UN Investigation Finds Israel Has Committed War Crimes in Gaza | Palestine Policy Roundup 06.14.24
Welcome to the Palestine Policy Roundup, a weekly publication of the IMEU Policy Project.
👀 ICYMI: MEMBERS OF CONGRESS SPEAK OUT
Sen. Bernie Sanders: “Using starvation as a weapon is a war crime. We know that children in Gaza are dying of malnutrition. As long as Israel continues to prevent aid groups and journalists from entering the most desperate areas of Gaza, we will not know the full extent of the famine there.”
Rep. Cori Bush: “The UN investigators are not mincing words. Genocide, famine, extermination. It’s past time for the U.S. to put an end to our sponsorship of Netanyahu and these heinous crimes against humanity.”
Rep. Jamaal Bowman on his upcoming primary: “I represent working class, Black man, person-of-color progressive, who has the audacity to challenge AIPAC and say no to AIPAC. If we’re able to win, that empowers millions to do the same.”
Rep. Greg Casar in response to Benjamin Netanyahu’s invitation to address Congress: “I’m not planning on attending, and/or I’ll be participating in whatever events there are to express that we want this war to end and we want both him and Hamas to agree to a cease-fire.”
DC DEVELOPMENTS
HOUSE ADVANCES ANTI-PALESTINIAN AMENDMENTS TO THE NDAA
The House passed several anti-Palestinian amendments to the NDAA on Wednesday, including an amendment which would block the US from funding the reconstruction of Gaza and another amendment which would ban Department of Defense funds from being used to fly Palestinian refugees to the US. While these amendments may not make it into the final version of the bill, they are a troubling sign of a trend among far-right Republicans to dehumanize Palestinians as the genocide in Gaza continues to unfold.
🔑 KEY TAKEAWAY: Mohammed Khader, policy manager at the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights Action explained: “The House advancing anti-Palestinian amendments into legislation at this stage reaffirms that many in Congress do not value the lives of their Palestinian constituents. Blocking funds to rebuild Gaza while actively providing taxpayer dollars, weapons, and intelligence to destroy Gaza and Palestinian society reaffirms that lawmakers intend for the U.S. to be an active participant in Israel’s atrocities.”
IN THE NEWS
UN INVESTIGATION CONCLUDES ISRAEL HAS COMMITTED CRIME OF EXTERMINATION, OTHER CRIMES IN GAZA
A UN Human Rights Council’s independent Commission of Inquiry has found that Israel and Palestinian armed groups have committed war crimes since October 7th. The report found that Israel has pursued a strategy of collective punishment of Palestinians in Gaza, and found Israeli authorities are responsible for using starvation as a method of warfare and intentionally targeting civilians and civilian objects, among other war crimes. Navi Pillay, Chair of the Commission, said Israel must immediately stop its attacks in Gaza, including its invasion of Rafah.
The report also found that Israeli forces are systematically sexually abusing Palestinians. Incidents include raping Palestinians by forcing them to sit on hot, electric metal rods, sexually abusing Palestinian children, including by forcing them to strip naked in public, collecting the intimate wear of Palestinian women after violently forcing them to flee from their homes, writing rape threats on the ruins of Palestinian homes they’ve destroyed, and videotaping and posting their sexual abuse of Palestinians online. The report notes that Israel has made no attempt to stop or punish this behavior
This report confirms what many human rights groups and Palestinians in Gaza have said for months: Israel is violating international law and committing a genocide in Gaza. Crimes like the intentional targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure and use of starvation as a weapon of war clearly violate US laws and policies on weapons transfers, especially Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act and NSM-20. Congress has the power to put a stop to these atrocities; Congress must assert its authority over weapons transfers to Israel and pressure the Biden administration to halt all weapons to Israel. Congress must also reject attacks against the International Criminal Court and allow for all perpetrators of crimes against civilians described in this report to be held accountable.
🔑 KEY TAKEAWAY: The report stated that “The Commission concludes that the immense numbers of civilian casualties and widespread destruction of civilian objects and crucial civilian infrastructure are the inevitable results of Israel’s chosen strategy for the use of force during these hostilities, undertaken with intent to cause maximum damage, disregarding distinction, proportionality and adequate precautions, and thus unlawful. [Israeli Security Forces’] intentional use of heavy weapons with large destructive capacity in densely populated areas constitutes an intentional and direct attack on the civilian population, particularly affecting women and children. This conclusion is confirmed by the substantial and increasing numbers of casualties, over weeks and months, with no change in Israeli policies or military strategies.”
UN ADDS ISRAEL TO LIST OF COUNTRIES VIOLATING CHILDREN’S RIGHTS
The United Nations added Israel to its list of nations and armed groups that have violated the rights of children. This designation comes after the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Education and Higher Education said that fifteen thousand children have been killed by Israel during its genocide in Gaza so far. The UN report on children and armed conflict found that there have been 8,009 grave violations against 4,360 children verified by the UN, and more than 5,000 of those violations were attributed to Israeli forces.
US support for Israel’s assault on Gaza is undoubtedly driving these violations against children. The report noted that “Most incidents were caused by the use of explosive weapons in populated areas by Israeli armed and security forces.” Recent investigations have found that US-supplied weapons were used in airstrikes on an UNRWA school being used as a shelter and in the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood of Rafah, in addition to countless other incidents. The United States can and must put a stop to these violations against children by stopping all weapons to Israel.
⚖️ PALESTINIANS AND PALESTINIAN-AMERICANS APPEAL BIDEN GAZA GENOCIDE CASE
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals heard an appeal by Palestinians and Palestinian-Americans with family in Gaza regarding the federal lawsuit they brought against President Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin for violations of their duty to prevent genocide in Gaza. A lower court rejected the suit on jurisdictional grounds but found there is a plausible case of genocide and urged the Biden administration to reexamine its support for the Israeli assault on Gaza. The suit seeks to stop the Biden administration from providing more weapons, funding, and diplomatic support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
🔑 KEY TAKEAWAY: In an article published in The Nation, Laila Elhaddad wrote about why she is participating in this case: “Although I knew the case would be an uphill battle, I testified to make a record of Israel’s horrific slaughter of my family, the displacement and dispossession and starvation of the surviving members, the deliberate destruction of my hometown and everything that sustains life there, and ethnic cleansing targeting my people. I testified because I promised my surviving family members in Gaza—all of whom are enduring unspeakable conditions—that I would do everything in my power to advocate on their behalf, and because it is my prerogative but also my moral imperative, as a human being, as an American, and as Palestinian, residing in a country that is aiding and abetting a genocide.”
💰 AIPAC IS FUNNELING GOP DONATIONS INTO DEMOCRATIC PRIMARIES
An analysis of campaign finance data by POLITICO has found that AIPAC is the biggest source of Republican money being spent in competitive Democratic primaries this year. Nearly half of AIPAC donors to Democratic candidates have histories of donating to Republican candidates or committees. A recent poll published by Data for Progress shows that a majority of Democrats believe that Israel is committing a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Top recipients of these donations include George Latimer and Wesley Bell, who are challenging Reps. Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush, respectively. AIPAC has raised more than $1.6 million for Latimer alone, and forty percent of his donors have previously given donations to Republicans. AIPAC’s affiliated super PAC, United Democracy Project, is also the biggest outside spending group in Democratic primaries.
PALESTINE/ISRAEL DEVELOPMENTS
UN: ISRAELI KILLINGS OF CIVILIANS DURING NUSEIRAT RAID MAY BE WAR CRIMES
An Israeli raid on the Nuseirat refugee camp on Saturday killed more than 270 Palestinians and injured more than 600. The operation freed four hostages. Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Jeremy Laurence reacted to the raid, stating that the UNHCR is “profoundly shocked” at the impact of the operation on civilians and calling into question whether laws of war were followed by Israeli forces. Israeli forces allegedly used humanitarian aid trucks to enter the camp, and bombed a busy market in the camp during the operation.
Survivors of this massacre have described horrifying scenes of wounded Palestinians who sought care at Al-Aqsa hospital, one of Gaza’s only remaining functional medical facilities. Karin Huster, a policy organizer and supervisor working at Al-Aqsa with Doctors Without Borders, spoke to The Intercept about the aftermath of the attack, and described the emergency room as “completely packed with patients on the floor coming from the bombings in Nuseirat.” Huster added: “We had the gamut of war wounds, trauma wounds, from amputations to eviscerations to trauma, to TBIs, traumatic brain injuries. Fractures, obviously, big burns. Kids completely grey or white from the shock, burnt, screaming for their parents — many of them not screaming because they are in shock.”
This incident is yet another demonstration of the genocidal campaign that Israel is unleashing on Palestinians in Gaza. The carnage unleashed by Israeli forces went far beyond the stated purpose of the operation in the camp. Most of the Israeli hostages who have been returned from Gaza were freed during a ceasefire in November; if the Biden administration is concerned with the return of Israeli hostages and saving Palestinian lives, it must do more to encourage a permanent ceasefire and negotiations by stopping all weapons to Israel.
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION SAYS GAZA FACING FAMINE-LIKE CONDITIONS
The World Health Organization said this week that more than 8,000 children have been diagnosed with and treated for acute malnutrition, and that “A significant proportion of Gaza’s population is now facing catastrophic hunger and famine-like conditions.” WHO chief Tedros Ghebreyesus told reporters that only two stabilization centers for malnourished patients are able to operate in Gaza due to lack of access to supplies. Additionally, Tamara Alrifai, the director of external relations for UNRWA, reported that the organization is getting very few positive responses to requests for aid delivery in Gaza. The agency also reported that the US-constructed pier has become the sole entry point for most aid other than fuel in Gaza after the Israeli closure of the Rafah gate. The World Food Programme has recently paused its distribution of aid from the pier, citing security concerns.
Israel is clearly restricting sufficient aid from being delivered to starving Palestinians in Gaza, exacerbating this famine. These actions are in clear violation of section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act and other policies governing weapons transfers. Congress must continue to pressure the Biden administration to follow and enforce the law and end all weapons shipments to Israel.
Photo credit: UN Geneva/Flickr. Creative Commons license.