UK Professors and Practitioners of international law urge ICC to initiate Preliminary investigatons - ICC denies Jurisdiction
On Sunday, 3rd August 2014, a the U.K. Human Rights Committee supported by a number of leading Public International Law academics, practitioners and even QCs (Queen's Counsels) submitted a request for the initiation of an investitigation of war crimes in Gaza, stating that "Reports produced by non-governmental organisations following preliminary investigations strongly suggest that crimes within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court have been and are being committed."
Read the full submission here and the ICC's regrettable rejection of jurisdiction here.
Increasing calls for accountability
Various Human Rights Groups, Politicians and NGOs have raised concerns that severe war crimes may have been committed in the Israeli one-month long assault on Gaza.
Human Rights Watch's Bill van Esweld recently stated: "We have been able to investigate in detail a number of cases and in those cases we have grave concerns that war crimes were committed, these cases involve disproportionate attacks that killed very large numbers of civilians, apparently in an effort to go after individual members of armed groups, but were unjustifiable given the civilian death toll that should have been expected and predictable to the people launching the attack."
More than 500 Italian academics have launched an online petition called "Noi Accusiamo" (We accuse). Initiated by a Professor of History at the University of Torino, the petition sparked global media attention. He urges that Israel and its accomplices be brought before a Nuremberg-like tribunal ("una Norimberga per Israele") for the commission of war crimes and the slow genocide of Palestinians.
"Perciò noi chiediamo che il mondo si mobiliti contro Israele: non basta la pur importante e lodevole campagna BDS (“Boycott Disinvestment Sanctions”); riteniamo che si debba portare lo Stato di Israele davanti a un Tribunale speciale internazionale per la distruzione della Palestina."
The Petitioners accuse Israel of pursuing an expansionist colonialism, of having committed ethnic cleansing and a masscre. They further accuse the U.S., the E.U., the U.N. and even the Church of Rome and international intellectuals for their silence and complicity in these crimes.
Read the full submission here and the ICC's regrettable rejection of jurisdiction here.
Increasing calls for accountability
Various Human Rights Groups, Politicians and NGOs have raised concerns that severe war crimes may have been committed in the Israeli one-month long assault on Gaza.
Human Rights Watch's Bill van Esweld recently stated: "We have been able to investigate in detail a number of cases and in those cases we have grave concerns that war crimes were committed, these cases involve disproportionate attacks that killed very large numbers of civilians, apparently in an effort to go after individual members of armed groups, but were unjustifiable given the civilian death toll that should have been expected and predictable to the people launching the attack."
More than 500 Italian academics have launched an online petition called "Noi Accusiamo" (We accuse). Initiated by a Professor of History at the University of Torino, the petition sparked global media attention. He urges that Israel and its accomplices be brought before a Nuremberg-like tribunal ("una Norimberga per Israele") for the commission of war crimes and the slow genocide of Palestinians.
"Perciò noi chiediamo che il mondo si mobiliti contro Israele: non basta la pur importante e lodevole campagna BDS (“Boycott Disinvestment Sanctions”); riteniamo che si debba portare lo Stato di Israele davanti a un Tribunale speciale internazionale per la distruzione della Palestina."
The Petitioners accuse Israel of pursuing an expansionist colonialism, of having committed ethnic cleansing and a masscre. They further accuse the U.S., the E.U., the U.N. and even the Church of Rome and international intellectuals for their silence and complicity in these crimes.