An independent expert panel backed by the United Nations’ Human Rights Council concluded that Israel’s acts in Gaza meet the threshold for being considered genocidal acts and called on the international community to intervene.
A three-member panel from the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel conducted the research. It concluded that Israel met four out of five genocidal criteria as defined by the so-called “Genocide Convention” of the UN, created in 1948 in the aftermath of the Holocaust. Usually, only meeting one of the five criteria is considered sufficient for the designation of genocide.
The report found Israel acting in breach of killing members of a group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to said group, imposing measures aimed to prevent births, and deliberately inflicting conditions aimed at the physical destruction of the group.
“It is clear that there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza through acts that meet the criteria set forth in the Genocide Convention,” commented the head of the commission, Ms. Navi Pillay.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant have all been named as responsible for the genocide campaign happening in Gaza. Pillay also urged the international community at large to intervene, saying that “when clear signs and evidence of genocide emerge, the absence of action to stop it amounts to complicity.”
The findings predictably prompted a very harsh reaction in Israel. The government called it a “blood libel,” while Israel’s Foreign Ministry said it was a “distorted and false report.” In a statement, they also accused the three members of the panel of being pro-Hamas, saying “three individuals serving as Hamas proxies, notorious for their openly antisemitic positions — and whose horrific statements about Jews have been condemned worldwide — released today another fake ‘report’ about Gaza.”
The panel, as well as the commission that asked for the report, don’t have the power to enforce a decision within the UN. However, its findings can be used by the International Criminal Court or the UN’s International Court of Justice during prosecutions.
