The newly-formed International Coalition to Stop Genocide in Palestine (ICSGP) issued a sign-on letter on January 3, 2024, that garnered over 800 organizational endorsements from around the world in less than one week.
WMW signed the letter in support of the genocide case against the state of Israel and also invited the organizations to sign this open letter calling for nations to submit Declarations of Intervention to the International Court of Justice in support of South Africa’s excellent case invoking the Genocide Convention against Israel. You can read and sign the letter in the below.
This is a critical week to educate and mobilize in support of South Africa’s case against the state of Israel. The International Court of Justice, also called the World Court, will hear testimony in the case on Thursday and Friday, 11 and 12 of January 2024 from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm (Netherlands time, GMT+1). International Coalition to Stop Genocide in Palestine calls for everyone to participate social media campaign with the hashtag #EndIsraelsGenocide which will last for 2 hours and will start simultaneously with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) hearings ;
Thursday, January 11th, from 10 am to 12 pm South Africa and Palestine time
Friday, January 12th, from 10 am to 12 pm South Africa and Palestine time
SIGN-ON LETTER TEXT:
We, the undersigned organizations, commend South Africa on its Application to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) invoking the Genocide Convention against Israel.
We now urge other countries to reinforce this strongly worded and well-argued complaint by immediately filing a Declaration of Intervention with the ICJ, also called the World Court.
Many countries have rightly expressed their horror at the State of Israel’s genocidal actions, war crimes and crimes against humanity being committed against Palestinians. Israeli Occupying Forces have bombed hospitals, residences, United Nations refugee centers, schools, places of worship and escape routes, killing and injuring tens of thousands of Palestinians since October 7, 2023. More than half of the dead are women and children. Israeli leaders have made brazenly genocidal statements openly declaring their intention to permanently and completely displace Palestinians from their own land.
South Africa is correct in charging that under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Israel’s actions “are genocidal in character, as they are committed with the requisite specific intent … to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as a part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnic group.”
Parties to the Genocide Convention are obliged to act to prevent genocide; therefore, action must be immediate. A Declaration of Intervention filed with the ICJ in support of the South African case against Israel is one way to ensure that all acts of genocide are stopped and those responsible are held accountable.
Israel’s killing, injuring, traumatizing, and displacing large numbers of Palestinians and denying water, food, medicine, and fuel to an occupied population meet the criteria for the crime of genocide. If a majority of the world’s nations call for a ceasefire, yet fail to press for prosecution of Israel – what is to stop Israel from ethnically cleansing all Palestinians?
For that matter, what is to stop other nations from repeating a horror of this magnitude?
We urge national governments to immediately file a Declaration of Intervention in support of the South African case against Israel at the International Court of Justice to stop the killing in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Resources: Here is an example of a Declaration of Intervention by the Maldives in the Myanmar case. There are many other examples.
You can signed the declaration as an organization here;
To sign in English: https://bit.ly/Genocide_Convention_Letter