The HPJC Executive Committee agreed, with no objections, to sign on the the letter that over 1500 organizations have already agreed to, asking nations to submit Declarations of Intervention to the International Court of Justice in support of South Africa’s excellent case invoking the Genocide Convention against Israel.
Here is the complete text of the letter:
We, the undersigned organizations, commend South Africa on its Application to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) invoking the Genocide Convention against Israel.
We now urge other countries to reinforce this strongly worded and well-argued complaint by immediately filing a Declaration of Intervention with the ICJ, also called the World Court.
Many countries have rightly expressed their horror at the State of Israel’s genocidal actions, war crimes and crimes against humanity being committed against Palestinians. Israeli Occupying Forces have bombed hospitals, residences, United Nations refugee centers, schools, places of worship and escape routes, killing and injuring tens of thousands of Palestinians since October 7, 2023. More than half of the dead are women and children. Israeli leaders have made brazenly genocidal statements openly declaring their intention to permanently and completely displace Palestinians from their own land.
South Africa is correct in charging that under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Israel’s actions “are genocidal in character, as they are committed with the requisite specific intent … to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as a part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnic group.”Parties to the Genocide Convention are obliged to act to prevent genocide; therefore, action must be immediate. A Declaration of Intervention filed with the ICJ in support of the South African case against Israel is one way to ensure that all acts of genocide are stopped and those responsible are held accountable.
Israel’s killing, injuring, traumatizing, and displacing large numbers of Palestinians and denying water, food, medicine, and fuel to an occupied population meet the criteria for the crime of genocide. If a majority of the world’s nations call for a ceasefire, yet fail to press for prosecution of Israel – what is to stop Israel from ethnically cleansing all Palestinians?
For that matter, what is to stop other nations from repeating a horror of this magnitude?
We urge national governments to immediately file a Declaration of Intervention in support of the South African case against Israel at the International Court of Justice to stop the killing in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
More information, including a list of the many organizations signing on to this letter, is at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSckfVUjnsu-ypbFsbczDRc6XxUoQ-5sVJPLQcVLnfRkkLpiyg/viewform and at https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/international-coalition-forms-to-demand-end-to-genocide-in-palestine/