Gaza genocide and criminal rogue Israel

Prominent international lawyer Professor Francis Boyle calls on international community to indict the criminal rogue state Israel, its aiders and abettors.

I delivered the following Oral Argument before the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal Commission for the Indictment of Israel for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity on November 21, 2012 during Israel’s genocidal Operation Cast Lead II against the 1.7 million Palestinians living in Gaza. The analysis and conclusions remain the same today during Cast Lead III. May it please the Commission:

You have heard the statutory declaration and evidence provided so far for your information. My purpose here now is to explain the law to which you will apply the facts in formulating your indictments. Of course, it is for you to decide whether or not to indict, or whom to indict. But you have already received my recommendation that you should indict the state of Israel, and named officials that I have already provided to you that will be found again in the transcript of the proceedings, including and especially General Yaron for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. And you’ve heard evidence and testimony from all of our witnesses on those three points. Now let me briefly review the witnesses and what they said from a legal prospective, so that you can formulate your opinions of law in your indictment.

Palestinians in Gaza

First of all, with respect to the Al-Sammounis testimony, Salah and Mahmoud. They are both from the Gaza Strip. Now, we have to understand, the Gaza Strip is under military occupation by Israel. And Israel is the belligerent occupant of the Gaza Strip. That means, at all times, Israel is governed by the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 that protects civilians and the Hague Regulations of 1907 on the Laws of Customs of Warfare. You can find that also in the Chapter 5 for the Tribunal that is roughly based and patterned upon them.

Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, the two Al-Sammounis are absolutely protected. They are what are known as protected person. They are civilians. Their rights are inviolable by Israel, or anyone else. In fact, protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention have more rights that legally are more perfectly protected than you or I have. That is the gospel truth under International Law.

There are 147 articles of the Fourth Geneva Convention that were supposed to protect the Al-Sammounis and everyone else in Gaza. And if you look at all of the human rights reports that have been produced on Gaza, you will see that Israel has violated almost each and every one of these 147 articles of the Fourth Geneva Convention with respect to the civilian population of Gaza such as the Al-Sammounis.
Now, Israel has maintained that it is no longer the occupying power in Gaza and therefore is not bound by the Fourth Geneva Convention and the 1907 Hague Regulations because it withdrew its troops from Gaza. That does not change the situation legally. They are dead wrong. Professor Richard Falk, the Special Rapporteur for Palestine, appointed by the UN Human Rights Council itself had said, “No, this is nonsense, Israel is still the occupying power in Gaza.” His predecessor, Professor John Dugard of South Africa, has also taken for the same position. The International Committee of Red Cross has taken the same position. Why is that the case?

Because the test of belligerent occupancy is control. You could read this for example, in U.S. Army Field Manual 27-10: The Laws of Land Warfare, that set forth the basic rules of Customary International Law applicable to all States in the world, including Israel and the United States.

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