Civil organizations from several European countries come to justice to ask the states of shale actions for the destruction of Gaza. In the most solid case known until now, the Belgian State must appear before a court of first instance to respond for its committed by Israel. ”Also in the United Kingdom the government faces a possible legal procedure due to the lack of measures before the situation of minors in the strip. Although the political response remains elusive, the letter of 28 states that claim Israel the immediate end of the war in the Palestinian enclave situation.
Several Belgian NGOs filed a complaint on Tuesday with the hope that justice forces the country to “act according to their international obligations.” The initiative has been led by the group of jurists, lawyers and teachers by Gaza, together with Palestinian victims, the Belgo-Palestinian Association and the National Coordination of Action for Peace and Democracy. On July 7, they sent a formal requirement to the Belgian Prime Minister, Bart of Wever, and several of his ministers requesting that “their inaction cease in the genocide and war crimes committed by Israel in Gaza.” Given the lack of response, explains the law spokesman for Gaza, Grégory Mauzé, the demand has now been filed. The first hearing will take place this Friday, an appointment in which the process calendar should be set.
The plaintiffs remember that Belgium, like all the signatory states of the, has the “legal obligation” to act to avoid the irreparable and, therefore, must “mobilize all legal means at their disposal to prevent and end those crimes.”
Before the inaction of the of Wever, they now hope that justice orders Belgium to adopt several immediate measures: the closure of its land and air space for the prohibition of any commercial exchange with Jewish settlements in occupied Palestinian territory, as well as any importation of products of these colonies. They also seek that the judge orders Belgium to denounce the EU-Israel Association Agreement that the twenty-seven are still not suspended totally or partially despite formally verified that the Jewish State has violated human rights, against article 2 of the main instrument that governs bilateral trade relations.
It is not something unpublished. Another group of lawyers and specialists in French and Belgian International Law, Jurdi, made a similar maneuver – and with similar demands – against the European commission and the council, to those luxembourg for “passive complicity” for its before the violations of international law in the occupied Palestinian territories. ”The commission did not want to comment on the procedure.
And last Friday, the Eurodiputa of the Commons Jaume Asens met in The Hague with the International Criminal Court Prosecutor’s Office (TPI) to request the imputation of the president of the commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and of the high representative for EU foreign policy, Kaja Kallas, for his role as “necessary cooperators” in the crimes committed by Israel in Gaza. “When the highest European authorities align with a state accused of committing genocide, we are not alone before an accomplice silence, but before an active complicity,” Asens denounced.
Judicial actions are known at a time when the international community raises the tone against Israel. On Monday, 25 countries – to which in the last hours three more have joined – urged in a hard joint and to fulfill their obligations in international law, especially guaranteeing access to humanitarian aid of the civilian population. The EU, which on July 10 had announced an agreement in this regard with Israel (which precisely served as an excuse not to impose sanctions on the Government of Benjamín Netanyahu days later), the pressure now also increases: Kallas has warned this Tuesday to the Israeli Foreign Minister, Gideon Saar, that the death of civilians in the humanitarian aid posts in Gaza is “indefensible” Israeli must stop killing people at the distribution points ”of help. In addition, he reminded him that, although the twenty -seven have not yet taken sanctioning measures around the bilateral association agreement, all the options “are still on the table.”
“Unbearable” situation
Von der Leyen also and the president of the European Council, António Costa, have condemned on Tuesday what they consider an “unbearable” situation. On the eve of the Belgian National Festival of July 21, King Felipe de Belgica was unusually hard with the situation in Gaza, who described as “shame for all humanity.”
Despite this tone hardening, for the moment there are no planned concrete actions against the Netanyahu government. The twenty -seven will receive this Wednesday – or the lack of them – in the implementation of the humanitarian agreement that, precisely, stopped in large part the application of some type of sanction against Israel in the Foreign Council last week. A community spokesman has recognized that, “clearly, there is still much to do” and that Brussels expects “concrete, tangible results on the ground.” But although he has admitted the urgency of the situation, he has avoided talking about deadlines or ultimatums to Israel. Foreign ministers do not plan to meet again until the end of August.
Meanwhile, judicial actions continue. Also in the United Kingdom, where the Keir Starmer government has also received a lawyle of a law firm, with a threat of legal actions, for its refusal to evacuate children sick of Gaza who cannot be treated in Palestinian territory.
Although there is no guarantees that the demands continue, civil society received an impulse on Monday, when the Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office declared competent to open an investigation against two Israeli soldiers who participated in the Tomorrowland Electronic Music Festival, in Belgium, and that are suspected of having committed war crimes in Gaza. The two men were arrested over the weekend and interrogated by the Belgian police. The Prosecutor’s Office argues that an article of the new Criminal Code, which entered into force in April last year, “grants the Belgian court 1984 ”.
“The era of impunity is coming to an end and the era of accountability begins,” said Dearbhla Minogue, one of Glan’s criminal managers, a NGO based in the United Kingdom that investigates and undertakes legal actions against the agents of power involved in serious violations of human rights and environmental damage and that filed the demand against the two Israeli soldiers. “The seriousness of these unimaginable atrocities will be exposed in multiple courts around the world: the public registry will be established and the authors will be imprisoned for the protection of society,” he said.
