Today, 5 Dec 2024, Amnesty International, a respected, international non-governmental organisation, has published an extensive report which concludes that Israel has committed, and is continuing to commit, a genocide in Gaza.
The report uses the framework of the Genocide Convention to examine prohibited acts contained within it and the specific intent required to prove genocide. Amnesty focused on three prohibited acts: ‘killing members of the group’; ‘causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group’; and ‘deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part’. My deep thanks to Lara Bird-Leakey, of the Balfour Project Executive Committee, herself a parliamentary researcher and legal expert, for her legal analysis.
The Balfour Project invites you to make your own assessment and calls on the UK Government to respond as set out below.
The full extent of death and destruction in Gaza will not come to light until rescue teams are able to count the dead and retrieve missing bodies, and the international media are at last allowed in by Israel. According to the United Nations, destruction to civilian life has so far resulted in more than 45,000 Palestinians killed, including over 14,000 children, with more than 105,000 people injured. Amnesty also considered the impact on infrastructure and the infliction of conditions calculated to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinian life in Gaza.
Intentional damage to hospitals, food production systems, residential homes, water and sanitation systems, and roads and energy infrastructure contributed to the mass forced displacement of the population and intolerable living conditions – with no early end in sight. More than 1.9m Palestinians – 90 per cent of the population – have been displaced.
Amnesty’s conclusion is that prohibited acts under the Genocide Convention have been carried out by Israel, intentionally, against Palestinians in Gaza.
This conclusion is endorsed by Prof. Amos Goldberg, a distinguished Israeli Professor of Holocaust Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. His statement draws on his expertise. It concludes, “Like in every other case of genocide in history, right now we have mass denial. Both here in Israel and around the world. But reality cannot be denied. And once you come to this conclusion you cannot remain silent.”
In response to Amnesty International, an IDF spokesman has rejected the claims as “entirely baseless” and failing to account for the operational realities it faces in Gaza. Amnesty’s Israel branch has, meanwhile, disassociated itself from the report, stating it was doubtful that the crucial element of intent had been proven.
Specific intent to destroy the group, in whole or in part, is what distinguishes genocide from other atrocity crimes in international law. Amnesty assessed direct, circumstantial and contextual evidence in the historical context of the 57-year illegal occupation and concluded that Israel has conducted prohibited acts with the specific intent of destroying Palestinians, as a whole, in Gaza.
Amnesty studied the period between October 2023 and July this year, interviewing 212 people, including Palestinian victims, survivors and witnesses of air strikes, displacement, detention, the destruction of homes and agricultural land and Israeli-imposed restrictions on humanitarian aid. Amnesty also talked with the UN agencies and NGOs delivering humanitarian aid in Gaza and local authorities there. It reviewed statements by Israeli Government Ministers and their representatives, including those of the IDF as well as submissions to the Israeli Supreme Court and to the International Court of Justice. The Israel Government ignored Amnesty’s requests for comment.
What the UK Government needs to do:
The UK Government has yet to fulfil its legal obligations under Article I of the Genocide Convention to act to prevent and punish genocide. The Government is obliged to make and publish regular assessments as to whether Israel is committing a genocide. It has not done so since taking office last July.
In January 2024, the International Court of Justice published its Advisory Opinion in response to South Africa’s request regarding Israel’s compliance with the Genocide Convention. The Court found enough evidence to confirm the plausibility that Israel is committing acts of genocide. In doing so, the Court ordered that all states, including the UK, have an obligation to act to prevent and/or stop genocide in Gaza.
The UK Government confirmed on 18 Nov at the High Court that it has been aware since December 2023 that Israel is breaching international humanitarian law in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Amnesty international’s charges are grave. The UK Government now needs to respond substantively to this report. In addition, it must publish its own assessment regarding genocide in Gaza. It should support the Government of Switzerland in its efforts to convene a meeting of states parties to the Geneva Conventions, and work to give those Conventions teeth. The UK needs to act – words are not enough. Our Government should now suspend all arms transfers to Israel and recognise the State of Palestine alongside Israel, upholding in deed the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.
Andrew Whitley
Chair, Balfour Project