UN rapporteur releases damning report on Israel’s ‘genocide’ in Gaza
The UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, writes in her report to the UN Security Council – which was released at the same time as the Gaza resolution vote – that “Israel’s genocide on the Palestinians in Gaza is an escalatory stage of a long-standing settler colonial process of erasure”.
“For over seven decades this process has suffocated the Palestinian people as a group – demographically, culturally, economically and politically – seeking to displace it and expropriate and control its land and resources. The ongoing Nakba must be stopped and remedied once and for all.”
The UN report finds that “there are reasonable grounds to believe” that the threshold for several genocidal acts against Palestinians is met: killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm and deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about physical destruction.
“Israel has de facto treated an entire protected group and its life-sustaining infrastructure as ‘terrorist’ or ‘terrorist-supporting’, thus transforming everything and everyone into either a target or collateral damage, hence killable or destroyable,” says the report.
The special rapporteur’s report comes out as the UN Security Council has passed a legally binding resolution that demands an immediate ceasefire in Gaza during Ramadan
UN rapporteur calls for arms embargo on Israel, reparations
The report by UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese also makes recommendations to UN member states.
It says member states should “immediately implement an arms embargo on Israel” as well as “other economic and political measures necessary to ensure an immediate and lasting ceasefire”, which may include sanctions.
Albanese also recommends that South Africa take Israel’s case to the UN Security Council as Israel has been ignoring interim rulings by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on genocidal acts in Gaza.
The rapporteur called for independent and transparent investigations into violations of international law “by all actors”, and measures to ensure that “Israel, as well as states who have been complicit in the Gaza genocide” will acknowledge harm, commit to non-repetition and make reparations, including full cost of reconstructing Gaza.
“In the short term and as a temporary measure, in consultation with the State of Palestine, deploy an international protective presence to constrain the violence routinely used against Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory,” recommends the report.
US says Israel has made assurances on use of weapons
The US Department of State says Israel and six other countries that receive US military aid – Colombia, Iraq, Kenya, Nigeria, Somalia and Ukraine – had submitted written assurances by a Sunday deadline that they are complying with human rights laws.
“In each case, these assurances were made by a credible high-level official in the partner government who has the ability and authority to make decisions and commitments about the issues at the heart of the assurances,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
“We have not found them to be in violation of international humanitarian law, either when it comes to the conduct of the war or when it comes to the provision of humanitarian assistance,” Miller said.
Ahead of the deadline, 17 senators had pressed the administration of US President Joe Biden not to immediately describe Israel’s assurances as credible.
UN predictions of an imminent famine in Gaza “make it abundantly clear that [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s government is not doing nearly enough to allow aid to reach starving and otherwise desperate people in Gaza”, said a letter signed by lawmakers including Chris Van Hollen, Tim Kaine and Bernie Sanders.
Miller please turn yourself in at the ICC. Any more evidence needed US is covering for Israel? They assured us they're not in violation of international law, ok that's fine then. Carry on.
South Africa urges UNSC to ensure ‘compliance’ with resolution
South Africa says it welcomes the adoption of a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the release of all captives held by Palestinian groups.
“It is now the responsibility of the United Nations Security Council to ensure that there is compliance with the resolution, which is binding on the parties,” South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation said in a statement.
