Amid States’ Negligence, Activists Working to Ensure Accountability for Israel’s Actions in Occupied Palestinian Territory, Civil Society Consultations Hear

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16 May 2025

AM & PM Meetings

Speakers Call for Arms Embargo against Israel, Suspending its Membership in General Assembly, Re-establishing UN Special Committee against Apartheid

“We are doing this work because States are not,” civil society activists told the United Nations today at a special consultation on their initiatives to ensure accountability for Israel’s actions in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Hosted by the United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, the meeting brought together experts from various civil society organizations as part of a two-day event commemorating the Nakba of 1948.

Speaking during the first plenary meeting of the day, on the topic of “Best Practices to Bring Accountability and End the War: Recent Civil Society Legal Actions and Arms Embargo”, Jake Romm of Hind Rajab Foundation, outlined a strategy for ensuring accountability for rank-and-file soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces. His organization was established in 2024 in honour of Hind Rajab and all victims in the Gaza genocide. The car in which Hind was murdered was riddled with at least 335 bullet holes. Despite the overwhelming evidence of criminal actions by the Israel Defense Forces, “not one soldier and not one official has yet been held to account,” he said.

The Foundation files requests for prosecution in national courts against “traveling soldiers” — a reference to Israeli soldiers traveling abroad. In States that have incorporated the principle of universal jurisdiction into their criminal codes, jurisdiction can be established by the mere physical presence of a perpetrator on their territory. It also files requests for prosecution in soldiers’ own countries — based on the principle of national jurisdiction. “There is no statute of limitations for these crimes and States’ responsibility to act never expires,” he said. Finally, the Foundation shares information with international legal bodies like the International Criminal Court. Noting that States need to step up accountability efforts, he invited Member States, saying: “Let us work together to help you fulfill your international legal obligations.”

Many Governments, Corporations and Institutions Complicit in Genocide
“You cannot say you did not know,” Saleh Hijazi, Policy Coordinator of the Palestinian Boycott Divest Sanctions National Committee, said, noting that Israel’s genocide of Palestinians is “livestreamed by both its perpetrators and its victims”, as well as comprehensively documented in UN reports. Highlighting the “complicity of States, corporations and institutions”, he said Israel depends almost entirely on military and intelligence support from the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom, among others. States — including from the Global South — are also complicit by allowing the transit of weapons to Israel. Further, trade with Israel enables and finances the commission of genocide, apartheid and ethnic cleansing, he added.

States are also complicit by allowing corporations domiciled in their jurisdiction to contribute to Israel’s crimes, he added, noting the complicity of Google, Amazon, Microsoft and IBM, among others. Some of these technology companies also “help to collect and store massive amounts of Palestinian civilian data in Israel’s population registry computing system, which is instrumental to Israel’s apartheid”. In contrast, millions of ordinary people are mobilizing. The Boycott Divest Sanctions movement — which is akin to the South African anti-apartheid movement — has grown exponentially. States must build on this momentum and impose a comprehensive military embargo on Israel, suspend that country from the General Assembly and re-establish the UN Special Committee against Apartheid, he said.

UN Security Council’s Inaction Is ‘Blank Check’ for Israel and Its Allies
The UN was deeply complicit in the 1948 Nakba, Shir Hever, Coordinator of the BNC Arms Embargo Campaign, pointed out, adding: “We all know that waiting for the UN Security Council to decree military embargo equals a blank check for Israel and its allies.” The genocide is being perpetrated mostly with United States-made weapons, as well as dual-use material and military intelligence from Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, France, Netherlands, Greece, Cyprus, Serbia, India, Japan, even Viet Nam, among others. Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Morocco are among those knowingly facilitating the transport of military material.

The corporations involved include Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Boeing, Rheinmetall, FUNAC, Chevron, Maersk and ZIM. The Arms Trade Treaty prohibits arms transfers when there is a risk of war crimes or genocide, yet military exports continue, he warned. The steps taken so far to halt arms transfers, though meaningful, are insufficient. It is not too late to impose on apartheid Israel a comprehensive military embargo, as was done against apartheid South Africa.

Diala Shamas, an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, said her organization brought one of the few legal challenges inside the United States against the genocide. She highlighted a lawsuit filed on behalf of Palestinian human rights organizations and individual Palestinian plaintiffs who were in or from Gaza. Recalling the devastating testimonies of her plaintiffs, she said, again and again, they returned to 1948. The Nakba is why their families ended up in Gaza even though they were originally from Yaffa or elsewhere. “The Nakba is not a distant origin point, it is the live wound that explains this moment,” she said.

Global South States Should Break Ranks with Western Complicity
“We represent Mahmoud Khalil, the United States Green Card holder of Palestinian origin”, who the United States has detained for protesting Israel’s genocide on his campus, she said. Highlighting the aggressive repression against students and universities, she said the United States Government has also made it clear that “it would take a sledgehammer to international institutions” in service of this genocide. Stressing the need for an arms embargo, she said States must support efforts for accountability in international and mechanisms. “We need States, especially Global South States, Arab States and those who bear the legacy of anti-colonial struggles, to break ranks with United States and Western complicity,” she said.

The second plenary held today focused on “Implementing General Assembly Resolution E-10/24: Ending the Illegal Occupation”. That resolution welcomed the July 2024 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice and demanded that Israel bring to an end without delay its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Occupation Must End ‘with Deliberate Speed’ in Line with UN Resolutions
Michael Lynk, former UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, criticized the role of international politics — particularly that of the United States — in preventing the enforcement of hundreds of UN Security Council and General Assembly resolutions. Recalling that the International Criminal Court called on Israel to withdraw from occupied territories and immediately halt all settlement activities, he said the Assembly’s subsequent resolution — A/ES-10/L.31/Rev.1 adopted on 18 September 2024 — reiterated the demand and asked that Israel provide reparations for damages caused in the occupied territories a year from the date of adoption. “The occupation must end and with deliberate speed, and consequences must flow from the occupation not ending after 18 September 2025,” he added.

Calls for Europe to End Military Ties with Israel
“The [European Union] holds significant leverage over the Israeli Government,” said Magnus Walan, Head of Office of Diakonia Sweden, which produces analysis of the destruction in Gaza and of restricted civic space in Israel. The Union has produced hundreds of statements criticizing Israel, “but there has been very little action”, he pointed out, in stark contrast with how it has responded to Russian Federation President Vladimir V. Putin’s aggression against Ukraine. In particular, he called on Sweden to reconsider its aid strategy. “Sweden is the only country in the EU that has continued to defund and stop the funding for UNRWA [United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East],” he went on to say, adding: “This is quite shameful.” Sweden also imports and exports military equipment from Israel and has not called for a trade ban on products from illegal settlements. “Europe can no longer allow one or two dissident countries [to] hold foreign policy hostage,” he stressed.

Alys Samson Estape, Spokesperson of RESCOP [Red Solidaria Contra la Ocupación Palestina], recalled how, in March, the Spanish Prime Minister described the massacre of 400 Palestinians killed in a single day as sad, atrocious, unacceptable. “What is also sad, atrocious and unacceptable is that Spain still maintains military ties with Israel,” she said. It has exported military parts to Israel and imported bombs and grenades worth millions of euros. Her organization has brought together over 600 Spanish organizations to make complicity impossible to deny. “We have built this pressure through sustained strategic action, coordinating monthly mobilizations in dozens of cities and engaging with workers who have refused to handle weapon shipments bound for Israel,” she added. But it is not enough, she said, calling for a comprehensive military embargo — “no exports, no imports, no transit, no cooperation, no contracts”.

Led by Grass-Roots Activism, Global Efforts That Ended Apartheid in South African Can Do Same for Israel’s Occupation
Roshan Dadoo, Coordinator of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement in South Africa asked: “Are you really going to allow a rogue State that shreds the UN Charter in the chamber — that criminalizes UNRWA, bombs its schools and infrastructure and murders its personnel — to remain with full rights in the very United Nations that Israel seeks to destroy, along with the international legal system it upholds?” Detailing actions seen before in the context of Apartheid South Africa, she urged States to keep passing strong resolutions with overwhelming majorities “that activists can use to pressure our Governments”. She added: “We the people are the force that can force States to end complicity, to prevent and punish, to stand on the right side of history.”

Next, Philip Farah, Director of the Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace, noted that, while Christians accounted for about 9 per cent of Gaza’s population in 1948, fewer than 1,000 remain, sheltering at two major churches in Gaza. Israel bombed one of them — Saint Porphyrius — on 19 October 2023, killing 18 Christians sheltering there and severely damaging the church. One of his relatives, an 84-year-old woman, survived; however, three weeks later, an Israeli sniper shot her in the leg, and anyone trying to save her was shot — so she bled for many hours. He added: “The next morning, an Israeli tank went over her; we don’t know whether she was still alive or dead by then.” Recalling how grass-roots movements in the United States and the United Kingdom forced their legislatures to oppose Apartheid in South Africa”, he said: “The stronger the protest movement by [civil society] around the world, the more likely that Governments will start complying with their obligations under international law.”

Both plenaries were followed by interactive dialogues with civil society experts, many of whom pointed to parallels with the anti-Apartheid movement of the 1980s. Phyllis Bennis of Institute for Policy Studies recalled how Assembly resolutions concerning South Africa mobilized people around the world, eventually pressuring the United States Government to “grudgingly [begin] the process of imposing sanctions against Apartheid South Africa”. Rabbi David Feldman recalled how different communities coexisted peacefully in Palestine before the advent of Zionism. Speakers also highlighted the immense amount of organizing that Palestinian civil society — in the occupied territories and in the diaspora — takes on. It is crucial to protect activists, especially in the current climate of repression, they stressed, underscoring that civil society is “the real global superpower”.

Closing Remarks
Riyad H. Mansour, Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine, underscored that collaborative role. For the past 19 months, “we all worked together — you in the streets lobbying Governments and institutions, and we fighting here at the UN with Member States” to legislate resolutions, he said. Noting his delegation’s long years of advocacy at the United Nations, he stressed the need for resilience and patience. Gaza will never become “a riviera for somebody else”, he said, encouraging civil society actors to stay hopeful even when it is depressing. “Do everything possible with your Governments, in the streets” — these small steps will add up and break the backbone of the illegal occupation, he said.

Feda Abdelhady-Nasser, Deputy Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine, who chaired the meeting and spoke on behalf of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, said remembering the Nakba is “not about marking a historical event — there is an ongoing Nakba”. It is about the need to continue telling the stories of Palestinian lives under occupation and blockade, and most importantly, to continue advocating for the two-State solution.