Shame for the UN Women’s Association
The United Nations was created on October 24, 1945, following the signing of the Charter by China, the USA, France, the UK, the USSR, and the majority of other signatory countries.
The UN was initiated by the President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt, to stop genocide such as the Shoah and the six million Jews deported and murdered by the Nazis.
Almost eight decades later, the situation is disastrous: this international tool, whose mission was to bring peoples together, establish peace in bellicose regions, intervene as a force for peace in bloody conflicts, respect and protect the rights of women, children, and peoples. Avoiding wars through diplomacy, combating world hunger, fighting corruption, helping developing countries, and respecting human rights.
Unfortunately, for several years now, all these fine missions have been swept away by the evils that were supposed to be combated by democratic remedies, and which have now become the hallmark of the UN machine.
The UN is gangrened by corruption, scandal after scandal, and management doing nothing, scandals such as the case of John Ashe, former president of the UN General Assembly, who has been arrested and will be prosecuted for corruption. He is accused of accepting over a million dollars in bribes for his help in real estate projects.
As well as the James Wasserstrom scandal, the American was overseeing Kosovo’s public utility control office at the time of the events.
He had been deployed there since 2002, and in 2006 received independent and corroborating information about corruption at the top of the Kosovar government, involving the head of the Unmik mission, Joachim Rücker, his deputy, Stephen Cook, and the head of legal affairs, Alexander Borg-Olivier. The case involves $500 million in bribes for contracts.
https://globalanticorruptionblog.com/2014/10/21/un-heal-thyself-the-uns-embarassing-failure-to-protect-whistleblowers/
But in addition to all these corruption scandals, the decision to give the presidency of the Human Rights Council to Saudi Arabia or, today, to Iran, undermines the whole image of the UN.
The UN is run by wealthy Arab and Muslim countries that systematically condemn the State of Israel. Since 1947, Israel has been the subject of more than 50 UN resolutions and condemnations.
Since 1972, the United States has used its veto power forty-three times to block the adoption of resolutions critical of Israel.
In 2022 alone, Israel broke all records by being the subject of 15 UN resolutions, while Russia was the subject of six, despite the war between the latter and Ukraine that began that same year and the 200,000 deaths that resulted.
Photo: UN Women/Fikerte Abebe
But the UN’s greatest scandal since its creation is the silence of the UN Women’s Association, which waited two long months to condemn the Hamas attacks in Israel, declaring:
“We reaffirm that all women – Israeli women, Palestinian women, like all others – have the right to a life lived in safety and free from violence,” said the organization.
“We unequivocally condemn Hamas’s brutal attacks on Israel on October 7,” UN Women said. “We are alarmed by the many reports of gender atrocities and sexual violence during these attacks.”
If we analyze their statement, we can see their abject stance toward the Jewish women who had to endure the attacks by the Palestinian terrorists of Hamas, who raped, tortured, murdered, and mutilated them.
Only Jewish women were concerned by these terrorist attacks, not Palestinian women or “all the others”. This statement makes no sense.
UN women waited two months to make this kind of statement, but it’s a disgrace.
The testimonies of Jewish men and women are dramatic:
Yoni Saadon, 39, who survived the Supernova peace festival by hiding under corpses, now wakes up at night, distressed by the faces of massacred women, one of whom had “the face of an angel”.
“She fell to the ground, shot in the head, and I pulled her body over me and smeared her blood all over me to make it look like I was dead too”.
“I saw this beautiful woman with the face of an angel and eight or ten fighters beating and raping her. The woman was screaming ‘stop this’ and begging the terrorists to kill her to end her suffering,” he recounted.
“When they finished, they were laughing and the last one shot her in the head,” he added.
Yoni was hiding in some bushes when he saw two other Hamas fighters grab a woman.
“She was struggling, preventing them from undressing her,” he recalls. “They threw her to the ground and one of the terrorists took a shovel and decapitated her.”
This is the story of Esther (first name changed), who fell into the hands of Hamas soldiers on October 7. The young woman was taking part in a music festival in the Be’eri desert when Palestinian terrorists descended on the rave party in an unrestrained outburst of violence.
Panic-stricken, her boyfriend dragged her and her godmother under a tarpaulin in the rave’s bar, to go unnoticed and play dead. Unfortunately for the young woman, the terrorists tracked them down. And so began a long ordeal. The young woman was raped and beaten up in front of her boyfriend, who was forced to watch with a knife to his throat. The girl was also subjected to a series of mutilations.
Because they are Jews, they have to be raped, killed and abused. This shows deep-seated racism, and UN Women has lost all its credibility.
UN Women has lost all its credibility; this organization no longer represents anything, except its exacerbated anti-Judaism. This organization must be sanctioned like all the others, because since October 7, the record of NGOs has been catastrophic.
We have prepared a complete dossier of all the statements made by NGOs affiliated with the UN and the results are overwhelming.
The UN has become an organization dedicated to all the anti-Semites on earth, whose sole aim is to destroy the state of Israel and to kill all Jews living in the land of Israel. The UN is a fascist association, dominated by an ideological line.
It is essential to destroy this fascist thinking and dissolve the current UN to create a new international organization.
democracies, and for Arab and Muslim states to create their international organizations with their Chinese and Russian friends.
International NGOs
Action Aid
- On October 16, ActionAid sent a letter to European Council President Charles Michel, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and EU High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrel calling to “seek a just resolution to the root causes that led to the escalation of violence and to apply the international law, notably regarding the blockade of Gaza and the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory which result in daily violence.”
- On October 10, ActionAid tweeted, “At this time when people in Gaza are experiencing an intense blockade cutting them off from food, electricity, water, and fuel we are deeply concerned to see some at the EU question the vital €690m aid package to the Palestinian people. Now would be the worst time to cut funding for over two million people experiencing a humanitarian crisis. We urge the EU to pause and rethink this potentially catastrophic decision and maintain lifesaving funding for families in their greatest hour of need.”
- On October 8, ActionAid released a statement claiming that, “The escalating situation highlights the international community’s failure to address the extended occupation and the Gaza blockade, emphasizing the urgent need for a lasting solution as per the UN resolutions.”
Amnesty International
- On October 20, Amnesty published a statement titled, “Damning evidence of war crimes as Israeli attacks wipe out entire families in Gaza.” The statement quoted Amnesty Secretary General Agnes Callamard who claimed, “For 16 years, Israel’s illegal blockade has made Gaza the world’s biggest open-air prison – the international community must act now to prevent it becoming a giant graveyard.”
- On October 20, Amnesty International UK Campaigns Manager Kristyan Benedict tweeted, “Israeli forces and state-backed settlers continue their annexation and apartheid crimes in the Occupied West Bank as attention is on #Gaza.”
- On October 18, Amnesty tweeted, “We call on President Biden to address the injustices and impunity at the root of the current crisis, so that both Palestinians and Israelis can enjoy human rights in peace and security. President Biden must also cease US unreserved support for Israel’s actions in Gaza and the OPT.”
- On October 17, Amnesty tweeted, “The French government has banned all demonstrations in support of Palestinians rights. This constitutes a serious and disproportionate attack on the right to demonstrate. Under international law a ban on demonstrations must be considered as a last resort.”
- On October 15, Amnesty tweeted, “This is yet another brutal illustration that civilians in Gaza have nowhere safe to go. They fear they will die whether they leave or not. Israel’s order to ‘evacuate’ is NOT compliant w/ IHL & must be rescinded. Civilians must be granted access to safety, medical care & aid.”
- On October 14, Agnes Callamard tweeted, “#Gaza: So many lives already lost. So many more at risk as Israel announce comprehensive offensive attack. Mass killings of civilians has to stop. Humanity and moral clarity must prevail. Many in the int’l community have spoken out. US and the EU kept quiet. They must act now.”
- On October 13, Amnesty published a statement titled “Appalling Gaza “evacuation order” must be rescinded by Israel immediately,” claiming that, “The Israeli army’s order to people in northern Gaza and Gaza city to ‘evacuate’ to the south of the Gaza Strip, cannot be considered an effective warning and may amount to forced displacement of the civilian population, a violation of international humanitarian law… Civilians in Gaza must not be used as political pawns and their lives cannot be devalued… The international community must also refrain from further legitimizing Israel’s 16-year long illegal blockade and immediately halt the transfer of arms that could be used to commit unlawful attacks… While many Palestinians in northern Gaza are trying to flee, others have told Amnesty International that they are choosing to stay for fear this could become a “second Nakba” as the generational trauma of displacement is etched in the collective memories of many Gazans….
- On October 13, Amnesty tweeted, “Amnesty’s Crisis Evidence Lab has verified that Israeli military units striking Gaza are equipped with white phosphorus artillery rounds. We are investigating what appears to be the use of white phosphorus in Gaza, including in a strike near a hotel on the beach in Gaza City…”
- On October 12, Amnesty tweeted, “The shutdown of Gaza’s only power plant will exacerbate an already desperate humanitarian crisis for more than 2.2 million people trapped in the Gaza Strip. Israel must lift the illegal and inhumane blockade on Gaza as power plant runs out of fuel.”
- On October 12, Amnesty published a statement claiming, “The latest attacks in Israel must be seen in the wider context of the situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. But Amnesty International reiterates in the strongest possible terms that nothing can justify war crimes. The injustices and violations that are among the root causes of this violence must be addressed as a matter of urgency. Civilians will continue to pay a heavy price until Israel dismantles its system of apartheid against Palestinians, including ending its illegal blockade on Gaza.”
- On October 11, Amnesty tweeted, “Without addressing the root causes of this violence, including impunity for war crimes by all sides and Israel’s system of apartheid imposed on Palestinians, civilians will continue to pay the price.”
- On October 9, Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns Erika Guevara Rosas tweeted, “#Israel: Collective punishment is a war crime. The use of starvation as a weapon of war is also a war crime. The international community must denounce these abhorrent calls in the strongest possible terms.”
- On October 7, Amnesty published a press release claiming that “The root causes of these repeated cycles of violence must be addressed as a matter of urgency. This requires upholding international law and ending Israel’s 16-year-long illegal blockade on Gaza, and all other aspects of Israel’s system of apartheid imposed on all Palestinians. The Israeli government must refrain from inciting violence and tensions in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, especially around religious sites. Amnesty International calls on the international community to urgently intervene to protect civilians and prevent further suffering. In 2021, the International Criminal Court opened an investigation into the situation in the State of Palestine. Its mandate includes crimes under international law committed by all parties in the current fighting, as well as the crime against humanity of apartheid against Palestinians.”
- On October 7, Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard published a thread on X (formerly Twitter):
Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA)
- On October 14, AIDA published a statement claiming, “the forced relocation, without guarantees of safety or return and a failure to address the needs of the protected population, raise significant concerns of potential forcible transfer, constituting a grave breach of IHL, amounting to a war crime.”
- On October 12, AIDA published a statement, “AIDA has warned for years of the cruel impact of the blockade on the population of the Gaza strip and the risk of violence it creates. This horrible crisis brutally highlights the need for a peaceful and lasting resolution to the prolonged military occupation of the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) and the 17-year blockade on Gaza.”
Human Rights Watch (HRW)
- On October 9, HRW published a press release 和 accompanying Q&A claiming that “Israeli authorities’ cutting off electricity to Gaza and other punitive measures against Gaza’s civilian population would amount to unlawful collective punishment, which is a war crime. The laws of war apply to all parties to a conflict, irrespective of the lawfulness of their going to war or imbalances of power between the parties. The Israeli government’s systematic oppression in the OPT, coupled with inhumane acts committed against Palestinians as part of a policy to maintain the domination by Jewish Israelis over Palestinians, amount to the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution, as Human Rights Watch previously found.”
- Tweets by HRW Program Director Sari Bashi
- On October 21, Omar Shakir tweeted, “While few trucks of aid squeezed in via Egypt, Israel’s keeping its crossings w Gaza closed & refusing to flick the switch for water & electricity. There’s no excuse for denying water, food & meds to 2.2+ million ppl. It’s a war crime. It must end. Lives hang in the balance. @hrw”
- On October 21, Middle East and North Africa Director at Human Rights Watch Lama Fakih tweeted, “If Western states are serious about human rights and the laws of war, principles they apply to Russian atrocities in Ukraine and to Hamas atrocities in Israel; they also have to apply them to Israel’s brutal disregard for civilian life in Gaza.”
- On October 21, Roth tweeted, “The oppressive discrimination that the Israeli government imposes on millions of Palestinians in occupied territory — the apartheid — does not begin to be justified by security concerns. It is about dominance, land grabs, and demographic engineering.”
- On October 19, Executive Director at Human Rights Watch Tirana Hassan tweeted, “The #US should draw from its own mistakes & remind #Israel that ‘violating the laws of war comes with moral, legal, and practical consequences that will last far beyond the end of the fighting.’ Protecting civilians should be paramount. @YagerSarahH”
- On October 18, HRW published a statement calling on Israel to “immediately end its total blockade of the Gaza Strip that is putting Palestinian children and other civilians at grave risk…The collective punishment of the population is a war crime.”
- On October 16, at an event hosted by Chatham House, HRW Israel/Palestine Director Omar Shakir claimed, “The rhetoric by the Israeli government has been very clear. They are signaling a criminal intent to commit large scale atrocities. We’re witnessing an unprecedented descent into darkness, and world leaders need to act before it’s too late.”
- On October 16, Roth tweeted, “To see why the Israeli government might want to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians of Gaza to Egypt, it helps to understand Israel’s longstanding policy of demographic engineering, made more urgent by the ‘one-state reality’ created by its settlements.”
- On October 16, HRW Israel/Palestine Director Omar Shakir tweeted, “More incendiary language from Israeli officials calling for the entire population of Gaza—2.2+ million people, half of whom are children—to be collectively punished. This is evidence of criminal intent. World leaders must act to prevent large-scale atrocities before it’s too late.”
- On October 15, in an interview with MSNBC, HRW Program Director Sari Bashi claimed, “That’s the essence of apartheid — it’s racial domination, it’s discrimination.”
- On October 16, HRW published a statement and accompanying Q&A writing that “war crimes by one party don’t justify war crimes by the other. On Friday, the Israeli army ordered more than 1 million people — half the population — to leave northern Gaza within 24 hours, in advance of an imminent military ground operation. Though that initial deadline passed, the order raises serious legal and humanitarian red flags — and fears for the safety of civilians… such measures amount to a form of collective punishment, which is a war crime and prohibited by the Fourth Geneva Convention…”
- On October 16, Ken Roth tweeted, “‘International humanitarian law’ is not concocted by human rights groups. Its rules are agreed to by all governments including Israel’s — not just a nice thing to do but required even when the going gets rough, even when a nation’s people are slaughtered.”
- On October 16, HRW tweeted, “‘The rhetoric by the Israeli government has been very clear,’ says @OmarSShakir. ‘They are signaling a criminal intent to commit large scale atrocities. We’re witnessing an unprecedented descent into darkness, and world leaders need to act before it’s too late.’”
- On October 16, Roth tweeted, “Hasan Alhasan, a Middle East expert, asked whether ‘there is any viable military strategy short of a total ethnic cleansing of Gaza that would lead to a permanent defeat of Hamas.’ Is that the plan?”
- On October 15, HRW’s Israel and Palestine Director Omar Shakir tweeted, “Israeli authorities are signaling their intent to commit mass atrocities. They must be stopped…they [Israelis] want revenge, using incendiary language & suggesting that the entire population of Gaza—2.2+ million people, half of whom are children—should be collectively punished…The Israeli army is publicly sharing images of reducing entire blocks & neighborhoods in Gaza to rubble—acts that may be war crimes…History teaches us that, when there are clear calls to commit large-scale atrocities by party capable of doing so & actions taken consistent with those words, they need to be taken seriously & stopped. That’s where we are today in Israel & Palestine. A descent into darkness…”
- On October 15, Ken Roth tweeted, “As US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley gave Israel unconditional support, without regard to its war crimes and apartheid. Now as a presidential candidate, she is doubling down on the same approach.”
- On October 14, HRW Israel/Palestine Director Omar Shakir tweeted, “Israeli authorities are signaling their intent to commit mass atrocities. They must be stopped.”
- On October 13, Sari Bashi published an article titled “Nowhere to Go in Gaza” writing, “the fact that Hamas-led fighters committed unspeakable war crimes does not give the Israeli military permission to flout its obligations to civilians in Gaza. The evacuation announcement risks mass forced displacement… after the Israeli authorities cut supplies of fuel, water, food, and electricity to Gaza in what amounts to a form of collective punishment—itself a war crime… Israel’s evacuation order hit a particularly raw nerve for the 70 percent of Gaza residents who are already refugees—having fled their homes in what is now Israel in 1948—and their descendants. They have never been allowed back. That refusal of their right to return is one of the root causes of the current violence.”
- On October 13, Roth tweeted, “Bush has the audacity to offer advice to Netanyahu even after Bush transformed America’s 9/11 into an excuse for torture and war crimes. Netanyahu may be heading down the same path, but he would be wise to learn from Bush about what NOT to do.”
- On October 12, HRW published a statement and accompanying Q&A accusing Israel of employing white phosphorus in Gaza. According to the statement, “The use of white phosphorus in densely populated areas of Gaza violates the requirement under international humanitarian law to take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian injury and loss of life… Israeli authorities have cut electricity, water, fuel and food into Gaza, in violation of the international humanitarian law prohibition against collective punishment, exacerbating the dire humanitarian situation from over 16 years of Israeli closure.”
- On October 11, Roth published an article claiming, “Israel had every reason to respond militarily to the atrocious Hamas assault on its civilians. But a good reason to fight is no reason to violate the rules governing that fight. If the Israeli government responds to its 9/11 moment with George W Bush-like indifference to those rules, it will soon follow the route of his government from global sympathy to global outrage. I only hope that the prospect of such a trajectory gives it pause.” Additionally, Roth claimed, “Already we are hearing the usual refrain – that Hamas is responsible for the loss of civilian life because it is using civilians as ‘human shields’. But ‘shielding’ refers to purposefully using the presence of civilians to prevent an attack, not mere fighting from urban areas, especially when that is what so much of Gaza is.”
- On October 11, Roth tweeted an article titled “Hubris meets nemesis in Israel, quoting, ” By ruling out any political process in Palestine and boldly asserting that ‘the Jewish people have an exclusive and inalienable right to all parts of the Land of Israel,’ Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s fanatical government made bloodshed inevitable.”
- On October 11, Roth tweeted, “The lackadaisical approach of International Criminal Court prosecutor @KarimKhanQC to the open investigation of war crimes in Palestine has promoted an atmosphere of impunity that today increases the likelihood of more and more war crimes.”
- On October 11, HRW Director of Crisis Advocacy Akshaya Kumar published a statement claiming, “Israeli authorities, the occupying power over Gaza under international law, have a duty to ensure that the basic needs of the population are met. Instead, they have since 2007 run Gaza as an “open air prison,” imposing sweeping restrictions on the movement of people and goods. In the wake of the weekend attacks, authorities are now closing those prison walls in further.”
- On October 10, HRW Israel/Palestine Director Omar Shakir tweeted, “We’re investigating. Nothing can justify such atrocities, nor can they justify committing atrocities in Gaza.”
- On October 10, Ken Roth tweeted, “We should be able to agree that Hamas’s killing and abduction of civilians are war crimes without obliterating Palestinians’ deep frustration at the moribund ‘peace process,’ the demise of the ‘two state solution,’ the abandonment to apartheid without end.”
- On October 10, HRW published a statement by Sari Bashi claiming, “Following the assault, the Israeli military launched a massive bombing campaign on the Gaza Strip. Nearly 700 Palestinians have been killed, including 140 children, as of October 9, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. The Israeli authorities have also unlawfully cut electricity to Gaza’s 2.2 million residents and reduced water supply, exacerbating the impact of Israel’s more than 16-year illegal closure of Gaza and its crimes of apartheid and persecution against Palestinians.”
- On October 10 Omar Shakir tweeted, “Breaking: @IntlCrimCourt Prosecutor’s Office speaks out, making clear that ‘crimes committed in the current context’ fit within their mandate, that they’re gathering information as part of their formal probe into serious crimes in Palestine & encouraging victims to come forward.”
- On October 10, European Media & Editorial Director Andrew Stroehlein tweeted, “Their atrocities do not justify your atrocities. The brutality of their war crimes does not lessen the brutality of your war crimes.”
- On October 9, Associate Program Director Fred Abrahams tweeted, “Israel Def Min orders full siege on Gaza with ‘no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel.’ Laws of war are clear: parties must allow and facilitate the rapid and unimpeded passage of impartially distributed humanitarian aid to a population in need. With crass, dehumanizing language to justify chokehold and collective punishment of a population long under occupation and control.”
- On October 9, HRW tweeted, “Abhorrent. This is a call to commit a war crime by @yoavgallant. The @IntlCrimCourt should take note.”
- On October 9, HRW Israel/Palestine Director Omar Shakir tweeted, “Abhorrent. Depriving an occupied population of food & electricity is collective punishment—a war crime—as is using starvation as a weapon of war. This imperils the lives of 2.2 million Palestinians living under Israel’s crushing, unlawful closure. @IntlCrimCourt should take note.”
- On October 9, Shakir tweeted, “The killings of 100s of Israelis & Palestinians over last 72 hours reflect a flagrant disregard by all for int’l law. So long as there’s impunity, Gaza remains an open-air prison & Israel’s apartheid isn’t dismantled, bloodshed & repression will continue.”
- On October 9, Roth tweeted, “The broad support now for Hamas across the Middle East despite its war crimes reflects popular discontent with normalization deals that bypass the rights of Palestinians condemned to life under apartheid.”
- On October 9, Roth tweeted, “Like the last war in Gaza, the Israeli military is again destroying large residential apartment towers — four of them so far. Any claim of a ‘Hamas office’ or the like does not justify the massively disproportionate effect on people’s homes. #WarCrimes.”
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
- On October 13, FIDH published a statement that it is “shocked and horrified at the videos and reports of Israeli indiscriminate killings of civilians and the mass destruction of entire neighbourhoods in the Gaza Strip…FIDH condemns the Israeli aggression as an appalling act of retaliation and brute violence.”
- On October 11, FIDH published a statement claiming, “The cycle of violence is a predictable result of Israel’s illegal occupation and apartheid regime that has lasted too long despite calls and warnings issued by human rights organizations and United Nations mechanisms.” The statement further called on Israel to “end the colonisation, apartheid regime and annexation policies imposed on Palestinian people, which are the root causes underlying the continuing waves of conflict in the territory.”
- On October 8, FIDH retweeted the statement of Al-Haq, Al Mezan, and PCHR (see below), writing, “#FIDH strongly condemns all acts of violence and vengeance in #Israel and #Palestine. All parties must prioritise the protection of civilians. Urgent action is needed for a cease-fire and addressing the root causes of this latest military escalation.”
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, Doctors Without Borders)
- On October 21, MSF posted a twitter thread: “The number of trucks allowed to deliver aid into Gaza through the Rafah crossing on October 21 is totally insufficient compared to the desperate needs of the people, who have been under complete siege and relentless bombing for two weeks.”
- On October 14, MSF published a statement calling on “Israeli authorities to show humanity….As the Israeli army has been bombarding the Gaza Strip without restraint for a week, we are calling for the most elementary humanity to be shown.”
- On October 13, MSF tweeted, “Israel’s 24-hour notice that people in Northern Gaza must leave their land, homes and hospitals is outrageous – this represents an attack on medical care and on humanity. We have consistently seen dehumanising language and this violence is a manifestation of that.”
- On October 10, MSF published a statement affirming, “The declaration of war must not, under any circumstances, lead to collective punishment of the population of Gaza. Cutting off water, electricity and fuel supplies is unacceptable, as it punishes the entire population and deprives them of their basic needs.”
- On October 8, MSF published a statement calling on “all parties to respect the sanctity of medical facilities, vehicles and personnel.” According to MSF medical coordinator in Gaza Darwin Diaz, “Ambulances can’t be used right now because they’re being hit by airstrikes.”
- On October 7, MSF tweeted, “Following the escalation between Israel and Gaza, Israeli forces struck the enclave’s Indonesian hospital and an ambulance in front of Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza. The strikes killed one nurse, one ambulance driver, injured several and damaged an oxygen station…We have been supporting both hospitals since 2021 and 2011 respectively. Health care facilities cannot become targets. We ask all parties to respect health infrastructures, which must remain a sanctuary for people seeking treatment…The scale of this new round of hostilities must not be underestimated, with Palestinian and Israeli authorities reporting massive casualties all over Israel and Gaza.”
Norwegian Refugee Council
- On October 13, NRC published a press release demanding that “Israeli ultimatum to Gaza must be reversed.” According to the press release, “loss of civilian lives caused by deliberate or indiscriminate use of force is a war crime for which the perpetrators will have to answer. We fear that Israel may claim that Palestinians who could not flee northern Gaza can be erroneously held as directly participating in hostilities, and targeted.”
- On October 9, NRC Secretary General Jan Egeland tweeted, “There is no other way to describe the deliberate killing of hundreds of Israeli civilians by Hamas than terrorism. But a bombardment that will kill scores of Palestinian children and the cutting of electricity, food and fuel for hospitals and families have no justification.”
- On October 9, NRC published a statement: “The humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate. Israel has announced that they will now lay a complete siege on Gaza and cut food, water and fuel. This represents a grave violation of international law.”
- On October 7, NRC Palestine Country director Ana Povrzenic published a statement affirming that “All parties must adhere to international humanitarian law by refraining from deliberately or indiscriminately targeting civilians. They must abide by the principles of humanitarian law. “The only path towards stability and peace is for the international community to finally address the root causes of the conflict including ending the occupation of Palestinian territory. We are monitoring the humanitarian impact and preparing to support those in need of humanitarian assistance.”
Oxfam
- On October 13, Oxfam published a press release claiming, “The world can see that this evacuation order is both utterly inhumane and impossible; the Israeli government must rescind it immediately…It is incumbent upon Israel to obey international humanitarian law; they must distinguish between military and civilian targets. We call on it to immediately recall this order and allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.”
- On October 10, Oxfam published a press release claiming, “The decision to implement a ‘total siege’ by the Israeli government, in addition to the ongoing blockade, will further deny Gazan civilians essentials like food, water and electricity. This constitutes collective punishment of a population that bears no responsibility for the violence and is illegal under international law. It will not contribute to peace and security, instead, it will further fan the flames of this crisis.”
- On October 9, following reports the EU would halt aid to the Palestinians, Oxfam published a press release stating, “The mere prospect of suspending aid is not only alarming but is unacceptable. Suspending aid will be a collective punishment jeopardising the lives of countless Palestinians. Europe’s commitment to provide aid to those who need it must never waver. It’s precisely the lack of decisive political action that has perpetuated this endless cycle of violence and retaliation placing civilians in the crossfire.”
- On October 7, in a press release published by Oxfam, Acting Country Director in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel Mustafa Tmaizi stated, “Oxfam strongly urges all parties to immediately cease all military offensives and maintain restraint to prevent further escalation of violence that will only harm innocent civilians on both sides. This surge in military escalation underscores the persistent failure of leaders to address the prolonged occupation and Gaza blockade with no meaningful measures taken.”
Samidoun
- On October 15, Samidoun tweeted, “The entire problem is that ‘Israel’ is upholding ‘its values’ — that is, colonialism, genocide and Palestinian death and dispossession. Those are in fact the ‘values’ of Zionism being upheld here, and the ‘values’ for which all of the imperialist powers are vowing allegiance.”
- On October 12, Samidoun published a statement: “Palestinians in Gaza are facing an overtly genocidal war carried out by the Israeli occupation regime…The German state and all imperialist powers, following the lead of U.S. President Biden, are partners not only in the defamation and dehumanization of the Palestinian people but the murderous war crimes and crimes against humanity of the occupation regime….The Palestinian resistance are the true representatives of the Palestinian people, the only shield to defend the people and their land in the face of the war crimes of the occupation regime, the complicity of the Arab reactionary states and the full-scale involvement of the Western imperialist powers, including Germany, in the targeting and destruction of Palestinian life and existence. The Palestinian people’s will to live in freedom, to resist their occupier, and to obtain their rights will not be killed by murderous bombing raids or German political repression” (emphases added).
- On October 10, following a rally, Samidoun Seattle published a statement that “Demonstrators showed support for the successful Flood of Al Aqsa resistance operation and condemned the Zionist retaliatory strikes against Palestinian civilians in Gaza and 75 years of oppression, ethnic cleansing and settler colonialism…Samidoun Seattle affirms Palestinians’ right to resist, right to self-determination and right to their land as non-negotiable” (emphasis added).
- On October 10, Samidoun tweeted, “The occupation forces are continuing their genocidal attacks upon the Palestinian people in Gaza, while the Palestinian resistance continues to struggle for victory and liberation.”
- On October 9, Samidoun was one of the groups that led the call for people to stand in solidarity with the brave people of Palestine on the streets of New York.
- On October 9, Samidoun shared a statement by the Higher National Committee of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Movement stating, “We affirm our high confidence in the Palestinian resistance, which will remain an impenetrable barrier in the face of the enemy.”
- On October 8, Samidoun tweeted, “NY @GovKathyHochul is trying to stigmatize and intimidate protesters at NYC rally for justice and liberation in Palestine. Let’s make the numbers as large as possible & send a clear message, from the Governor’s office to Palestine. Times Square/1 pm/Broadwayx42nd.”
- On October 7, Samidoun published a press release declaring that the “Resistance Rises toward Revolution, Return and Liberation.” According to the press release, “As the Palestinian resistance confronts occupation forces, it is critical that internationalists everywhere speak out, mobilize and act to confront the U.S.-led imperialist system, including the EU states, Britain and all complicit powers to end their ongoing crimes against the Palestinian people, and to defend the resistance. These crimes are reflected not only in the Balfour Declaration and the $3.8 billion in U.S. military aid to the occupation regime annually, but in the racist assaults on the Palestinian people in exile and diaspora throughout Europe, and especially in Germany, for speaking out and organizing to take up their role in the cause, for their return to Palestine and the liberation of their land.”
- On October 7, Samidoun Deutschland tweeted, “Long live the resistance of the Palestinian people. Distributing sweets on Sonnenallee in Berlin to celebrate the victory of the resistance.”
- On October 7, Samidoun Deutschland were “handing out sweets and expressing joy for the terrorist attack by Hamas and the murder of Israelis.”
Save the Children
- On October 8, Save the Children published a press release claiming that “Reports of Palestinian children being killed and injured in airstrikes and Israeli children being kidnapped and held hostage have exacerbated fears of an unprecedented psychological toll. Save the Children condemns the violence, saying the scale of the attacks in Israel and Gaza is causing damage that would endure long after the immediate crisis.”
- On October 7, Save the Children’s Country Director for the occupied Palestinian territory Jason Lee published a statement that, “Following an escalation in violence between Palestinian armed groups and Israeli forces in Israel and Gaza today, our teams and their families are bracing for what comes next. We know from previous experience that children will be terrified. Children have been killed and injured in every major escalation, not to mention suffering from serious mental health impacts—they’ve never emerged unscathed. All parties must show restraint and focus on keeping children and families safe and bringing an end to the fear and suffering they have endured for far too long.”
Independent Commission for Human Rights
- On October 21, ICHR published a statement “warn[ing] of the looming danger of further atrocities committed by the Israeli occupation against innocent civilians and critical civilian infrastructure.” The statement also called on the UN to “shoulder their responsibilities and take swift, resolute actions to deter the Israeli occupation from perpetrating further massacres against innocent civilians.”
- On October 11, ICHR sent a letter to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court demanding, “In light of the imminent humanitarian crisis in Gaza, we urgently request a preemptive statement from your office regarding the war crimes being committed by Israel.”
- On October 10, ICHR shared the statement of the Arab Network of National Human Rights Institutions “condemn[ing] the inhumane acts being perpetrated by the Israeli occupation forces against Palestinian civilians in Gaza, including acts of killing, shelling, and the destruction of homes, residential buildings, and civil institutions.”
- On October 9, ICHR sent a letter to UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, and other UN Special Rapporteurs to “take all means to place pressure on Israel, the Occupying Power, to cease military attacks on Gaza and its civilian population, and to put an end to violations of international law.” According to the letter, “Since October 7, 2023, when Palestinian factions in Gaza launched the ‘Al-Aqsa Storm’ operation targeting settlements near Gaza, Israel has responded with intense retaliatory missile attacks on densely populated areas…The root causes of Israel’s actions and crimes against Palestinians stem from its discriminatory policies based on the Apartheid. Addressing these root causes, including ending the occupation, colonial settlement, and racial segregation, while acknowledging the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including their right to self-determination, are imperative actions that the international community must take. It is essential to exert pressure on Israel, which has historically evaded accountability for its systematic assaults on Palestinians.”
- On October 8, ICHR published a statement “strongly condemn[ing] the grave violations of human rights perpetrated by the Israeli occupation against Palestinian civilians in Gaza. These violations encompass acts of killing, bombing, destruction of homes and residential structures, targeting civil institutions, obstructing the entry of essential supplies, and cutting off electricity to Gaza. These actions persist amidst the enduring presence of a blockade imposed on the Strip for more than 17 years. ICHR sounds the alarm about the possibility of the Israeli government exploiting certain international endorsements to commit further massacres against Gaza’s civilian population and implement widespread displacement operations.”
American NGOs
Adalah Justice Project
- On October 12, AJP tweeted, “The Western corporate media and western governments are guilty of genocide. But Palestinians will continue to rise.”
- On October 11, AJP tweeted, “The demand of the Palestinian people is not radical: stop killing us!”
- On October 9, AJP tweeted, “History will eventually write that Palestinians taught the world how to survive.”
- On October 7, AJP tweeted a picture of terrorists breaking through the border fence, writing, “No cage goes unchallenged.”
American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
- On October 13, AFSC launched a petition calling on Congress to “Oppose a ground invasion of Gaza by Israel!”
- On October 13, AFSC published a statement claiming, “To bring change, we must address the roots of conflict, including historic and ongoing Palestinian displacement, occupation, and the reality of apartheid….Sending weapons and military aid to Israel at this time only expands violence and takes us further from a solution…Some ideas for shifting the narrative: Violence did not start with the attacks from Gaza. These actions occurred in the context of a 16-year-old blockade of Gaza… Killing, oppression, and dispossession at the hands of the Israeli state have been Palestinian realities for decades, and recent events must be seen in that context… For decades, the Palestinian people have faced Israeli occupation and systematic human rights abuses that constitute apartheid… call for an end to Israeli apartheid.”
- On October 11, AFSC tweeted, “To end violence in Palestine and Israel, we must address root causes. We call on the US and the international community to focus on diplomacy, honor humanitarian law, and address systemic issues and policies at the root of the tragedy unfolding.”
- On October 10, AFSC Secretary General Joyce Aljouny condemned Israel’s “racist rhetoric,” claiming, “There’s been no condemnation whatsoever of that racist rhetoric coming from the Israeli government. We had the Israeli finance minister saying Palestinians have three options – immigrate, or live under subjugation or die.”
- On October 9, AFSC published a statement claiming, “The Israeli escalation is being justified by explicitly racist rhetoric… Through this experience it has become clear to us that security cannot be created by systematic oppression. Palestinians suffer from daily violence and collective punishment, while much of the world does nothing. One need not dig deeply into the history of the 75 years of occupation to find the evidence to prove that point. Look at the conditions this year… This is apartheid. And it must end for lasting peace to flourish in the region… We call on the U.S. and other members of the international community…to change long-term policies that ignore the Apartheid realities and Israeli abuses of Palestinian rights… history shows us that people who are oppressed will continue to find ways to resist their oppression… The only path to lasting peace for Palestine and Israel is by uprooting occupation and apartheid.
- On October 9, AFSC published a fact sheet of “5 things you need to know about what’s happening in Israel and Gaza.” According to the fact sheet, “Violence did not begin with the attacks from Gaza…This lack of accountability and a sense by Palestinians that they have been abandoned by the international community is important to understanding recent violence. For violence to end, U.S. policy must change. Israel must be held accountable for its rights violations, and the system of apartheid must end.”
- On October 9, AFSC launched a petition calling on Congress to “call for an immediate end to all violence—and to address the apartheid system and persistent inequality that are the root cause of this violence.”
Center for Constitutional Rights
- On October 24, CCR tweeted, “US @StateDept gave cover to Israel at the UN #bindingtreaty negotiations in Geneva this AM. CSOs walked out All states must immediately uphold the Genocide Convention by bringing about a #CEASEFIRE now and hold Israel and its allies, like the US, accountable for their actions.”
- On October 22, CCR published an article quoting CCR Staff Attorney Diala Shamas at the United Nations Human Rights Committee claiming, “As we’re watching a genocide unfold in Palestine with what looks like full complicity of the United States, we’re also witnessing a parallel assault on those rising up to protest this genocide domestically… The public dehumanization of Palestinians at the highest level of US government has led to skyrocketing repression of activism and all expressions of support for Palestine… We call for the United States to end its complicity in genocide and call for an immediate ceasefire… to affirm the need for accountability for Israeli and US abuse of Palestinians.”
- On October 22, in an interview with Common Dreams, CCR claimed, “The United States is not only failing to uphold its obligation to prevent the commission of genocide, but there is a plausible and credible case to be made that the United States’ actions to further the Israeli military operation, closure, and campaign against the Palestinian population in Gaza rise to the level of complicity in the crime under international law… the United States—and U.S. citizens, including and up to the president—can be held responsible for their role in furthering genocide, both under international and U.S. law…”
- On October 21, CCR Attorney and Fellow Sadaf Doost tweeted, “The U.S. gov’t — including individuals who have the ability to prevent Israel’s unfolding genocide in Gaza — have a duty to act to prevent the bombing of Al-Quds Hospital under the Geneva Convention, otherwise they are complicit.”
- On October 20, CCR tweeted, “Going All-In for Israel May Make Biden Complicit in Genocide ‘[T]he crime of genocide implicates not only those carrying out the crime, but also those complicit in it’.”
- On October 19, CCR tweeted, “NEW: There is a credible case, based on powerful evidence, that Israel is attempting to commit, if not actively committing, genocide against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.… Our paper describes how through its ongoing unconditional military, diplomatic, and political support to Israel, the United States is not only failing to prevent genocide, but is complicit…”
- On October 19, CCR tweeted, “BREAKING: We’ve authored an emergency briefing paper featuring legal and factual analysis of Israel’s unfolding crime of genocide against the Palestinian people and U.S. complicity in this grave international law violation.”
- On October 19, CCR tweeted, “In our final informal briefing to the UN human rights committee, @USCPR_ executive director @A7madAbuznaid calls on the committee members to hold the United States accountable for its complicity with Israeli genocide of Palestinians.”
- On October 18, Diala Shamas Senior Staff Attorney tweeted, “Palestinian rights advocates at UN call out US complicity amid accusations of genocide”
- On October 18, CCR published an “emergency legal brief” on “Israel’s Unfolding Crime of Genocide of the Palestinian People & U.S. Failure to Prevent and Complicity in Genocide.” According to the brief, “There is plausible and credible case, based on powerful factual evidence, that Israel is attempting to commit, if not actively committing, the crime of genocide in the occupied Palestinian territory, and specifically against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.”
- On October 16, CCR tweeted, “Speaking on genocide in Palestine to the UN Human Rights Committee: ‘The US must cease its support of a regime that is committing genocide of the Palestinian people. If we don’t act now, then the words ‘Never again’ will be just that, words.’ — @A7madAbuznaid”
- On October 16, Diala Shamas Senior Staff Attorney tweeted, “US complicity w/ Israeli genocide first and foremost devastating consequences for Palestinians in Gaza. But the rampant dehumanization of Palestinian life has consequences in the U.S. too. My 2 minutes @ the UN Human Rights Committee. #WadeaAlFayoume”
- On October 16, Diala Shamas Senior Staff Attorney tweeted, “Here in Geneva, at the US review by the UN Human Rights Committee, with @USCPR_’s @A7madAbuznaid, we’re raising the US complicity in Israeli genocide with anyone who will listen. #ceasefireNOW”
- On October 16, CCR Senior Staff Attorney Diala Shamas tweeted, “US complicity w/ Israeli genocide first and foremost devastating consequences for Palestinians in Gaza. But the rampant dehumanization of Palestinian life has consequences in the U.S. too. My 2 minutes @ the UN Human Rights Committee.”
- On October 13, CCR tweeted, “What Israel is doing in Gaza is genocide. Genocide is when actions are taken to destroy a group in whole or in part, including by killing or by creating conditions of life to bring about the groups destruction.”
- On October 13, CCR tweeted, “Statements and actions by @POTUS and others in the US suggest that the United States is increasingly complicit. Complicity in genocide is absolutely prohibited and we will not forget.”
- On October 12, CCR posted a statement claiming, “It is our commitment to human dignity and the preciousness of life that has long led our organization to stand with Palestinians as they resist Israeli colonization, occupation, and apartheid…to decry Israel’s slaughter in Gaza, which is in danger of becoming a genocide…Israel’s U.S-supported and sponsored subjugation of Palestinian communities – daily bombardments, vigilante violence, torture, imprisonment, land theft, arrests, annexation, restrictions on movement – that has contributed to this moment…The international community has watched in silence as Israel has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity against generations of Palestinians with impunity…and openly call for genocide, Israel is again engaging in collective punishment of a largely civilian, refugee population who cannot escape. There is good reason to fear that this will be Israel’s most horrific crime ever against Palestinians…all actors, including the United States, must be held accountable for war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
- On October 10, in an interview with The Guardian, CCR Senior Staff Attorney Diala Shamas stated, “Recognizing the root causes of the current violence doesn’t require condoning attacks on civilians. Offering context is not offering an excuse. On the contrary: the only way to honor the loss of life – Palestinian and Israeli – is to address its source. The US must end its complicity in Israeli apartheid, systemic oppression, military occupation and collective punishment – not double down on its support.”
- On October 8, CCR tweeted, “Palestinians and solidarity activists know their rights, and they will continue to protest.”
- On October 8, following protests in New York, CCR tweeted, “Accusing supporters of Palestinian human rights of support for terrorism is dangerous, tired, and ignores 75 years of Israeli colonization and war crimes.”
- On October 7, CCR published a press release claiming “Israeli Colonial Domination Is Necessary Context to Palestinian Resistance.” According to the press release, “The Center for Constitutional Rights stands in solidarity with the Palestinian people in their decades-long struggle for self-determination and freedom from Israel’s regime of apartheid and prolonged belligerent military occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza. Israel’s brutal 16-year closure of Gaza has suffocated the two million Palestinians imprisoned there, while Israel has repeatedly launched military assaults that have killed thousands of civilians and injured tens of thousands more. Israeli colonization of historic Palestine gives rise to the international legal right of colonized people to resist colonial domination and to pursue national liberation and self-determination. Under international law, armed groups, such as Palestinian resistance fighters, can lawfully carry out attacks on military targets. Israel, with the full support of the United States and much of the international community, has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity with complete impunity, resulting in the profound erosion of international norms and the necessary protections for occupied people and civilians. We echo demands for accountability and reaffirm our commitment to dismantling all forms of colonialism.”
Christian Peacemaker Teams
- On October 15, CPT published a statement referring to all Palestinian deaths as martyrs with no mention of Hamas terrorism, writing,“As of now, there have been at least 2329 martyrs in Gaza and 55 martyrs in the West Bank during the week of the Israeli aggression on Gaza… They were fighters for their homeland, for their land. They were resilient resistance fighters on their own soil, resisting for a better life… They resist the occupation, which has been killing and displacing Palestinians since 1948… This resistance, a natural response to the occupation’s crimes against Palestinians, has been met with condemnation by many, while the occupiers are given the right to defend themselves. The Palestinian resistance is often unjustly labeled as terrorism, even though they are merely defending their land and within their rights of international law and UN General Assembly Resolution 2649 of 1970, which affirms the legitimacy of the struggle for self-determination… I understand that you stand against violence but don’t let your stance against violence create a space of denial for the right to resist.”
- On October 13, CPT published a statement justifying Hamas’ use of violence, claiming “conflict is messy, propaganda is rampant, and power structures influence the course of violence. So, in our commitment to undoing oppressions, it is imperative that we also hold our position of nonviolence up to the mirror…Therefore, in times of horrific violence, our position on nonviolence needs to be deconstructed, especially as an organization born from white colonial and imperialist nations. As peacemaking practitioners, we cannot feed the dominant narrative that further justifies violence against the oppressed….So tell us, what are you struggling to come to terms with as we speak to the events of this week?”
- On October 14, CPT tweeted, “Day by day, stories etched on sea, land, and sky, We shall not become a museum exhibit, erased by the colonial state, Nor bow to supremacy that seeks to dictate our lives. we are alive, we exist.”
- On October 12, CPT tweeted, “Pray for Palestine. Gaza is suffering relentless violence from Israeli bombardments this week. Let us pray for recognition of our shared humanity and unite in calls for liberation.”
CODEPINK
- CODEPINK has an ongoing campaign titled the “The Gaza Genocide Gang: EXPOSED!” The campaign encourages individuals to post pre-written tweets. Examples include:
- “Genocide Joe: As Genocide Architect in Chief, Biden has openly enabled Israel to commit genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity by funding the bombs dropping on innocent people in Palestine.” Pre-written tweet, “From repeating lies to sending $100 billion for bombs to kill, Biden is not only supporting genocide, but he is funding it. He has blood on his hands. #GenocideGang @CODEPINK”
- “Bombin’ Blinken: Blinken not only supports the Genocide but also demands that no one in his office call for descalation or a ceasefire. It’s only foot on the gas genocide for him and his team of “diplomats.” Pre-written tweet, “Imagine being so pro-war that you ban the words ‘ceasefire/de-escalation’, ‘end to violence/bloodshed’ and ‘restoring calm’? Anthony Blinken and his ‘diplomats’ aren’t interested in diplomacy, they are pushing for more escalation and more violence. #GenocideGang @CODEPINK”
- “Villainous von der Leyen” Pre-written tweet, “The EU President is justifying genocide by calling it “democracy”. Von der Leyen: when will you wake up to the truth of Israeli ethnic cleansing? #GenocideGang @CODEPINK”
- “Blood Thirsty Zuckerberg” Pre-written tweet, “Zuckerberg is silencing the truth about genocide. He is acting as a propaganda tool for Israel. #GenocideGang @CODEPINK”
- On October 25, CODEPINK tweeted, “Don’t let any member of Congress pretend they don’t know about the brutal genocide Israel is perpetrating with US support. People have been telling them to their faces for weeks now.Here’s what we told @RepGregoryMeeks’ office today.”
- On October 25, CODEPINK tweeted, “Congress has blood on their hands! We were in Congress yet again today alongside many others demanding members push for a ceasefire and an end to the occupation of Palestine.”
- On October 25, CODEPINK tweeted, “They are telling us to our faces that they are going to continue carrying out the mass slaughter of Palestinians. This is not a war. It’s a genocide.”
- On October 24, CODEPINK tweeted, “‘It’s genocide. It’s ethnic cleansing. Call it what it is!’ Leslie is on the 8th day of her hunger strike for Gaza. She’s in Congress to demand they do the bare minimum and sign on to Cori Bush’s resolution calling for a ceasefire.”
- On October 24, CODEPINK tweeted, “This is ridiculous. We ordered balloons that read ‘END THE SIEGE ON GAZA’ and the production plant refused to print them.”
- On October 24, Co-founder Medea Benjamin tweeted, “Biden calling for peace??? What a cruel joke. For starters, he should stop Israel from bombing and starving Palestinians.”
- On October 24, Co-founder Medea Benjamin tweeted, “I have been glued to Al Jazeera and am sickened, sickened, sickened by the relentless Israeli bombing of Gaza. This Israeli government, along with its US enablers, are heartless war criminals.”
- On October 23, CODEPINK tweeted, “We were lied to in order to justify the invasion of Iraq and other violence as part of the so-called ‘war on terror’. Now, our leaders are trying to justify arming apartheid and genocide in Palestine. We see right through it.”
- On October 23, Co-founder Medea Benjamin tweeted, “Poet/writer/feminist June Jordan once said that Palestine was a moral litmus test. Now is the time for everyone to take that litmus test and stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people.”
- On October 22, Co-founder Medea Benjamin tweeted, “CNN’s Jake Tapper should be hired by the Israeli government to run their propaganda machine. He’s really good at it.”
- On October 21, CODEPINK tweeted, “Tens of billions of dollars of public money is being spent on bombing children and arming apartheid. Who is that making safe and secure? Security comes from ending war and funding our communities!”
- On October 21, Co-founder Medea Benjamin tweeted, “There is DEEP frustration and anger among State Department staff re US support for Israeli genocide. The same is true in Congress. I know firsthand.”
- On October 20, CODEPINK tweeted, “Sara Snider was responsible for amplifying an IOF soldier’s false claim about ‘40 beheaded babies’ as Israel began its relentless bombing campaign against Gaza.”
- On October 20, Co-founder Medea Benjamin tweeted, “Blinken pretends he cares about Palestinian civilians while the green lights Israeli bombings, refuses to call for a ceasefire and promotes billions more US $$$ for more bombs to kill more civilians in Gaza.”
- On October 20, Co-founder Medea Benjamin tweeted, “Biden said: ‘We are, as my friend Madeleine Albright said, the indispensable nation.’ It would have been more appropriate to remember his warmonger friend saying the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children were ‘worth it’, as this basically what Biden is saying about Palestinians.”
- On October 20, Co-founder Medea Benjamin tweeted, “Biden talks about bringing in small amounts of humanitarian aid to Gaza, but doesn’t call for a ceasefire to stop people from being slaughtered???”
- On October 20, Co-founder Medea Benjamin tweeted, “Biden and congress: listen to the american people. No more weapons to Israel!!!”
- On October 20, Co-founder Medea Benjamin tweeted, “More than 6,000 bombs have been dropped on terrified civilians in Gaza, and Biden brags about more US jobs making more bombs. Unconscionable. A total lack of humanity.”
- On October 20, Co-founder Medea Benjamin tweeted, “Biden’s ‘logic’ makes absolutely no sense: We must send more weapons to Ukraine because it is occupied; we must send more weapons to Israel, the occupier.”
- On October 20, Co-founder Medea Benjamin tweeted, “President Biden: Sending billions in bombs and weapons to the Israeli military that has mercilessly murdered over 4,000 innocent Palestinians is unacceptable.”
- On October 20, Co-founder Medea Benjamin tweeted, “BREAKING NEWS: Biden refused to say how much money he is asking for to fund more war in Ukraine and Israel. Maybe because he knows the American people want him to STOP wars, not fuel them.”
- On October 20, Co-founder Medea Benjamin tweeted, “WTF? Biden says sending more weapons to Ukraine and Israel is an investment to keep Americans out of harm’s way. It’s setting the stage for WWIII!!!”
- On October 19, Co-founder Medea Benjamin tweeted, “Let Gaza Live. Let Gaza Live. @RepMTG supports genocide.”
- On October 19, CODEPINK tweeted, “After backing an internationally condemned occupation for 75 years, the United States refuses to let up on its support for Israeli ethnic cleansing. Calling for a PAUSE to deliver humanitarian aid is literally the least the US could do for Palestinians, and they still won’t.”
- On October 18, CODEPINK tweeted, “The ‘humanitarian’ thing to do would be ending all support for Israel’s genocidal military campaign against Palestine. You can’t ‘support’ Palestinians while you provide the bombs dropped on them.”
- On October 18, Co-founder Medea Benjamin tweeted, “Biden’s speech in Israel today was painful to watch. He talked at length about the atrocities committed against Israelis, but ignored the horrific suffering in Gaza right now using US bombs–and the ongoing suffering from the siege of Gaza and the occupation of the West Bank.”
- On October 18, Co-founder Medea Benjamin tweeted, “Biden in Israel shows ZERO understanding of what Palestinians have been suffering since the creation of Israel. Nor does he care to understand. He is an Israeli propagandist.”
- On October 18, Co-founder Medea Benjamin tweeted, “Biden’s ‘ironclad support’ for Israel and his lack of ANY understanding or compassion for the plight of Palestinians will make the US hated throughout much of the world.”
- On October 18, Co-founder Medea Benjamin tweeted, “The Israeli’s bomb a hospital in Gaza, killing over 500 people, and Biden tells Netanyahu he thinks the hospital was bombed by ;the other team, not you.’ Biden’s cover up for Israeli war crimes is beyond disgusting. It’s hideous.”
- On October 18, Co-founder Medea Benjamin tweeted, “‘Explosion’ at the hospital in Gaza, @SecBlinken ??? No, it was an Israeli air strike. And you support Israel. So don’t give us more bs about your commitment to protecting civilian life!”
- On October 18, Co-founder Medea Benjamin tweeted, “Re Palestine some of us have said that a 2-state solution has long been dead and the only solution is a unified democratic state with equal rights for all. But does the present crisis make that impossible as well? So what is the solution???”
- On October 18, Co-founder Medea Benjamin tweeted, “Israel is committing genocide. The world must stop them!!!”
- On October 17, Co-founder Medea Benjamin tweeted, “See you there. At the US capitol tomorrow. Called by Jewish Voice for Peace #JVPLive Say No to Genocide in Gaza.”
- On October 17, CODEPINK tweeted, “After committing the single deadliest massacre since the Nakba, Israel is requesting aid from the US. The US must stop arming this genocidal regime NOW.”
- On October 15, CODEPINK co-founder Madea Benjamin tweeted, “So true re Gaza: When you need to have hundreds of protests just to tell the world that bombing children is not ok, that is when you know that humanity has failed.”
- On October 15, CODEPINK co-founder Madea Benjamin tweeted, “It just gets worse and worse. The US State Department staff wrote that press materials should not include the phrases: ‘de-escalation/ceasefire,’ ‘end to violence/bloodshed’ and ‘restoring calm.’ Biden is giving a total green light for Israel’s collective punishment of Gazans.”
- On October 13, CODEPINK tweeted, “The White House says peace is ‘repugnant’ and colonial occupiers have a right to violence against civilians. The last time they talked like this the US killed 4.5 million people.”
- On October 13, CODEPINK tweeted, “Israel has told one MILLION people with nowhere to go to evacuate within a day (now 12 hours). This is nothing short of ethnic cleansing carried out with US weapons and political support. We cannot let our government keep arming a genocide.”
- On October 13, CODEPINK co-founder Madea Benjamin tweeted, “‘Think of the worse thing you can say about Hamas, multiply it by a thousand times, and it still will not meet the Israeli repression and killing and dispossession of Palestinians.’ says @GaborMate979, a Holocaust survivor.”
- On October 13, CODEPINK tweeted a quote from the Union of Teachers & Employees of Beirzeit University in the West Bank, “We do not need to speak of our right to resist, for it is not a right, but a way of being and survival for Palestinians.”
- On October 13, CODEPINK co-founder Madea Benjamin tweeted, “Given the conditions the Gazans have been subjected to, especially over the past 16 years of cruel besiegement, the unchecked rage and violence by Hamas can be understood but not excused.”
- On October 13, CODEPINK co-founder Madea Benjamin tweeted, “Hamas and its excesses are the product of a century of systematic and brutal destruction of the Palestinian people by a Zionist project determined to displace the Palestinian people, take its lands, and turn their country into an exclusively Jewish state.”
- On October 12, CODEPINK participated in a protest outside Elbit offices in Massachusetts demanding, “Elbit Systems won’t conduct business as usual in our city while profiting from the mass murder of Palestinian people!”
- On October 12, CODEPINK co-founder Madea Benjamin tweeted, “Israel helped create these fighters in Gaza by starving them of hope, dignity and a future.”
- On October 10, CODEPINK co-founder Medea Benjamin tweeted, “Over 2 million people in Gaza have been taken hostage by the Israelis for the last 16 years.”
- On October 9, CODEPINK co-founder Madea Benjamin tweeted, “So the US is not calling for a ceasefire or restraint as Israel pummels civilian residences in Gaza and prepares for an even more brutal military response. The US gives Israel a green light for more collective punishment, which is illegal and immoral.”
- On October 8, CODEPINK launched a petition calling on President Biden & Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III to “Stop Supporting Israeli Apartheid.” According to the petition, “Israel has colonized, occupied and oppressed the people of Palestine for 70 years. This has inevitably led to the resistance of Palestinians. For the last 20 years Palestinians have been committed to non-violent activism to raise up their plight, with the increasing violence of the last few years, especially this year there are those who pivoted to resistance on October 7.”
- On October 8, CODEPINK participated in a protest in Washington DC calling on “Biden to stop arming apartheid and impose sanctions on Israel!”
- On October 7, CODEPINK co-founder Madea Benjamin tweeted, “The Israeli government can’t keep two million trapped in an open air prison in Gaza and not expect resistance.”
National Lawyers Guild
- On October 7, NLG published a statement “stand[ing] in solidarity with the people of Palestine in their struggle against the Settler Colonial State of Israel.”
Open Society Foundations
- On October 11, according to news sources, Open Society Foundation President Mark Malloch-Brown sent an email to the Foundation’s network, writing, “collective punishment of civilians was a serious violation of humanitarian law…Because the current discussion is so divisive, we have not yet spoken publicly but will choose our moment to intervene to make this point when we think we might be heard.”
European NGOs
ACT Alliance
- On October 8, ACT Alliance published a statement with no mention of Hamas or Israeli victims, writing, “We wish to emphasize the protracted nature of the Gaza Strip’s enduring blockade, which has persisted since 2007, resulting in countless violations upon the basic rights of its population. In response to these distressing circumstances, we not only demand an immediate cessation of this blockade but also strongly advocate for the establishment of a fair and enduring peace that will secure the restoration of these essential rights to all people.”
ACT Alliance EU
- On October 10, ACT Alliance EU and CIDSE published a statement claiming “the indiscriminate bombing and the intentional attacks against the Palestinian civilian population and infrastructure such as hospitals and schools by the Israeli army also amount to War Crimes while persecution, or collective punishment, amounts to a Crime Against Humanity under the Rome Statute…we must not forget the root causes that are sustaining this endless cycle of violence and human tragedy. Sixteen years of blockade in Gaza… Fifty-six years of military occupation, the annexation of Palestinian land, and systemic discrimination…The illegal settlements…settler violence…The changes to the status quo around the Temple Mount/Haram Al-Sharif in East Jerusalem and violations of the right to worship… The international community and the EU and US government in particular bear a heavy responsibility for the deteriorating situation. For years, they have failed to adequately hold Israel accountable for gross violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, in accordance with their own third state obligations under International Law.”
CARE International
- On October 13, CARE published a statement claiming, “Innocent Palestinians should not bear the cost of the response to the horrible act of terror perpetrated against innocent Israelis. If such an order stays in place, the humanitarian consequences will be on a scale that we have not seen in the region in recent history…. We implore those with the power to do so to immediately de-escalate the cycle of violence and prioritize the protection of civilians’ lives in Gaza, including of humanitarian workers, as mandated by international humanitarian law.”
Christian Aid
- On October 10, Christian Aid issued a statement that “we are very concerned by reports that some official donors are halting aid for Palestinian civilians, which will only deepen their suffering… The cycle of violence will not end, and innocent people will continue to pay the price, until a new approach is taken, which treats Palestinians and Israelis as equals, and ends the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank.”
EAPPI UK and Ireland
- On October 13, EAPPI UK and Ireland launched a petition calling on MPs “to hold Israel accountable to its obligations under international law. As hostilities continue, innocent civilians will pay the highest price unless the international community acts.”
Embrace the Middle East
- On October 13, Embrace the Middle East published a statement claiming that Israel “does not have the right – on this international law is very clear – to act indiscriminately, without due regard for the safety of innocent civilians. It cannot for example erase whole neighbourhoods, starve or move an entire population from their homes.”
EuroMed Rights
- On October 20, EuroMed Rights tweeted, “#Gaza: imposing conditions on the entry of basic humanitarian aid such as food, water and medicine is a war crime. We call for an immediate ceasefire & an end to the unlawful killing of innocent civilians in Gaza, says @EuroMedRights President @walasmar to @ifmTn”
- On October 19, EuroMed Rights tweeted, “What we are seeing in #Gaza is caused by the unconditional support of the United States and the European Union for Israel without any accountability in the past for war crimes committed in occupied Palestine. What is happening today is not new to the Palestinian people. It is a systematic genocide, and it is unfortunate that it is happening in international silence.”
- On October 16, EuroMed President Wadih al-Asmar and EuroMed Executive Director Rasmus Alenius Boserup published an article claiming, “Israeli repression of the rights of the Palestinians violates several international legal standards and is likely to breed radicalisation and violence.” According to the article, the EU must “ensure that war crimes perpetrators are held accountable. It must publicly support the International Criminal Court on its investigations of war crimes in Palestine and invite member states to support a chronically underfunded and understaffed court.”
- On October 16, EuroMed Rights tweeted, “Considering the many missed opportunities to enforce accountability in #Israel & the #OPT & pursue a real peace process in the past, the ongoing violations of int’ law & collective punishement in #Gaza should be a wakeup call for the EU”
- On October 10, EuroMed Rights published a statement claiming, “It is irresponsible to discuss the ongoing escalation of violence without addressing the root causes of the conflict, which lie in the Israeli occupation and the settler colonial project.”
- On October 9, EuroMed Rights tweeted, “The situation in #Israel/#Gaza/#oPt is a terrible sign of the failure of the EU and the international community to pursue peace, enforce International Humanitarian Law & ensure self-determination for Palestinians.All must now be done to protect civilian life & infrastructure.”
- On October 10, EuroMed Rights tweeted, “#Israel’s decision to cut all power, food and water supply to #Gaza constitutes an egregious violation of international law and a form of collective punishment, risking to aggravate the ongoing humanitarian crisis.”
- On October 10, EuroMed Rights tweeted, “The recent declarations of Israel’s Defense Minister @yoavgallant when announcing the siege is another step of the dehumanization of #Gaza people & a call to commit a war crime that must be immediately repudiated by EU, international community & @IntlCrimCourt.”
- On October 9, EuroMed Rights tweeted, “Suspending EU/MS funds for PA will worsen humanitarian situation.Cuts will target civilians, impact functioning of hospitals & administration thus worsening a dire human rights & security situation. Cutting funds is a form of collective punishment against Palestinian civilians.”
Rights Forum
- On October 18, the Rights Forum published an article calling on the Dutch government to “pull the plug on military cooperation with Israel….You cannot work together with an army that indulges in violence against innocent civilians before everyone’s eyes. You also cannot purchase weapons from a company that uses the Gaza Strip as a laboratory to test them.”
- On October 17, the Rights Forum, alongside Sabeel UK, and Tent of Nations, hosted a march at the House of Representatives in The Hague titled, “No Genocide in Gaza.”
- On October 15, the Rights Forum published an article claiming, “As a target of Hamas rockets, the Israeli city of Sderot frequently makes the news. But the Palestinian village on which Sderot is built remains unnamed, even though it forms the core of Palestinian reality.” According to the article, “Israel is littered with Najds and Sderots – ethnically cleansed Palestinian communities between 1947 and 1952 that have been inhabited by Israelis ever since.”
- On October 15, the Rights Forum held an event “in solidarity with the Palestinian victims of the Israeli bombings in Gaza.”
- On October 13, the Rights Forum published a statement claiming, “The Netherlands opens the door to war crimes by Israel.” According to the statement, “Under the banner that Israel has ‘the right to defend itself’, the next disastrous chapter in the 75-year ‘conflict’ is being written. The Netherlands lets it happen.”
- On October 9, the Rights Forum published a statement claiming, “With an attack from the Gaza Strip that was as sensational as it was brutal, the Palestinian Hamas movement caused a stir worldwide this weekend. It broke the stifling Israeli blockade that has turned Gaza into what has come to be called ‘the largest open-air prison in the world’ for 16 years.”
- On October 9, the Rights Forum published a statement claiming, “The unwillingness to analyze the root causes of the ‘conflict’ and to equally respect the rights of the parties has created a situation in which the Palestinians no longer have any prospect of a future.”
War on Want
- On October 18, War on Want tweeted, “Urgent pressure from citizens of conscience is needed to stop Israel’s apartheid regime from carrying out genocide of the Palestinian people. It is essential that the UK government and opposition parties do everything in their power to prevent it.”
- On October 14, War on Want tweeted, “Israel is enacting an unfolding genocide in the Gaza Strip – supported by the UK government. We urgently need the UK govt to stop the slaughter and demand immediate ceasefire.”
- On October 13, in an interview with Sky News, War on Want Direct Asad Rehman stated, “What we are about to witness is the total destruction of civilian infrastructure and the mass ethnic cleansing [of the Palestinian people].”
- On October 13, War on Want called on individuals to contact their MP’s to tell them, “Palestinians are facing mass ethnic cleansing as Israel enacts brutal collective punishment on the occupied Gaza Strip.”
- On October 13, War on Want tweeted, “The UK should be ending its shameful arms trade with Israel in the wake of these growing atrocities, not increasing its military complicity with Israel’s lethal violations of international law.”
- On October 13, War on Want Director Asad Rehman tweeted, “Genocide academics say one of its steps is the deliberate dehumanisation & spreading of lies that normalise hatred against the ‘other’. The Palestinians have been ‘othered’ for decades by apartheid Israel & with the active support of media & western politicians. It’s racism 101.”
- On October 13, War on Want Director Asad Rehman tweeted, “I urge everyone with an ounce of compassion and humanity to email their MP’s & urge them to help stop the killings of Palestinians & the proposed ethnic cleansing that Israel has threatened & the UK is supporting.”
- On October 11, War on Want tweeted, “Israel is committing war crimes by subjecting Palestinians to humanitarian catastrophe as collective punishment. The UK must stop enabling war crimes and end all arms sales to Israel.”
- On October 11, War on Want published a statement claiming, “This continuing cycle of violence is firmly rooted in Israel’s ongoing 75-year colonisation and illegal occupation, 16-year illegal blockade of Gaza and the maintenance of an apartheid state…Israel has a horrific track record of deliberately targeting civilians, using its military might and advanced military hardware to carry out disproportionate attacks, and indiscriminate attacks which kill or injure civilians can amount to war crimes. This oppression and brutality is carried out in service of maintaining Israel’s illegal occupation and apartheid regime, themselves violations of the basic human rights of the Palestinian people. It is therefore crucial that the UK government ends its complicity in these crimes by ending all arms sales to Israel.”
- On October 10, War on Want tweeted, “This continuing cycle of violence is firmly rooted in Israel’s ongoing 75-year illegal occupation, 16-year illegal blockade of Gaza and the maintenance of an apartheid state.”
- On October 10, War on Want tweeted, “Israel has a horrific track record of deliberately targeting civilians, using its military might and advanced military hardware to carry out disproportionate attacks, and indiscriminate attacks which kill or injure civilians, which can amount to war crimes.”
- On October 10, War on Want tweeted, “This oppression & brutality is carried out in service of maintaining Israel’s illegal occupation & apartheid, themselves violations of the basic human rights of the Palestinian people. It is therefore crucial that the UK gov ends its complicity by ending all arms sales to Israel.”
United Nations
- On October 16, UN Special Rapporteur on the “situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967” Francesca Albanese wrote on Facebook, “The proportion of Israel’s response. Here is Gaza, now it’s almost like this. Things like this but to the worse extent he has done them 6 times in 15 years. Killing 6,800 civilians and 2000 children today in Gaza alone. Not to mention the brutality of the colonial occupation in West Bank, where the comparison between colonists and soldiers is daily…If you don’t recognize them as rights bearers, the problem is your selective outrage, and ethical elativism or racism…”
- On October 15, UN Special Rapporteur on the “situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967” Francesca Albanese tweeted, “Once again: I implore the UN to intervene for an immediate CEASEFIRE. There can be no more delay. Under int’l law, atrocity crimes must not only be punished but also prevented. The only possible meaning of ‘never again’ is simply this: never again, for any human being.”
- On October 14, Albanese wrote on Facebook, “Ethnic cleansing is a constant reality in the life of the Palestinian people, unpredictable in their invisibility.”
- On October 14, Albanese wrote on Facebook, “URGENT- Mass forced displacement of Palestinians has occurred in 1947/49 and 1967, and continued ever since, in less visible but not less painful forms. This time it risks to be as cruel as ever, under our watch, with some member states even risking to enable it. #CeasefireNow.”
- On October 14, Albanese claimed, “Israel has already carried out mass ethnic cleansing of Palestinians under the fog of war…Again, in the name of self-defence, Israel is seeking to justify what would amount to ethnic cleansing…Any continued military operations by Israel have gone well beyond the limits of international law. The international community must stop these egregious violations of international law now, before tragic history is repeated. Time is of the essence. Palestinians and Israelis both deserve to live in peace, equality of rights, dignity and freedom.”
- On October 13, Albanese tweeted, “Not the first time Israel uses white phosphorus on Gaza civilians. In 2009,the Goldstone report found it ‘reckless and unjustifiable in relation to any military advantage. Self-defense cannot be invoked to replace int’l law with brute force, and to justify war crimes.”
- On October 14, Albanese posted on Facebook, “Ethnic cleansing is a constant reality in the life of the Palestinian people, unpredictable in their invisibility.”
- On October 12, Albanese wrote on Facebook, “Overcoming the plight of settler-colonialism is hard, too much harm to the dispossessed colonized, by the oppression and dehumanization of the colonizer. Yet, it is a necessary process that requires a powerful decolonisation of the mind: the mind of the settler component of the society first and foremost.”
- On October 10, the UN Human Rights Council’s permanent “Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel” (COI) published a press release stressing, “The Commission is gravely concerned with Israel’s latest attack on Gaza and Israel’s announcement of a complete siege on Gaza involving the withholding of water, food, electricity and fuel which will undoubtfully cost civilian lives and constitutes collective punishment…In line with its previous findings, the Commission emphasizes that the only path towards ending violence and achieving sustainable peace is through addressing the root causes of the conflict including ending the illegal occupation of Palestinian territory and recognizing the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.”
- On October 10, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory Lynn Hastings published a statement affirming that “On 8 October, the Government of Israel declared war, launching intensive air strikes into the densely populated Gaza Strip over the past three days. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed and over two thousand are now injured. The magnitude of the ongoing hostilities has led to grave humanitarian consequences…in accordance with the complete siege ordered by the Israeli Government on Gaza, access to electricity, food, and fuel have also been severed, inevitably worsening the already dire humanitarian situation.”
- On October 9, UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell published a statement claiming that “Nothing justifies the killing, maiming or abducting of children – grave rights violations which UNICEF wholeheartedly condemns. Yet less than 72 hours after the outbreak of horrific violence in Israel, reports indicate that grave rights violations against children are rampant. Many children have been killed or injured, while countless others have been exposed to the violence.”
- On October 9, in an interview with Al-Jazeera, Albanese stated, “I’m horrified by the narrative, by the discourse, because it’s possible and necessary to stand with both the Palestinians and the Israelis without resorting to ethical relativism, to selective outrage, or worse, calls for violence. This is something that has been ongoing for over six decades now, 56 years, just in the context of the occupation…the militarized settler colonial occupation that israel maintains entraps both people…What’s happening needs to be put in context, a context of decades of oppression imposed on the Palestinians. Brutalization, structural violence…human rights organizations have said all along that…continuing to oppress a population with total impunity would lead to a catastrophe, and this is what’s happening” (emphasis added).
- On October 7, UN Special Rapporteur on the “situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967” Francesca Albanese tweeted, “Today’s violence must be put in context. Almost six decades of hostile military rule over an entire civilian population (incomprehensibly ignored by too many official statements & media outlets) are in themselves an aggression, and the recipe for more insecurity for all.”