The following post is shared from Pax Christi International:
As the French government convenes an international conference today on Lebanon, the international community needs to act now for accountability and prevention of further atrocities.
A coalition of more than 150 NGOs, including Pax Christi International, PAX (Nethelands), Pax Christi Australia, pax christi Germany, Pax Christi England and Wales, Pax Christi Flanders, Pax Christi Scotland and Pax Christi USA, joined together to urge the international community to end the impunity that has allowed atrocities by the Israeli Defence Forces against civilians to continue and escalate amid the growing catastrophe in Gaza, the West Bank and now Lebanon.
Click here to read the statement in English.
“Without accountability, there will be no red lines and no rock bottom,” says the coalition. “The UN Commission of Inquiry concluded last week that Israel has committed war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination with relentless and deliberate attacks on medical personnel and facilities in Gaza, and called on member states to ‘cease aiding or assisting in the commission of violations.’
“Over the last 12 months, the UN Security Council has passed four resolutions on Gaza, including one calling for a ceasefire, and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ordered Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts within the scope of Article II of the Genocide Convention. The ICJ also issued an Advisory Opinion that found that Israel’s occupation1 and annexation of Palestinian territory is illegal, and the UN General Assembly passed a resolution demanding that Israel end its unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) within 12 months. Despite this, none of these measures have been implemented or adhered to.”
The statement concludes: “Failure to act now risks further eroding international norms and emboldening perpetrators. The cycle of violence against civilians needs to stop.”
The statement was released as the government of France is hosting an international conference today in Paris on Lebanon, bringing together partner states, the United Nations, the European Union and international, regional and local civil society organisations with the aim to address the crisis in Lebanon.
Read the statement in English.
Lire la declaration en Français.
For more information on the coalition and to sign the statement, contact peter.duffy@crisisaction.org.
IF YOU ARE IN WASHINGTON DC ON FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25: Join the faith community for a vigil outside the Old Executive Office Building, 17th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, 12-1 PM.
We will be calling for:
- Immediate ceasefire and an end to the Israeli siege and bombing in Gaza and Lebanon
- Israel and U.S. not to attack Iran
- U.S. arms embargo for Israel
- An end to settler violence and Israeli attacks in the West Bank and confiscation of Palestinian homes and land
- Release of all hostages and prisoners
- Unimpeded delivery of urgent humanitarian aid to Gaza and restoration of U.S. aid to UNRWA
- An end to apartheid and occupation and self-determination for Palestinian people!
- Just peace for Palestine and Israel
Whoever drafted the above Pax Christi statement deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. It covers every aspect of the Israeli murder spree in Palestine and Lebanon with death machines made in USA and suggests common-sense solutions to end it. But wait, there is a counterforce at work here that, as painful as it may be to say, must be pointed out: for the United States MIGHT MAKES RIGHT and if our Uniparty politicians, with a few notable exceptions, say it is all well and good to send murder weapons to Israel, then so be it. The myth of the United States as the superior moral force in the world has almost evaporated; people in the global south and people everywhere who can still discern evil now know the embarrassing and shocking truth: the U.S. is rogue state that chooses the laws it wants to honor. And lest we forget, this is an election moment and for the two major candidates the blood-soaked blessings of the armaments manufacturers and the Israeli American lobby weighs more on their perverse minds than the severed limbs, splattered brain tissue, and raped minds of the children whose countries they have helped to turn into death camps.
David-Ross Gerling, PhD