Criticizes France’s position on Netanyahu’s immunity under the Rome Statute and warns that Washington continues to deliver weapons that are used to “exterminate Palestinians”
Urges to form a “collective platform” that leads countries to move from “saying the right thing” to “doing the right thing”
Dec. 16 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Secretary General of Amnesty International, Agnès Callamard, warned this Monday that some countries, mainly the United States and Germany, “are failing to prevent the crimes” committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip with a position that places them on the “wrong side of history”, so they run “a serious risk of being found complicit in the genocide” in the Palestinian enclave.
This was stated during an interview with Europa Press, in which he explained that the degree of complicity of these countries “must be analyzed in depth” given that there is “a high risk of their being involved.” “The United States, in particular, has gone to great lengths over the past 14 months to provide Israel with weapons that have been used to exterminate Palestinians and has shielded Israel from criticism and scrutiny before the UN Security Council,” has regretted.
“They are supporting a Government that is committing the crime of genocide,” he pointed out before clarifying that the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, only has the certainty that he can travel to US territory without running the risk of being arrested, given account of the arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
In this sense, he clarified that “there are few countries that have said that they will not cooperate or that they do not know if they will,” although he has stressed that the United States has vindicated its refusal. “The majority, however, has committed to cooperating,” he stated, not without clarifying that France “has been completely wrong on the issue of immunity” after the French country referred to the Rome Statute — founding document of the ICC– as a tool to avoid a possible arrest and surrender order for Netanyahu if he enters the country.
“If we look at the Rome Statute we see that the jurisprudence does not imply that Netanyahu can benefit from immunity given the nature of the crimes he has committed. The fact that Israel has not ratified the statute is irrelevant to reaching this conclusion,” has said.
Callamard has thus stressed that he has no doubts about the judicial system in France, which “will arrest and charge Netanyahu if he enters French territory.” “We still have an independent justice system. The only country Netanyahu can go to is the United States; anywhere else he runs the serious risk of being arrested,” he pointed out before stating that in “the majority of countries around the world have adopted a stance in favor of the Palestinians in Gaza and against the violations committed by Israel.
THE REPORT ON GENOCIDE
Callamard, who met shortly before with the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has expressed his hope that the report published at the beginning of December by Amnesty, in which it points to “clear indications of Israel’s genocidal behavior”, serves so that countries “go from saying the right thing to doing the right thing.” However, he regretted that in Europe, in particular, there is a great “historical loyalty” to Israel, a “fear of anti-Semitism”, given the Holocaust during the Second World War.
“For these reasons, in addition to geostrategic interest, it is difficult for Western countries to take a strong stance against Israel’s violations. But the Western world is only part of a large community,” he stressed, while emphasizing in that “in reality there are many more countries that have adopted a position contrary to the violations committed by Israel”.
“So far, many governments have said the right thing, including in countries in Europe, such as Spain, Belgium, Norway, Ireland… They have all called for an end to the violations. However, words are not enough and we need action. And We hope that the report, which is full of evidence about genocide and the existence of an intention to commit it, will serve to promote these actions,” he explained. Furthermore, he has called some of the criticisms leveled against the report “residual.”
Callamard has also claimed the importance of the methodology to be followed when classifying these war crimes as genocide in the context of an armed conflict. “We understand that in a conflict there are military objectives, but the existence of these objectives does not exempt the parties from the possibility of committing a genocide,” he argued, considering that Amnesty International has found indications that these are not “mere accidents.” ” but of “deliberate” actions.
“When you attack civilian infrastructure claiming that there are military targets, it may be an accident. But if this happens for 14 months, and not just once or twice, things change. (…) When Israel uses weapons in densely populated areas “At a time when many civilians are present, at night, and in neighborhoods full of displaced people, the objective is to create the greatest number of victims possible. This is not an accident, this is intentional,” he said.
In his opinion, the clear objective of the Israeli Government is to try to “destroy the Palestinians in Gaza, and that is an attempt at genocide” by a country that it accuses of violating International Law. For this reason, he has urged the European Union, the United Nations and other countries, such as Jordan and Saudi Arabia, to take measures: “what is missing are actions.”
JOINT PLATFORM
Callamard, who will meet this Tuesday with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, plans to hold a series of meetings with international leaders to demand a “joint platform” that makes effective the measures adopted by the countries, which individually “they lack sufficient strength.”
“Clearly, the EU has been immersed in a lack of consensus on Israel and this has decreased the political and historical weight of the bloc at a global level. This is one of the issues that we have addressed with Sánchez, and we hope that it can be reached to agreements to exert pressure so that not only individual but also collective decisions are made,” he defended.
For her, it is “unacceptable” that a country like Germany, “in the name of its history, becomes complicit in genocide.” “They must move away from this position because it is a loyalty that is misplaced,” he added.
The secretary general of the organization has stressed that “something must happen soon for the good of the Palestinians.” “During this interview, more Palestinians are dying. We do not have time to wait. They do not have that time, they do not have that luxury. It is essential that everything possible be done right now, that all possible sanctions be used to pressure; that it be built a global coalition so that the Palestinians can be saved from that genocide,” he clarified.
“The Palestinians and the Israelis both have the right to self-determination and to have a State. Right now we have only one, which is Israel. (…) There is an apartheid and a military occupation that are absolutely unacceptable. The future must bring these two peoples to live in peace and achieve their own political decisions. For this to be possible, military occupation and apartheid must end,” he concluded.
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