Thirty-eight experts, all appointed by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva as part of its special procedures, want UN member states to impose an arms embargo and targeted sanctions on Israel for alleged crimes against humanity. These same experts want all dual-citizen Israelis who served in the Israeli military or who otherwise participated in settler violence in the occupied West Bank to be investigated.
The call comes after the United Kingdom announced plans to possibly restrict some, but not all, arms sales to Israel. A timeline for said restrictions has not yet been announced, however.
The UK's Labour government is analyzing evidence to identify which UK-made weapons may have been used by Israel to commit war crimes in the embattled Gaza Strip.
(Related: Did you know that 75 percent of all journalists who died in 2023 while covering conflict zones were killed by Israel?)
ICJ issues advisory opinion that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory is unlawful
After previously outing Israel for war crimes, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) recently issued a landmark advisory opinion that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory, i.e., the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem and the West Bank, is unlawful and must be brought to an end "as rapidly as possible."
This means that the ICJ wants Israel out of Gaza, East Jerusalem and the West Bank immediately, which will not happen under the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Even so, calls are growing for Israel to be removed from these territories.
To help things along, an ICJ judge ruled that all UN member states have a duty to "take steps to prevent trade or investment relations that assist in the maintenance of the illegal situation created by Israel." The UN experts agree.
"The advisory opinion reaffirms peremptory norms prohibiting annexation, settlements, racial segregation and apartheid, and should be seen as declaratory in nature and binding on Israel and all states supporting the occupation," the experts said.
The United States now has a difficult decision to make about how to respond. Though none of this is new – Israel has been violating international law for years – things have never come to a head quite like they are now.
Israel of course rejects the court findings, just as it rejects all rebuke of its often-illegal activity. Israel seems to think it is above or uniquely exempt from the law that all other nations are expected to follow – and the U.S. continues to hypocritically support Israel despite claiming to support a "rules-based order."
The U.S. systematically ignores international law whenever it misaligns with its interests, which include unconditional support for Israel.
"Take, for example, the institution of the International Criminal Court (ICC)," writes H.A. Hellyer for Al Jazeera. "A Democratic president, Bill Clinton, supported the establishment of the court during his tenure – but the Rome Statute that established the court was never ratified by the U.S."
"In the past few years, elected U.S. officials have simultaneously supported and attacked the ICC. When the ICC issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin, for example, the U.S. supported its work. But when the ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, declared he was seeking arrest warrants for Israeli officials (as well as Hamas'), Washington rejected the notion altogether, with U.S. President Joe Biden saying it was 'outrageous.'" Secretary of State Antony Blinken said thereafter that the administration would work with Congress to essentially punish the ICC, due to precisely these warrants."
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