The letter pointed out that Israel’s atrocity crimes, including war crimes and crimes against humanity, are well documented by the UN and major human rights organizations.
More than 1,400 academics have signed an open letter to the German government demanding an immediate and effective end to “its complicity in the atrocity crimes committed by Israel in Palestine.”
“For over one year, the German government has been actively participating in the killing and dehumanization of Palestinians by providing political, financial, military, and legal support to Israel,” the letter stated. “Germany’s complicity in Israel’s atrocities must stop.”
We demand Germany to effectively and immediately stop its complicity in the atrocity crimes committed by Israel in #Palestine! Join me, @hanna_pfeifer, @christinebinzel, @Melaniebelizi and many others by signing here: https://t.co/pMQWE4IgUE
— Prof. Hanna Kienzler 🧡 🇵🇸 (@HannaKienzler) November 11, 2024
The letter pointed out that Israel’s atrocity crimes, including war crimes and crimes against humanity, are well documented by the UN and major human rights organizations.
“In fact, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found that there is a real and immediate risk that Israel’s actions in Gaza could amount to genocide,” it stated.
‘Exert Pressure on Israel’
Therefore, the signatories demanded the German government “to stand unwaveringly on the side of justice and international law; to exert pressure on Israel to immediately end the killing, maiming, and destruction of Palestinian life.”
In addition, “to comprehensively re-evaluate its stance and political activities, considering Germany’s state institutions, political parties and politicians have, for the most part, supported the atrocities committed by the Israeli army.”
‘Legal Implications’: UN Rapporteur Slams Germany’s Support for Israel’s Actions in Gaza
The signatories include European, Palestinian, and other Arab academics, including French economist and professor Thomas Piketty, American-German writer Deborah Feldman, and Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah, who was denied entry into Germany in April for a conference.
They said Israel’s atrocities “must be stopped immediately through international pressure and sanctions.”
“We, therefore, demand that the German government does its part by taking immediate action in light of the provisional measures ordered by the ICJ in the case South Africa v. Israel in January, March, and May this year and to respect the ICJ’s advisory opinion that declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory unlawful in July,” the letter stated.
The signatories also urged the German government to follow the recommendations of the UN General Assembly Resolution on the ICJ’s advisory opinion.
Review All Ties
They emphasized that UN experts “requested specifically” that states should: review all diplomatic, political, and economic interactions with Israel; impose a full arms embargo; and cancel or suspend economic relationships, trade agreements and academic relations with Israel that may contribute to its unlawful presence and apartheid regime in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Germany’s Bundestag has passed a controversial motion equating criticism of Israel with antisemitism. Dozens of Jewish academics opposed the resolution, saying it will endanger Jewish Germans by associating them with the actions of the Israeli government. pic.twitter.com/cbkFD7jSb0
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) November 9, 2024
“As a signatory to the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide and to the Rome Statute, Germany has a historical, ethical, legal, and political obligation not to commit, aid, and abet the atrocity crimes that these treaties proscribe,” the letter stated.
Rising Death Toll
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
Scores Killed in Gaza – Israeli Airstrikes Target Aid Seekers, Schools
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 43,712 Palestinians have, to date, been killed, and 103,258 wounded.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
