If states can be shamed into action, Israel will be forced to change

The finding of genocide is based on two prior conclusions, supported by evidence gathered by the organisation:

• Mass crimes by Israel are being “perpetrated systematically, as part of a coordinated attack aimed at annihilating all facets of life in the Gaza Strip”;
• The intent of Israel's political and military leadership is to “irreversibly destroy Palestinian life”.

The international community, B'Tselem argues, has not only failed to halt this genocide, but enabled it “through statements affirming Israel's right to self-defense" or active support — including the shipment of weapons and ammunition” to Israel.

The foundations for the genocide, the report states, have been laid through Israel's settler-colonial project, notably three of its fundamental elements: Apartheid, imposing separation, and ethnic cleansing; systematic and institutionalised violence against Palestinians, perpetrated with impunity; and the institutionalised dehumanisation of Palestinians, including through the framing of them as an existential threat. 

B'Tselem points to the Hamas attacks on  October 7, 2023 — which it finds “included many war crimes and likely also crimes against humanity” — as “the catalyst for the ruling system to carry out genocide".

The B'Tselem report is based on 20 months of research and documentation of human rights violations committed by Israel against Palestinians.

It was released on the same day as an equally damning and clear report by a second Israeli organisation, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, which has concluded the following: “The destruction of life-sustaining systems, the cumulative patterns of destruction, the bodily and mental trauma inflicted, and the direct killing of civilians, when understood in light of the implemented policy and the public rhetoric, make clear that Israel's campaign in Gaza constitutes genocide under international law.”

In publishing their reports, the Israeli organisations join a host of other internationally recognised human rights organisations — first and foremost Palestinian — in describing the slaughter being perpetrated by Israel in Gaza as genocide.

On October 13, 2023, in light of the Israeli onslaught and statements by high-ranking Israeli politicians that followed the Hamas attacks of October 7 that year, Al-Haq, Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights issued a statement calling on the international community to urgently intervene to protect the Palestinian people from a genocide by Israel.

The Palestinian organisations warned that other states not only had an obligation under international law to intervene to prevent the potential genocide, but that they may be held responsible if they failed to take all measures within their power to do so.

Since then, all three Palestinian organisations have continued to document the mass crimes being perpetrated by Israel. They have denounced its actions as amounting to genocide, and have called on all states do all within their power to bring it to an end.

Their work, and that of other Palestinian human rights defenders, has reverberated around the world

It has been reinforced by international human rights organisations and UN mechanisms. 

However, it has been cruelly, callously ignored and disregarded by many states which continue to defend Israel's actions, provide weapons and other equipment for its army, and allow the crimes to continue.

The result: A famine engineered by Israel with international support; more than 60,000 Palestinians killed by Israel with international support, including more than 1,000 Palestinians killed trying to access humanitarian aid; cities completely destroyed, and millions displaced with international support; hospitals, schools, mosques, and churches bombed one by one by Israel with international support; more than 100,000  Palestinians injured by Israel with international support; and companies profiting from these crimes with international support. 

The atrocities go on. All the while Israeli cabinet ministers proclaim that Gaza will be entirely destroyed and cleared of all Palestinians in what B'Tselem calls “the exact definition of genocide”.

And what is the response by States? 

Crumbs dropped from the sky by former colonial powers and Middle Eastern states; an internal conclusion by the EU that there are “indications” Israel is in breach of its human rights obligations, but no concrete measures to pressure it to abide by them; and the British government arguing in court that there is no evidence of genocide in Gaza.

Where is the action?

It is with the people in the streets, communities, associations, and organisations all around the world who are organising and protesting to demand an end to Israel's crimes, apartheid, and occupation — doing so despite being beaten by police, designated as terrorists, and smeared as antisemites.

Action is with the Palestinian people among them and in Gaza and the West Bank, supporting one another despite the bombardments, massacres, displacement, and starvation.

It is with Palestinian human rights defenders and their allies in Israel, such as B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, documenting these crimes and demanding justice.

Recent days have shown what an increase in international pressure can do as aid trucks were finally permitted into Gaza by Israel, albeit on an extremely limited basis and while the killing continues. 

This is far too little, far too late for far too many, but it does demonstrate that if states can be shamed into action, Israel’s behaviour will be forced to change

International belief in a system of universal human rights has been eviscerated by the atrocities permitted to happen since October 7. In order to rescue the remnants of this system and resuscitate that which remains, the atrocities must stop, Israel must be held accountable, and the Palestinians must be guaranteed their full rights — including their right to self-determination.

• Mary Lawlor is the UN special rapporteur on human rights defenders