusalem, the serious rights abuses stemming from the Israeli settlement enterprise in the West Bank, and the crushing closure of the Gaza Strip, we felt that our work captured important dynamics, including entrenched discrimination, in particular areas, but did not capture the full scope of Israel’s discriminatory rule over Palestinians.
We set out in the report to evaluate Israel’s treatment of Palestinians across Israel and the occupied territory. As we do in the nearly 100 countries across the world we work in, we began by documenting the facts—drawing on years of our own research, case studies that compared Palestinian areas with predominantly or exclusively Jewish ones, and a review of government planning documents, statements by officials, and a range of other materials.
Across Israel and the occupied territory, Human Rights Watch found that Israeli authorities have pursued an intent to privilege Jewish Israelis at the expense of Palestinians. They have done so by undertaking policies aimed at mitigating what they openly describe as the “demographic threat” Palestinians pose and maximizing the land available for Jewish communities, while concentrating most Palestinian in dense enclaves. The policy takes different forms and is pursued in a particularly severe form in the occupied territory. It includes efforts to, as leading Israelis officials have put it, “Judaize” the Negev and Galilee regions of Israel and to maintain “a solid Jewish majority,” as described in government planning documents, in the Jerusalem municipality, which includes the eastern part of Jerusalem, which Israel unilaterally annexed and occupies. It also encompasses efforts to “settle [Jews in] the land between the [Palestinian] minority population centers and their surroundings” in the West Bank, as set out in plans that have guided the government’s settlement, and to pursue “separation” between the West Bank and Gaza. The policy across the board serves the same fundamental goal: maximum land, minimum Palestinians.
Furthermore, we found that Israeli authorities have carried out the grave abuses needed for the crimes of apartheid and persecution against Palestinians living in the occupied territory. It has done so through, among other policies, sweeping restrictions on movement in the form of the 14-year generalized closure of Gaza and the discriminatory permit system in the West Bank; the confiscation of more than a third of the land in the West Bank; and denial of residency rights to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and their relatives. Israel has imposed draconian military rule over millions of Palestinians, suspending their basic civil rights, while Jewish Israelis living in the same territory are governed under the permissive Israeli civil law; and imposed harsh conditions in parts of the West Bank that led to forcing thousands of Palestinians out of their homes.
We then evaluated these facts against the relevant areas of international law—in this case, the established law on discrimination—which includes a universal prohibition against apartheid. While the term was coined in relation to specific practices in South Africa, international treaties define apartheid as a universal legal term referring to a particularly severe form of discriminatory oppression.
International criminal law, including the 1973 International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid and the 1998 Rome Statute to the International Criminal Court, define apartheid as a crime against humanity consisting of three primary elements: (1) an intent by one racial group to dominate another; (2) systematic oppression by the dominant group over the marginalized group; and (3) particularly grave abuses known as inhumane acts.
Racial group is understood today also to encompass treatment on the basis of descent and national or ethnic origin. International criminal law also identifies a related crime against humanity of persecution. Under the Rome Statute and customary international law, persecution consists of severe deprivation of fundamental rights of a racial, ethnic, or other group with discriminatory intent.
The ratification by the State of Palestine of these two treaties in recent years has strengthened the legal application of these two crimes in its territory. A ruling by a chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) earlier this year confirmed that it has jurisdiction over war crimes and crimes against humanity – including apartheid and persecution – committed in the Occupied Palestinian Territory since 2014.
Applying the facts to the laws, Human Rights Watch concluded that Israeli authorities are committing the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution. We found that the elements of the crimes come together in the occupied territory as part of a single Israeli government policy. That policy is to maintain the domination by Jewish Israelis over Palestinians across Israel and the occupied territory. It is coupled in the occupied territory with systematic oppression and inhumane acts against Palestinians living there.
Sometimes the most important thing someone who cares deeply about you can do is to share hard truths and push you to confront them. The late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and leaders of Israel’s closest ally, the US, including former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State John Kerry, warned of the prospect of apartheid if things did not change.
Today, apartheid is not a hypothetical or future scenario. A 54-year-occupation is not temporary. The threshold has been crossed. Apartheid, and parallel persecution, is the reality for millions of Palestinians. Recognizing and correctly diagnosing a problem is the first step to solving it and ending apartheid is vital to the future of both Palestinians and Israelis and the cause of peace. It is by extension Germany’s special relationship with Israel and history that should prompt them to recognize the reality of apartheid and persecution and bring to bear the sorts of tools needed to end these crimes against humanity.
END
REORT HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
A TRESHOLD CROSSED
27 APRIL 2021
Reacties uitgeschakeld voor Note 60/THIEVES AND VILLAINS
Opgeslagen onder Divers
Reacties uitgeschakeld voor Note 59/THIEVES AND VILLAINS
Opgeslagen onder Divers
