Gaza Tribunal: Complicity in Israel's genocide 'asserted, not hidden'
Richard Falk, an American Jewish professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University who previously served as the UN's special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian Occupied Territories, is leading the public scrutiny of Israel's actions in Gaza in the form of a tribunal.
Though it has no legal force, the tribunal – which has its first public hearing taking place in Sarajevo this week – aims to document alleged war crimes, advocate for justice for Palestinians, and address shortcomings of the international legal system, its organisers said.
READ MORE: 'Unacceptable': British Palestinians call out David Lammy over UK-Israel trade visit
The Gaza Tribunal was officially launched in London last November and is set to conclude with a final hearing in Istanbul in October 2025, at which the tribunal's conclusions and decisions will be published.
Over four days, the tribunal's Sarajevo hearing is aiming to 'close the gap in the enforcement of law' with examinations of the Nakba and colonialism, apartheid, forced population displacements, the political economy of genocide, the criminalisation of protest, and a look at the media's role in Israel's occupation of Palestinian land.
The Gaza Tribunal is looking to follow on from Nobel prize winner Bertrand Russell's 1966 people's tribunal, which ultimately concluded that the US had perpetrated genocidal acts in Vietnam.
Richard Falk speaking remotely to the Gaza Tribunal (Image: Gaza Tribunal) Falk, who is leading the tribunal, said: 'Liberal democracies demonized China over Uyghurs but remain complicit in Israel's genocidal assault on Gaza. One standard for adversaries, another for allies – this undermines law and morality.
'Governments enable Gaza genocide through weapons, financial support, diplomatic cover, disseminating Israeli propaganda. This complicity is asserted rather than hidden."
Falk's words echo those of Justice Robert Jackson, the chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials, who said: 'If certain acts and violations of treaties are crimes, they are crimes whether the United States does them or whether Germany does them.'
Jackson's words were cited by Russell in the establishment of the 1966 tribunal on the US and Vietnam.
At the Gaza Tribunal, the Byline Times reported on evidence given by Dr Thaer Ahmad, a Palestinian-American doctor who worked in Nasser in Gaza City in 2024.
READ MORE: Tommy Sheppard: End the pretence that Israel is a normal country
'It appeared that the city, block by block, was being levelled from east to west and we would watch from the hospital as giant balls of smoke would fill the sky and then 10 or 15 minutes later, we would get an influx of the mass casualty event,' Dr Ahmad said.
He added: 'This was happening multiple times a day … There is no hospital in the United States, no hospital in Chicago, that would have been able to function had they seen the same volume that was being seen at Nasser hospital.'
Craig Mokhiber, the former director of the New York office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights who stepped down in October 2023 accusing the UN of failing to act on a 'textbook genocide', also spoke at the tribunal.
"What can we say of an international system that speaks of human rights but allows a live-stream genocide to rage day after day, year after year?' he said. 'A system that refuses to even name the crime out loud: genocide.
'The word genocide is only permitted in reference to history – not for genocides happening today, certainly not for Palestine. UN offices have non-critically endorsed Israeli propaganda under Western pressure.'
READ MORE: Jeremy Corbyn secures date to table Gaza inquiry bill in Commons
The Worldwide Lawyers Association (Wolas), a Turkish-based rights group, said: "This tribunal is not merely a response to enforcement vacuum left by states and international institutions. It is a peoples' legal, ethical and political initiative exposing the deeper structures behind the failure: an international system where power dynamics consistently override law, and where geopolitics shields atrocity.
"Over four days in Sarajevo, lawyers, scholars, survivors, and organisers come together to present evidence, offer expert testimony, and challenge both the violence in Gaza and the global order that sustains it."
In the UK, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has spear-headed calls for a public inquiry to examine the Government's role in Gaza.
You can find more details of the Gaza Tribunal on Richard Falk's website.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
13 minutes ago
- The Sun
Family of murdered Lyons kingpin Ross Monaghan say notorious rivals DIDN'T order executions
THE grief-stricken family of murdered Lyons gang kingpin Ross Monaghan last night sensationally said their Daniel clan enemies are not to blame. We can reveal the bitter Glasgow rivals have put their own conflict on hold amid suspicions a foreign crew ordered the Costa del Sol pub hit on hoods Monaghan, 43, and Eddie Lyons Jnr, 46. 3 3 3 The relative said: 'The one thing people need to know is the Daniels are not behind this. "There are other theories about who is behind it, but the one thing we know for sure is it's got nothing to do with the Daniels or Mark Richardson.' The relative also insisted that despite leading lives of crime, both victims were much-loved family men. Tragically, Eddie Lyons Jnr's death came just weeks after his teenage daughter passed away from illness. The relative added: 'Ross obviously did what he did and the family accept that, but people have been saying some very horrible things. 'They have to remember Ross was a father and a son. Eddie had only just buried his daughter and so you can imagine this has hit everyone extremely hard — none more so than his brother Steven Lyons who is extremely upset.' The Lyons and Daniels have been at war for decades, with both sides involved in sickening violence. We told yesterday how the under-siege Daniels are said to have set aside £500,000 to deal with potential revenge attacks amid fears they would be wrongly blamed for the killings. A source said: 'Neither side can take the moral high ground but for once there is genuine shock at what's happened in Spain on both sides. 'The last thing the Lyons and the Daniels need is more bloodshed, so it's easy to see why they want to make it clear that these murders are the work of another crime gang operating outside Scotland.' Spanish cops are continuing to hunt the gunman who struck in Fuengirola on Saturday. Police Scotland has also ruled out claims the assassinations were plotted by warring mobsters here.
The Independent
21 minutes ago
- The Independent
Free school meals for half a million of England's poorest children
An extra half a million children will benefit from a free meal every school day after the government announced a major expansion of the policy, which they said would lift 100,000 pupils out of poverty and put an extra £500 in parents' pockets. From the start of the 2026 school year, every child whose household is on universal credit will be entitled to free school meals, the government announced on Thursday. Since 2018, children have only been eligible for free school meals if their household income is less than £7,400 per year, meaning hundreds of thousands of children living in poverty have been unable to access them. As of January last year, nearly 2.1 million children in England were eligible for free school meals. The Department for Education claimed that the expansion will lift 100,000 children across England out of poverty. It comes two years after The Independent 's Feed the Future campaign, in which we called for free school meals to be extended to all schoolchildren in England – both primary and secondary – who lived in households on universal credit but missed out on free school meals. The latest move will be seen as a major concession to Labour MPs who are concerned about the direction of the government, with rebellion brewing over the party's upcoming welfare cuts and calls for Sir Keir Starmer to scrap the two-child benefit cap. The chancellor Rachel Reeves also announced on Wednesday that more people will get fuel payments 'this winter' as she pledged to raise the level of the means test. Announcing the expansion of free school meals, education secretary Bridget Phillipson said 'background shouldn't mean destiny', adding: 'Today's historic step will help us to deliver excellence everywhere, for every child and give more young people the chance to get on in life.' She continued: 'It is the moral mission of this government to tackle the stain of child poverty, and today this government takes a giant step towards ending it with targeted support that puts money back in parents' pockets.' The move was welcomed by campaigners and unions, with the Child Poverty Action Group saying it will be a 'game-changer for children and families'. Kate Anstey, head of education policy the campaign group, said: 'At last more kids will get the food they need to learn and thrive and millions of parents struggling to make ends meet will get a bit of breathing space. 'We hope this is a sign of what's to come in autumn's child poverty strategy, with the government taking more action to meet its manifesto commitment to reduce child poverty in the UK." Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said the expansion of free school meals eligibility was a 'necessary and overdue first step' that would help address child hunger in schools. He said the current threshold, which had been unchanged since 2018, meant 'hundreds of thousands of children in poverty were missing out on the nutrition they need to thrive'. Mr Kebede added: 'As teachers, our members know the positive impact of children eating and learning together – how it breaks down stigma and inequality, and ensures greater community cohesion. Ensuring that a free school meal is available to all children is the next urgent step that must be taken.' Meanwhile, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, welcomed the move to expand free school meals to all families on universal credit, saying 'no child should ever have to go hungry due to their parents' financial circumstances'. But he also called for auto-enrolment and wider support to tackle the broader impact of poverty on children's education. Children's commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza echoed his call, urging the government to make sure every eligible child is 'automatically enrolled for free school meals, rather than putting the onus on parents to sign up'. 'When children talk to me about their family lives, I am struck by how acutely aware they are of their parents' worries and of the impact these have on their daily lives - and their education', she said. 'That's why we need solutions that reflect children's experiences, reduce the shame too many have told me they feel about their circumstances, and break the link between their backgrounds and their opportunities, by giving them communities that are safe, supportive and aspirational.' Last week, The Independent revealed that demand for help from baby banks from parents struggling to feed their children has surged by more than one-third in a year, amid record -high levels of child poverty. New data showed that more than 3.5 million essential items were handed out in 2024, including nappies, clothes and cots – an increase of 143 per cent on the previous year. The announcement came just hours after Sir Keir sidestepped questions over the two-child benefit cap, amid growing calls for him to lift the limit. Critics of the policy say removing it would be the most effective way of tackling child poverty amid warnings that as many as 100 children are pulled into poverty every day by the limit. However, it is thought the cap will not be lifted until the government publishes its child poverty strategy, which has now been delayed until the autumn. Grilled on the policy at Prime Minister's Questions, Sir Keir said he is 'absolutely determined' to 'drive down' child poverty but declined to give further details ahead of the publication of the government's strategy.
North Wales Chronicle
22 minutes ago
- North Wales Chronicle
US vetoes UN Security Council resolution demanding immediate Gaza ceasefire
The resolution before the UN's most powerful body also did not condemn Hamas's deadly attack in Israel on October 7 2023, which ignited the war, or say the militant group must disarm and withdraw from Gaza — two other US demands. The 14 other members of the 15-nation council voted in favour of the resolution, which described the humanitarian situation in Gaza as 'catastrophic' and called on Israel to lift all restrictions on the delivery of aid to the 2.1 million Palestinians in the territory. The US vetoed the last resolution on Gaza in November, under the Biden administration, again because the ceasefire demand was not directly linked to the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. Similarly, the current resolution demands those taken by Hamas and other groups be released, but it does not make it a condition for a truce. President Donald Trump's administration has tried to ramp up its efforts to broker peace in Gaza after 20 months of war. However, Hamas has sought amendments to a US proposal that special envoy Steve Witkoff has called 'totally unacceptable'.
