'If the world waits much longer, it will have waited too long, and history will remember the failure to meet this salient crisis of our time,' warns Richard Falk
Israel's genocidal attacks on the Gaza Strip could not have continued without global complicity, according to a former UN rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs).
Speaking at The Genocide Tribunal, a two-day event that examines Israel's war crimes in Gaza and "the UK's role in the genocide," Richard Falk said he is very encouraged by the UK Gaza Tribunal.
Falk is the president of The Gaza Tribunal, a different initiative that aims to awaken civil society to its responsibility and opportunity to stop Israel’s genocide in Gaza, while The Genocide Tribunal examines "the UK's role in Gaza genocide."
Noting that The Gaza Tribunal will hold a final session on the genocide in Istanbul from Oct. 23 - 26, Falk expressed how his group is encouraged by The UK Gaza Tribunal.
"(The UK tribunal) places for the first time, a proper emphasis on the complicity of a major, liberal, democratic country," he noted. "I cannot overstate the importance of such an undertaking, because without that complicity, Israel could not have done what it is doing. "
He criticized the UK as a "shameful government," saying Washington continues "without ambiguity or ambivalence," to give unconditional support and to act beyond mere complicity to be an agent of the destructive policies being carried out in Gaza to this day.
Touching on the crippling situation in Gaza, Falk noted that Gazans are threatened with mass starvation as a consequence of a famine that has been belatedly but officially declared by the International Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) last month.
"If the world waits much longer, it will have waited too long, and history will remember the failure to meet this salient crisis of our time," he said.
He also stated how diplomatic support is given to Israel to date, saying that treating Israel as a" normal state" is a form of diplomatic complicity considering the criminality of its actions and its failure to comply with very clear authoritative judgments and decisions by the highest international courts.
- 'Genocide is carried out by denying genocide'
Eyal Weizman, head of the London-based research agency Forensic Architecture, which examines incidents of violence, war and human rights violations through architectural techniques, stressed that denying genocide paves the way for genocide.
Weizman pointed out that the destruction in Gaza is unprecedented.
Emphasizing that the destruction in Gaza is aimed at eradication under the guise of reorganization, Weizman explained that all traces above ground have been wiped out.
Neve Gordon, professor of international law and human rights at Queen Mary University of London, said the UK government closed its doors when British-Palestinian citizens wanted to share what they had gone through, but it did not close them to Israelis.
"A genocide is carried out by denying genocide," he noted, adding that despite its legal obligations, the UK government has continued arms sales and intelligence support to Israel.
Shahd Hammouri, a Palestinian academic from the University of Kent’s International Law Department said Britain supported Israel’s genocide in Gaza despite being fully aware of what was happening.
The genocide in Gaza entered day 700 on Friday, with Israel having killed at least 64,300 Palestinians. The military campaign has devastated the enclave, which is facing famine.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
