It has been nearly two years since the ICJ issued a ruling that Israel was committing a “plausible genocide”. Moreover, it has been almost one year since the ICC issued arrest warrants for the Israeli war criminals, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant. Since then, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been murdered, and the war crimes have only escalated.
The film Nuremberg, released this week, reminds us of the history of accountability as it relates to the Holocaust. We learn how hard it was to bring those who had committed heinous crimes to trial, but with effort, they did. You can find resources for the film, Nuremberg, here.
The ICC has had clear evidence for too long, and it is past time for them to act on it. Despite there being a ceasefire, hundreds of Palestinians are still being killed. Sign this petition to demand the International Criminal Court stay true to its purpose of justice.
We, the undersigned individuals against occupation, call upon the ICC to uphold the legacy of the Nuremberg Trials by exercising its mandate to bring Israeli and U.S. war criminals to justice. The ICC was built on foundations cultivated by the Trials, where world leaders vowed never to allow such atrocities as the Holocaust to happen again.
Now, nearly 80 years later, with international accountability systems such as the ICC in place, Israel was still able to carry out a systematic genocide of Palestinians in Gaza for over two years – two years in a 76-year timeline of occupation, apartheid, and documented war crimes. Although the ICC has issued warrants of arrest for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, it is only a fraction of the full accountability Israel must face, along with its bankroller, the United States of America.
We must hold accountable all those responsible for the following:
- The 600,000 people killed in Gaza
- The displacement of 1.5 million residents
- The deliberate manufacturing of famine and mass starvation
- Widespread sexual violence and abuse
- The reduction of 95% of Gaza to rubble
- The torture and unlawful detention of thousands of Palestinians
- The targeting of journalists, healthcare workers, and humanitarian staff
- The destruction of mosques, churches, and sites of cultural and historical significance
- The collective punishment of an entire people
- The desecration and destruction of cemeteries
- And countless other atrocities and war crimes
All these actions constitute severe violations of Articles 6, 7, and 8 of the Rome Statute: Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity, and War Crimes, and meet the criteria for full prosecution. The credibility of the ICC depends on its ability to uphold the same principles that drove Nuremberg forward: individual accountability, denial of immunity, and the rejection of the excuse of “just following orders.”
CODEPINK therefore calls on the Office of the Prosecutor to:
- Expand the scope of the ongoing investigation into the Situation in Palestine.
- Issue additional arrest warrants for all individuals and entities complicit in these crimes.
- Pursue prosecution of state and non-state actors, including foreign enablers and corporate profiteers.
- Publicly affirm the ICC’s commitment to equitable justice and the rule of law for everyone.
The world said “never again” after Nuremberg. To uphold that promise, the ICC took a huge step in issuing arrest warrants for Israeli criminals, but it must hold them accountable in full totality for the world stage to follow. Stand for power and truth, and try the war criminals of the world so a genocide of this scale can, truly, never happen again.