Following the call for an arms embargo on Israel, passed by the United Nations’ top human rights body Friday, international observers have noted that Israel is losing diplomatic support worldwide, as atrocities continue in Gaza.
Leaders in the UK, Australia, Spain and Ireland have all denounced Israel’s killing of foreign food aid workers in Gaza last week. The US President called for a ceasefire in Gaza (though did not shift US policy toward Israel, and continued sending weapons), while the UK government is facing domestic accusations of complicity in genocide, due to its support for Israel.
Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez called the Israeli government’s explanation of the food aid worker killings on 1 April 2024 “totally unacceptable and insufficient.” Ireland’s Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said Israel’s conduct of the Gaza war was “approaching revenge”.
Spain could recognise a Palestinian state in the Israeli occupied West Bank and Gaza by July, prime minister Sanchez said last week. Ireland, Malta and Sovenia are also working towards recognising a Palestinian state. The EU and Arab states had agreed at a meeting in Spain in November that a two state solution was the answer to the conflict, according to Reuters.
US President Biden demanded an “immediate ceasefire” in a call with Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu on 4 April. President Biden “made clear the need for Israel to announce and implement a series of specific, concrete, and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering and the safety of aid workers,” according to a White House statement.
In a recent report on arms imports and exports worldwide, the the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) reported that the USA accounted for 69 per cent and Germany for 30 percent of Israeli arms imports. Between the US and Germany, the two countries account for 99% of Israel’s arms imports.
US Senator Chris Van Hollen from Maryland told the Washington Post that it’s time to end the blank check for Israel, adding “The goal is not to stop all arms transfers. The goal is to use the leverage of arms transfers to enforce our legitimate demands”.
In the UK, over 800 lawyers and academics wrote an open letter to the government on 3 April 2024 stating that to continue “the sale of weapons and weapons systems to Israel and to maintain threats of suspending UK aid to UNWRA falls significantly short of your government’s obligations under international law.” British prime minister Rishi Sunak has yet to publish his government’s legal advice on whether continuing to sell arms to Israel could mean complicity in genocide.
The Genocide Convention has been ratified by 153 states including Israel, the US, UK, Spain, Ireland, Malta and Slovenia. The International Court of Justice ruled in January that Israel is plausibly committing genocide in Gaza. And on Monday, the United Nations’ top court will hold preliminary hearings in a case that seeks an end to German military and financial aid to Israel on the basis that Germany is facilitating genocide in Gaza by continuing to supply Israel with weapons.
The Israel government denies that its actions in Gaza constitute a breach of the Genocide Convention. But the case brought by South Africa in January showed clear and consistent evidence of genocide in the words and actions of the Israeli government.
The case brought by Nicaragua focuses on Germany, the second largest supplier of weapons to Israel (second only to the US), it does bring back focus to the ongoing Israeli bombardment of Gaza, invasion and destruction of infrastructure, including every university, hundreds of schools, and nearly every hospital and medical facility. Over 33,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, including over 14,000 children. Over 78,000 have been injured – many with permanent and severe injuries due to the ongoing Israeli assault.
