17 june 2018
By Ramona Wadi
The latest Human Rights Watch (HRW) report titled “Israel: Apparent War Crimes in Gaza” commences with a sentence that mars the rest of its investigation and analysis. “Israeli forces’ repeated use of lethal force in the Gaza Strip since March 30 2018, against Palestinian demonstrators who posed no imminent threat to life may amount to war crimes.”
Juxtaposing “International Law and Israeli Claims” in one of the report’s sections, HRW clearly shows that “when there is doubt as to a person’s civilian status, they must be presumed to be a civilian and may not be targeted”.
Article 8(2) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court gives eight acts that are considered as war crimes, among which are “wilful killing” and “wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body and health” and “intentional directing attacks against civilian objects, that is, objects which are not military objectives”.
The absence of a judiciary power’s ruling leaves room for debate from a legal framework as regards accountability for war crimes. Yet the repetitive reports detailing Israeli atrocities while adorning the colonial power with the benefit of the doubt, knowing that holding Israel accountable so far has amounted to an empty slogan that is not even taken up by international diplomacy, harms Palestinian prospects severely.
HRW’s report details, from witness accounts, that the Israeli army’s snipers targeted civilians and personnel when clearly posing no threat. Palestinians were shot when moving away from the fence, unarmed. Civil defence worker Mohammad Meqdad stated: “The last people I evacuated before I was shot were three women, all in their late 20s, who were shot in the neck or in the head.”
In mentioning Israel’s targeting of civil defence workers and medics, there is a reference to Razan Al-Najjar, also murdered by Israeli snipers and which the Israeli army has attempted to shield itself from accountability by stating that “no shots were deliberately or directly aimed towards her”. This latter statement purportedly renders Israeli snipers as incompetent when it is well-known the opposite is true. Yet the same rhetoric was also applied during Operation Protective Edge in 2014, when Israel attempted – and failed – to convince the world that precision targeting was not the cause of civilian deaths in Gaza.
The report also refers to Defence for Children International – Palestine documenting the killing of seven Palestinian children on 14 May.
Another witness, Samer Nasser, described how he had attempted to evacuate a wounded man when Israeli forces again targeted the injured with a shot to his head and killed him.
Despite all the detailed atrocities, the recommendations offered by HRW are for the UN General Assembly to “support a resolution that calls for exploring measures to guarantee the protection of Palestinians in Gaza”, as well as a UN inquiry to identify the Israeli officials responsible for the killings. Both suggestions are not feasible for Palestinians.
According the resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly, the UN Secretary General has 60 days in which he has to present “proposals on ways and means for ensuring the safety, protection and well-being of the Palestinian civilian population under Israeli occupation, including recommendations regarding an international protection mechanism”.
It must be remembered that when the international community was strongly in favour of an interventionist agenda there was no delay between resolution and implementation – the result being additional “collateral damage” sponsored by the international community.
In this case, the delay allows Israel to increase the number of victims while giving the UN enough time to mellow the resolution into another purportedly neutral stance that gives Israel additional advantage. Is there any recognition of the fact that resolutions to ostensibly protect Palestinians can be rendered obsolete not by the usual UN inaction, but a unified effort to dismantle Israel’s colonial project?
- Ramona Wadi is an independent researcher, freelance journalist, book reviewer and blogger. Her writing covers a range of themes in relation to Palestine, Chile and Latin America. Her article appeared in MEMO.
The latest Human Rights Watch (HRW) report titled “Israel: Apparent War Crimes in Gaza” commences with a sentence that mars the rest of its investigation and analysis. “Israeli forces’ repeated use of lethal force in the Gaza Strip since March 30 2018, against Palestinian demonstrators who posed no imminent threat to life may amount to war crimes.”
Juxtaposing “International Law and Israeli Claims” in one of the report’s sections, HRW clearly shows that “when there is doubt as to a person’s civilian status, they must be presumed to be a civilian and may not be targeted”.
Article 8(2) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court gives eight acts that are considered as war crimes, among which are “wilful killing” and “wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body and health” and “intentional directing attacks against civilian objects, that is, objects which are not military objectives”.
The absence of a judiciary power’s ruling leaves room for debate from a legal framework as regards accountability for war crimes. Yet the repetitive reports detailing Israeli atrocities while adorning the colonial power with the benefit of the doubt, knowing that holding Israel accountable so far has amounted to an empty slogan that is not even taken up by international diplomacy, harms Palestinian prospects severely.
HRW’s report details, from witness accounts, that the Israeli army’s snipers targeted civilians and personnel when clearly posing no threat. Palestinians were shot when moving away from the fence, unarmed. Civil defence worker Mohammad Meqdad stated: “The last people I evacuated before I was shot were three women, all in their late 20s, who were shot in the neck or in the head.”
In mentioning Israel’s targeting of civil defence workers and medics, there is a reference to Razan Al-Najjar, also murdered by Israeli snipers and which the Israeli army has attempted to shield itself from accountability by stating that “no shots were deliberately or directly aimed towards her”. This latter statement purportedly renders Israeli snipers as incompetent when it is well-known the opposite is true. Yet the same rhetoric was also applied during Operation Protective Edge in 2014, when Israel attempted – and failed – to convince the world that precision targeting was not the cause of civilian deaths in Gaza.
The report also refers to Defence for Children International – Palestine documenting the killing of seven Palestinian children on 14 May.
Another witness, Samer Nasser, described how he had attempted to evacuate a wounded man when Israeli forces again targeted the injured with a shot to his head and killed him.
Despite all the detailed atrocities, the recommendations offered by HRW are for the UN General Assembly to “support a resolution that calls for exploring measures to guarantee the protection of Palestinians in Gaza”, as well as a UN inquiry to identify the Israeli officials responsible for the killings. Both suggestions are not feasible for Palestinians.
According the resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly, the UN Secretary General has 60 days in which he has to present “proposals on ways and means for ensuring the safety, protection and well-being of the Palestinian civilian population under Israeli occupation, including recommendations regarding an international protection mechanism”.
It must be remembered that when the international community was strongly in favour of an interventionist agenda there was no delay between resolution and implementation – the result being additional “collateral damage” sponsored by the international community.
In this case, the delay allows Israel to increase the number of victims while giving the UN enough time to mellow the resolution into another purportedly neutral stance that gives Israel additional advantage. Is there any recognition of the fact that resolutions to ostensibly protect Palestinians can be rendered obsolete not by the usual UN inaction, but a unified effort to dismantle Israel’s colonial project?
- Ramona Wadi is an independent researcher, freelance journalist, book reviewer and blogger. Her writing covers a range of themes in relation to Palestine, Chile and Latin America. Her article appeared in MEMO.
14 june 2018
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) on Wednesday called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to open an investigation this year into Israeli crimes committed in the occupied Palestinian territories, particularly the settlement crimes and the 2014 offensive on the Gaza Strip.
In its weekly report, the PCHR asked the European Union and all international bodies to boycott Israel's settlements and ban working and investing in them in accordance with their obligations under international human rights law and international humanitarian law since settlements are considered a war crime.
"The international community must use all available means to enable the Palestinian people to enjoy their right to self-determination through the establishment of the Palestinian State which was recognized by the UN General Assembly with a vast majority," the report underlined.
The PCHR called on the international community and UN to take all necessary measures to stop the Israeli policies aimed at creating a Jewish demographic majority in the Palestinian territories and emptying them of their original inhabitants through deportations and house demolitions in violation of international humanitarian law.
The PCHR also called on the States Parties to the Rome Statute of the ICC to make every possible effort to hold Israeli war criminals accountable.
It appealed to the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions to fulfill their obligations under article (1) to ensure respect for the Conventions under all circumstances, and under articles (146) and (147) to prosecute those responsible for committing grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions to ensure justice for Palestinian victims.
The Center stressed the need for speeding up the reconstruction of the buildings destroyed in the 2014 war on the Gaza Strip and pressuring the Israeli authorities to lift the blockade that obstructs the free movement of goods and people and save the lives of about two million Palestinians living in the enclave.
In its weekly report, the PCHR asked the European Union and all international bodies to boycott Israel's settlements and ban working and investing in them in accordance with their obligations under international human rights law and international humanitarian law since settlements are considered a war crime.
"The international community must use all available means to enable the Palestinian people to enjoy their right to self-determination through the establishment of the Palestinian State which was recognized by the UN General Assembly with a vast majority," the report underlined.
The PCHR called on the international community and UN to take all necessary measures to stop the Israeli policies aimed at creating a Jewish demographic majority in the Palestinian territories and emptying them of their original inhabitants through deportations and house demolitions in violation of international humanitarian law.
The PCHR also called on the States Parties to the Rome Statute of the ICC to make every possible effort to hold Israeli war criminals accountable.
It appealed to the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions to fulfill their obligations under article (1) to ensure respect for the Conventions under all circumstances, and under articles (146) and (147) to prosecute those responsible for committing grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions to ensure justice for Palestinian victims.
The Center stressed the need for speeding up the reconstruction of the buildings destroyed in the 2014 war on the Gaza Strip and pressuring the Israeli authorities to lift the blockade that obstructs the free movement of goods and people and save the lives of about two million Palestinians living in the enclave.
23 may 2018
The International Criminal Court (ICC), on Tuesday, responded to a request by the Palestinian Foreign Ministry asking them to investigate Israeli settlement building and alleged war crimes.
“Since 16 January 2015, the situation in Palestine has been subject to a preliminary examination in order to ascertain whether the criteria for opening an investigation are met,” Fatou Bensuda, the Netherlands-based ICC’s chief prosecutor, said in a statement.
“This preliminary examination has seen important progress and will continue to follow its normal course,” she said.
Bensuda said, according to Andalou/Al Ray, that her office evaluates and analyzes all information received independently, regardless of who it was referred by.
“A referral or an article 12(3) declaration does not automatically lead to the opening of an investigation.
“There should be no doubt that, in this and any other situation before my Office, I will always take the decision warranted by my mandate under the Rome Statute.”
The Rome Statute allows the ICC to investigate whether genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes or crimes of aggression have been committed in a state which is either unable or unwilling to do so itself.
On May 14, at least 65 unarmed Palestinian demonstrators in Gaza were killed — and thousands more injured — by intense Israeli army gunfire.
The protests coincided with the 70th anniversary of Israel’s establishment in 1948 — an event Palestinians refer to as the “The Nakba (Catastrophe)” — and the relocation of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, which took place the same day.
“Since 16 January 2015, the situation in Palestine has been subject to a preliminary examination in order to ascertain whether the criteria for opening an investigation are met,” Fatou Bensuda, the Netherlands-based ICC’s chief prosecutor, said in a statement.
“This preliminary examination has seen important progress and will continue to follow its normal course,” she said.
Bensuda said, according to Andalou/Al Ray, that her office evaluates and analyzes all information received independently, regardless of who it was referred by.
“A referral or an article 12(3) declaration does not automatically lead to the opening of an investigation.
“There should be no doubt that, in this and any other situation before my Office, I will always take the decision warranted by my mandate under the Rome Statute.”
The Rome Statute allows the ICC to investigate whether genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes or crimes of aggression have been committed in a state which is either unable or unwilling to do so itself.
On May 14, at least 65 unarmed Palestinian demonstrators in Gaza were killed — and thousands more injured — by intense Israeli army gunfire.
The protests coincided with the 70th anniversary of Israel’s establishment in 1948 — an event Palestinians refer to as the “The Nakba (Catastrophe)” — and the relocation of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, which took place the same day.
12 apr 2018
by Ramona Wadi
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is back on the scene, with more evidence that it gives Israel the benefit of the doubt. ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s statement last Sunday indicated that her office has monitored the demonstrations in Gaza which have resulted in Israel killing 29 Palestinians and wounding more than 1,600 others.
However, Bensouda’s cautious tone was obvious: “Violence against civilians – in a situation such as the one prevailing in Gaza – could constitute crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.” Giving Israel the benefit of the doubt, she added that the preliminary examination being conducted by her office “is not an investigation” and emphasised that the ICC will “continue to closely watch the situation and will record any instance of incitement or resort to unlawful force.”
There is little doubt that the ICC, like other international institutions, is competent in recording human rights violations. This is, after all, their lifeline. What happens with the evidence is another story, though, and one that has been repeated to the point of perfection. Besides Israel’s refusal to allow proper investigations to take place, there is also the context of the organisations themselves and their dependence upon the violation of human rights, which has created a vile cycle of abuse to the point of rendering humanity subjugated to the organisations’ bestowal of impunity upon the perpetrators.
On Monday, Likud Spokesman Eli Hazan declared on a television programme that all 30,000 Palestinians demonstrating are legitimate targets for Israeli snipers on the borders. The statement is evidence of premeditated intent to murder and injure Palestinians who are within their right to reclaim their return to historic Palestine. According to the Jerusalem Post, Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman has also called for human rights group B’Tselem to be investigated for calling upon soldiers to disobey illegal government orders to fire on Palestinian protestors.
Like other shows of violence which put Israel under the spotlight and trigger a wave of support for Palestinians — that usually dwindles until the next planned aggression — the Great Return March’s intent has been obscured by Israel’s appropriation of terminology to legitimise its theft of Palestinian territory. Hence, the emphasis upon “borders”, which in turn elicits rhetoric such as “both sides” in official comments; both examples are used as foundations for mainstream media misinformation about purported clashes in which Palestinians simply die, rather than “have been killed by Israeli snipers”.
Taking such wilfully inaccurate simplifications further, there is another discrepancy which provides Israel with the impunity it needs to sustain its colonial existence and violence. The reliance upon “context” is becoming a dangerous precedent for Palestinians as the larger framework of colonialism is eliminated from the context of the violence meted out by Israel. All the ICC referred to, for example, was the “violence and deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip.”
The Great Return March is a direct result of the context in which Palestinians find themselves, which started with the colonisation of Palestine back in 1948 and even earlier. For convenience, as well as the perpetual perpetration of human rights violations, international institutions have enshrined their preference for ignoring and obliterating the core of the context — the creation of Israel on Palestinian territory — and influenced the world to think in the same terms. This has gone as far as a rethinking of support for Palestine, which at times fragments the struggle, with a corresponding negative effect on the ultimate aim of fulfilling the legitimate right of return. The current Israeli violence is but a part of a long colonial process which has created its own shameful history of such atrocities. That is the real context of the “violence and deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip.” We need to challenge the ICC on this.
- Ramona Wadi is an independent researcher, freelance journalist, book reviewer and blogger. Her writing covers a range of themes in relation to Palestine, Chile and Latin America. Her article appeared in MEMO.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is back on the scene, with more evidence that it gives Israel the benefit of the doubt. ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s statement last Sunday indicated that her office has monitored the demonstrations in Gaza which have resulted in Israel killing 29 Palestinians and wounding more than 1,600 others.
However, Bensouda’s cautious tone was obvious: “Violence against civilians – in a situation such as the one prevailing in Gaza – could constitute crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.” Giving Israel the benefit of the doubt, she added that the preliminary examination being conducted by her office “is not an investigation” and emphasised that the ICC will “continue to closely watch the situation and will record any instance of incitement or resort to unlawful force.”
There is little doubt that the ICC, like other international institutions, is competent in recording human rights violations. This is, after all, their lifeline. What happens with the evidence is another story, though, and one that has been repeated to the point of perfection. Besides Israel’s refusal to allow proper investigations to take place, there is also the context of the organisations themselves and their dependence upon the violation of human rights, which has created a vile cycle of abuse to the point of rendering humanity subjugated to the organisations’ bestowal of impunity upon the perpetrators.
On Monday, Likud Spokesman Eli Hazan declared on a television programme that all 30,000 Palestinians demonstrating are legitimate targets for Israeli snipers on the borders. The statement is evidence of premeditated intent to murder and injure Palestinians who are within their right to reclaim their return to historic Palestine. According to the Jerusalem Post, Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman has also called for human rights group B’Tselem to be investigated for calling upon soldiers to disobey illegal government orders to fire on Palestinian protestors.
Like other shows of violence which put Israel under the spotlight and trigger a wave of support for Palestinians — that usually dwindles until the next planned aggression — the Great Return March’s intent has been obscured by Israel’s appropriation of terminology to legitimise its theft of Palestinian territory. Hence, the emphasis upon “borders”, which in turn elicits rhetoric such as “both sides” in official comments; both examples are used as foundations for mainstream media misinformation about purported clashes in which Palestinians simply die, rather than “have been killed by Israeli snipers”.
Taking such wilfully inaccurate simplifications further, there is another discrepancy which provides Israel with the impunity it needs to sustain its colonial existence and violence. The reliance upon “context” is becoming a dangerous precedent for Palestinians as the larger framework of colonialism is eliminated from the context of the violence meted out by Israel. All the ICC referred to, for example, was the “violence and deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip.”
The Great Return March is a direct result of the context in which Palestinians find themselves, which started with the colonisation of Palestine back in 1948 and even earlier. For convenience, as well as the perpetual perpetration of human rights violations, international institutions have enshrined their preference for ignoring and obliterating the core of the context — the creation of Israel on Palestinian territory — and influenced the world to think in the same terms. This has gone as far as a rethinking of support for Palestine, which at times fragments the struggle, with a corresponding negative effect on the ultimate aim of fulfilling the legitimate right of return. The current Israeli violence is but a part of a long colonial process which has created its own shameful history of such atrocities. That is the real context of the “violence and deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip.” We need to challenge the ICC on this.
- Ramona Wadi is an independent researcher, freelance journalist, book reviewer and blogger. Her writing covers a range of themes in relation to Palestine, Chile and Latin America. Her article appeared in MEMO.
9 apr 2018
The chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) raised concerns Sunday that Israel may have committed war crimes during a current flare-up of violence in the Gaza Strip.
In a statement, Fatou Bensouda’s office expressed “grave concern” over the shootings of Palestinians by Israeli troops during mass protests along Gaza’s border with Israel.
Her office said that Israel’s “violence against civilians — in a situation such as one prevailing in Gaza” may constitute war crimes.
Bensouda is already in the midst of a “preliminary examination” of possible war crimes launched in the wake of a 2014 offensive by the Israeli occupation forces on the besieged costal enclave of Gaza.
“While a preliminary examination is not an investigation, any new alleged crime committed in the context of the situation in Palestine may be subjected to my office’s scrutiny,” she said. “This applies to the events of the past weeks and to any future incident.”
At least 32 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire as they took part in mass-protests along Gaza’s borders.
Witness accounts and amateur videos have shown the demonstrators appeared to be unarmed or far from the fence when they were shot. The European Union and United Nations have called for an independent investigation into the killings.
In a statement, Fatou Bensouda’s office expressed “grave concern” over the shootings of Palestinians by Israeli troops during mass protests along Gaza’s border with Israel.
Her office said that Israel’s “violence against civilians — in a situation such as one prevailing in Gaza” may constitute war crimes.
Bensouda is already in the midst of a “preliminary examination” of possible war crimes launched in the wake of a 2014 offensive by the Israeli occupation forces on the besieged costal enclave of Gaza.
“While a preliminary examination is not an investigation, any new alleged crime committed in the context of the situation in Palestine may be subjected to my office’s scrutiny,” she said. “This applies to the events of the past weeks and to any future incident.”
At least 32 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire as they took part in mass-protests along Gaza’s borders.
Witness accounts and amateur videos have shown the demonstrators appeared to be unarmed or far from the fence when they were shot. The European Union and United Nations have called for an independent investigation into the killings.
29 mar 2018
Israeli army chief Benny Gantz, center, photographed on 20 July 2014, is being sued by Ismail Ziada for the bombing of his family’s home in Gaza that same day, resulting in the deaths of seven people including Ziada’s mother.
A Palestinian-Dutch citizen is suing two senior Israeli military commanders for the bombing of his family’s home during Israel’s 2014 attack on the Gaza Strip.
On 20 July of that year, without warning, an Israeli airstrike destroyed the house in the al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, killing six members of Ismail Ziada’s family and a seventh person who was visiting them.
Ziada, who lives in the Netherlands where he is married to a Dutch citizen, could not attend the funerals of his family members due to Israel’s blockade on Gaza.
He lost his mother, 70-year-old Muftia Ziada, three brothers, a sister-in-law and a 12-year-old nephew.
Ziada holds Benny Gantz and Amir Eshel, respectively the Israeli chief of staff and the chief of the air force at the time of the attack, responsible for the decision to drop the bomb.
This month, Ziada’s lawyers, Liesbeth Zegveld and Lisa-Marie Komp with human rights law firm Prakken d’Oliveira, filed a complaint in a Dutch court.
The same lawyers recently filed another case in the Netherlands on behalf of a Palestinian severely injured when the Israeli army used Dutch-trained dogs to attack him in the occupied West Bank.
In Ziada’s case, Gantz and Eshel have been summoned to appear on 27 June. If they don’t show up or send attorneys, the court could enter a default judgment in Ziada’s favor.
Ziada is suing the Israeli generals for more than $600,000 in damages plus court costs.
Among the witnesses the complaint cites is a neighbor of the Ziada family who described “how the image of the destroyed house and the mutilated bodies shocked him.”
Last year, Ziada sent a letter to Gantz and Eshel holding them liable for the devastating harm he suffered from the Israeli attack. Although the Israeli justice ministry confirmed receipt, it has still offered no substantive response.
Assault on GazaThe attack on the Ziada home was part of what the complaint calls Israel’s “policy to bomb civilian residential buildings” in “breach of international humanitarian law.”
During 51 days in the summer of 2014, Israel carried out thousands of airstrikes on Gaza, including targeted attacks on residential and other civilian buildings, an independent investigation commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council found.
In total, 2,251 Palestinians were killed – about one in every 1,000 of Gaza’s residents – including 1,462 civilians, among them 551 children. More than 11,000 Palestinians were injured, the majority women and children.
The UN inquiry found that Israel’s destruction and killing often amounted to war crimes and “may have constituted military tactics reflective of a broader policy, approved at least tacitly by decision-makers at the highest levels of the Government of Israel.”
According to the complaint, Gantz and Eshel were among the top leaders who “designed the policy of bombing residential buildings” and are “fully responsible for the decision to bomb the Ziada family residence.”
Dutch jurisdictionA key claim in the complaint is that the Dutch courts have jurisdiction over the case both because of Ziada’s connections to the Netherlands and because there is no way for him to obtain justice in Israeli courts.
It points out that Israel’s Military Advocate General (MAG) investigated the attack and concluded that the pilots who dropped the bomb would not be prosecuted, noting that they acted with the approval of military commanders.
The MAG claimed that the Ziada home served as a command center of the military branch of Hamas and that the “military advantage” of carrying out the attack without giving any warning outweighed the risk of civilian casualties.
But the complaint points out that MAG provided no evidence to support the decision not to open a criminal investigation and tried to use information allegedly obtained after the attack to justify it in retrospect.
International law requires that a decision about whether an object is a legitimate military target be made with information available before the attack.
The MAG’s handling of this case is part of its well-documented role in whitewashing hundreds of complaints filed by Palestinians through lawyers and human rights groups for alleged war crimes during the attack on Gaza.
As Ziada’s complaint notes, MAG cannot credibly investigate the Israeli army since it is not independent and directly advises the army on attacks in the midst of military operations.
The complaint also details how Ziada cannot gain justice in Israel’s civil and criminal courts since Israeli law doesn’t incorporate provisions to prosecute war crimes. Israel’s civil law also includes an “act of war” exception, which has been interpreted by judges to give the military blanket immunity for damage it causes to Palestinians.
Moreover, Israel imposes insurmountable legal and practical restrictions on Palestinians pursuing justice, including an unrealistically short 60-day period in which to file a complaint, exorbitant and discriminatory financial guarantees and bans on travel that prevent Palestinians meeting with lawyers or appearing as witnesses.
“Unpoliticized justice”Shortly after the deadly attack on the Ziada family home, 91-year-old Dutch citizen Henk Zanoli expressed his shock and pain by returning his Righteous Among the Nations medal to Israel.
Ziada is married to Zanoli’s great-niece.
Zanoli and his mother were given the medal by Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial for hiding a Jewish child from Nazi occupation forces from 1943 until the Netherlands was liberated in 1945.
They took a great risk because they were already under suspicion from the Nazis. Zanoli’s father was sent to a concentration camp in 1941 for opposing the German occupation. He died at Mauthausen a few months before the war ended.
“It’s a political statement,” Zanoli, a former judge, told Dutch media in 2014. “I want to show that I disagree with the actions of the Israeli government towards the Palestinians.”
In a letter he sent to the Israeli embassy along with the medal, Zanoli wrote that Israel’s actions in Gaza had already resulted in serious accusations of war crimes.
He added that as a retired jurist, “it would be no surprise to me that these accusations could lead to possible convictions if true and unpoliticized justice is able to have its course.”
Ziada’s lawsuit will test whether that kind of justice, unavailable in Israel, can be found in the Netherlands.
A Palestinian-Dutch citizen is suing two senior Israeli military commanders for the bombing of his family’s home during Israel’s 2014 attack on the Gaza Strip.
On 20 July of that year, without warning, an Israeli airstrike destroyed the house in the al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, killing six members of Ismail Ziada’s family and a seventh person who was visiting them.
Ziada, who lives in the Netherlands where he is married to a Dutch citizen, could not attend the funerals of his family members due to Israel’s blockade on Gaza.
He lost his mother, 70-year-old Muftia Ziada, three brothers, a sister-in-law and a 12-year-old nephew.
Ziada holds Benny Gantz and Amir Eshel, respectively the Israeli chief of staff and the chief of the air force at the time of the attack, responsible for the decision to drop the bomb.
This month, Ziada’s lawyers, Liesbeth Zegveld and Lisa-Marie Komp with human rights law firm Prakken d’Oliveira, filed a complaint in a Dutch court.
The same lawyers recently filed another case in the Netherlands on behalf of a Palestinian severely injured when the Israeli army used Dutch-trained dogs to attack him in the occupied West Bank.
In Ziada’s case, Gantz and Eshel have been summoned to appear on 27 June. If they don’t show up or send attorneys, the court could enter a default judgment in Ziada’s favor.
Ziada is suing the Israeli generals for more than $600,000 in damages plus court costs.
Among the witnesses the complaint cites is a neighbor of the Ziada family who described “how the image of the destroyed house and the mutilated bodies shocked him.”
Last year, Ziada sent a letter to Gantz and Eshel holding them liable for the devastating harm he suffered from the Israeli attack. Although the Israeli justice ministry confirmed receipt, it has still offered no substantive response.
Assault on GazaThe attack on the Ziada home was part of what the complaint calls Israel’s “policy to bomb civilian residential buildings” in “breach of international humanitarian law.”
During 51 days in the summer of 2014, Israel carried out thousands of airstrikes on Gaza, including targeted attacks on residential and other civilian buildings, an independent investigation commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council found.
In total, 2,251 Palestinians were killed – about one in every 1,000 of Gaza’s residents – including 1,462 civilians, among them 551 children. More than 11,000 Palestinians were injured, the majority women and children.
The UN inquiry found that Israel’s destruction and killing often amounted to war crimes and “may have constituted military tactics reflective of a broader policy, approved at least tacitly by decision-makers at the highest levels of the Government of Israel.”
According to the complaint, Gantz and Eshel were among the top leaders who “designed the policy of bombing residential buildings” and are “fully responsible for the decision to bomb the Ziada family residence.”
Dutch jurisdictionA key claim in the complaint is that the Dutch courts have jurisdiction over the case both because of Ziada’s connections to the Netherlands and because there is no way for him to obtain justice in Israeli courts.
It points out that Israel’s Military Advocate General (MAG) investigated the attack and concluded that the pilots who dropped the bomb would not be prosecuted, noting that they acted with the approval of military commanders.
The MAG claimed that the Ziada home served as a command center of the military branch of Hamas and that the “military advantage” of carrying out the attack without giving any warning outweighed the risk of civilian casualties.
But the complaint points out that MAG provided no evidence to support the decision not to open a criminal investigation and tried to use information allegedly obtained after the attack to justify it in retrospect.
International law requires that a decision about whether an object is a legitimate military target be made with information available before the attack.
The MAG’s handling of this case is part of its well-documented role in whitewashing hundreds of complaints filed by Palestinians through lawyers and human rights groups for alleged war crimes during the attack on Gaza.
As Ziada’s complaint notes, MAG cannot credibly investigate the Israeli army since it is not independent and directly advises the army on attacks in the midst of military operations.
The complaint also details how Ziada cannot gain justice in Israel’s civil and criminal courts since Israeli law doesn’t incorporate provisions to prosecute war crimes. Israel’s civil law also includes an “act of war” exception, which has been interpreted by judges to give the military blanket immunity for damage it causes to Palestinians.
Moreover, Israel imposes insurmountable legal and practical restrictions on Palestinians pursuing justice, including an unrealistically short 60-day period in which to file a complaint, exorbitant and discriminatory financial guarantees and bans on travel that prevent Palestinians meeting with lawyers or appearing as witnesses.
“Unpoliticized justice”Shortly after the deadly attack on the Ziada family home, 91-year-old Dutch citizen Henk Zanoli expressed his shock and pain by returning his Righteous Among the Nations medal to Israel.
Ziada is married to Zanoli’s great-niece.
Zanoli and his mother were given the medal by Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial for hiding a Jewish child from Nazi occupation forces from 1943 until the Netherlands was liberated in 1945.
They took a great risk because they were already under suspicion from the Nazis. Zanoli’s father was sent to a concentration camp in 1941 for opposing the German occupation. He died at Mauthausen a few months before the war ended.
“It’s a political statement,” Zanoli, a former judge, told Dutch media in 2014. “I want to show that I disagree with the actions of the Israeli government towards the Palestinians.”
In a letter he sent to the Israeli embassy along with the medal, Zanoli wrote that Israel’s actions in Gaza had already resulted in serious accusations of war crimes.
He added that as a retired jurist, “it would be no surprise to me that these accusations could lead to possible convictions if true and unpoliticized justice is able to have its course.”
Ziada’s lawsuit will test whether that kind of justice, unavailable in Israel, can be found in the Netherlands.
23 mar 2018
The United Nations Secretariat said that Israel is liable for the damage caused to UN facilities in the Gaza Strip during the 2014 Israeli aggression on Gaza and demanded restitution, according to Israel Hayom Newspaper.
The Secretariat maintains that schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) were damaged in Israeli strikes carried out during the Israeli so-called Operation Protective Edge resulting in killing and injuring scores of Palestinians who resorted to UNRWA's schools.
The Israeli war on Gaza in July 2014 killed 2,322 Palestinians and wounded around 11,000 others.
The Secretariat maintains that schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) were damaged in Israeli strikes carried out during the Israeli so-called Operation Protective Edge resulting in killing and injuring scores of Palestinians who resorted to UNRWA's schools.
The Israeli war on Gaza in July 2014 killed 2,322 Palestinians and wounded around 11,000 others.
17 jan 2018
Israel’s outgoing chief archivist warned that most of the contents of Israeli archives, which include war crimes and human rights violations, is closed and will never be opened.
According to Lazovik, Israelis have committed war crimes.
The Shin Bet security service was involved in education in the Arab sector; Israel treated its Arab (and other) citizens in a manner that doesn’t dignify a self-proclaimed democratic entity.
He added that among three million files shelved in the government archives only 550 have been opened.
In a scathing report issued Monday and published by Haaretz on Wednesday, Yaakov Lazovik summarized the issues faced by the Israel State Archives, which is subordinate to the Prime Minister’s Office.
Lazovik, who announced his retirement eight months after more than six years on the job, said that under the cloak of national security concerns, Israeli government conceals from the public material much of it unrelated to security issues.
This includes material that could prove embarrassing to the government, such as human rights violations.
According to Lazovik, Israelis have committed war crimes.
The Shin Bet security service was involved in education in the Arab sector; Israel treated its Arab (and other) citizens in a manner that doesn’t dignify a self-proclaimed democratic entity.
He added that among three million files shelved in the government archives only 550 have been opened.
According to Lazovik, Israelis have committed war crimes.
The Shin Bet security service was involved in education in the Arab sector; Israel treated its Arab (and other) citizens in a manner that doesn’t dignify a self-proclaimed democratic entity.
He added that among three million files shelved in the government archives only 550 have been opened.
In a scathing report issued Monday and published by Haaretz on Wednesday, Yaakov Lazovik summarized the issues faced by the Israel State Archives, which is subordinate to the Prime Minister’s Office.
Lazovik, who announced his retirement eight months after more than six years on the job, said that under the cloak of national security concerns, Israeli government conceals from the public material much of it unrelated to security issues.
This includes material that could prove embarrassing to the government, such as human rights violations.
According to Lazovik, Israelis have committed war crimes.
The Shin Bet security service was involved in education in the Arab sector; Israel treated its Arab (and other) citizens in a manner that doesn’t dignify a self-proclaimed democratic entity.
He added that among three million files shelved in the government archives only 550 have been opened.
9 jan 2018
The International Criminal Court in The Hague is planning on investigating Israeli leaders over Israeli settlement expansion in Jerusalem and West Bank, as well as the 2014 aggression on Gaza titled ‘Operation Protective Edge.’
According to a report by Channel 10 Monday evening, the Israeli National Security Council warned Israeli lawmakers in the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that the international court is planning on opening an investigation later this year into the 2014 war with Hamas, as well settlements in the West Bank.
PNN further reports that prosecutors at the International Criminal Court, at the behest of the Palestinian Authority, have opened cursory examinations in both matters, but NSC officials fear the preliminary probe will be raised to a full-blown investigation sometime in 2018, raising concerns the court could try Israeli officials for alleged “war crimes”, based on the complaints issued by the Palestinian Authority.
The deadly 2014 war on Gaza killed over 2,000 Palestinians in Gaza, approximately a quarter of whom were children, and left at least 11,000 permanently wounded. On the Israeli side, 74 were killed, 68 of them soldiers.
According to a report by Channel 10 Monday evening, the Israeli National Security Council warned Israeli lawmakers in the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that the international court is planning on opening an investigation later this year into the 2014 war with Hamas, as well settlements in the West Bank.
PNN further reports that prosecutors at the International Criminal Court, at the behest of the Palestinian Authority, have opened cursory examinations in both matters, but NSC officials fear the preliminary probe will be raised to a full-blown investigation sometime in 2018, raising concerns the court could try Israeli officials for alleged “war crimes”, based on the complaints issued by the Palestinian Authority.
The deadly 2014 war on Gaza killed over 2,000 Palestinians in Gaza, approximately a quarter of whom were children, and left at least 11,000 permanently wounded. On the Israeli side, 74 were killed, 68 of them soldiers.
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