Hey Justin,
Here is a bit more
Information on the
Genocide.
Avram
Amnesty International investigation concludes Israel is committing genocide
against Palestinians in Gaza
Amnesty International’s research has found sufficient basis to conclude
that Israel has committed and is continuing to commit genocide against
Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip, the organization said in a
landmark new report published today.
The report, *‘You Feel Like You Are Subhuman’: Israel’s Genocide Against
Palestinians in Gaza
*, documents how,
during its military offensive launched in the wake of the deadly Hamas-led
attacks in southern Israel on 7 October 2023, Israel has unleashed hell and
destruction on Palestinians in Gaza brazenly, continuously and with total
impunity.
“Amnesty International’s report demonstrates that Israel has carried out
acts prohibited under the Genocide Convention, with the specific intent to
destroy Palestinians in Gaza. These acts include killings, causing serious
bodily or mental harm and deliberately inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza
conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction.
Month after month, Israel has treated Palestinians in Gaza as a subhuman
group unworthy of human rights and dignity, demonstrating its intent to
physically destroy them,” said Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of
Amnesty International.
“Our damning findings must serve as a wake-up call to the international
community: this is genocide. It must stop now.
“States that continue to transfer arms to Israel at this time must know
they are violating their obligation to prevent genocide and are at risk of
becoming complicit in genocide. All states with influence over Israel,
particularly key arms suppliers like the USA and Germany, but also other EU
member states, the UK and others, must act now to bring Israel’s atrocities
against Palestinians in Gaza to an immediate end.”
Over the past two months the crisis has grown particularly acute in the
North Gaza governorate, where a besieged population is facing starvation,
displacement and annihilation amid relentless bombardment and suffocating
restrictions on life-saving humanitarian aid.
“Our research reveals that, for months, Israel has persisted in committing
genocidal acts, fully aware of the irreparable harm it was inflicting on
Palestinians in Gaza. It continued to do so in defiance of countless
warnings about the catastrophic humanitarian situation and of legally
binding decisions from the International Court of Justice (ICJ)
ordering Israel to take immediate measures to enable the provision of
humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza,” said Agnès Callamard.
“Israel has repeatedly argued that its actions in Gaza are lawful and can
be justified by its military goal to eradicate Hamas. But genocidal intent
can co-exist alongside military goals and does not need to be Israel’s sole
intent.”
Amnesty International examined Israel’s acts in Gaza closely and in their
totality, taking into account their recurrence and simultaneous occurrence,
and both their immediate impact and their cumulative and mutually
reinforcing consequences. The organization considered the scale and
severity of the casualties and destruction over time. It also analysed
public statements by officials, finding that prohibited acts were often
announced or called for in the first place by high-level officials in
charge of the war efforts.
“Taking into account the pre-existing context of dispossession, apartheid
and unlawful military occupation in which these acts have been committed,
we could find only one reasonable conclusion: Israel’s intent is the
physical destruction of Palestinians in Gaza, whether in parallel with, or
as a means to achieve, its military goal of destroying Hamas,” said Agnès
Callamard.
“The atrocity crimes committed on 7 October 2023 by Hamas and other armed
groups against Israelis and victims of other nationalities, including
deliberate mass killings and hostage-taking, can never justify Israel’s
genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.”
International jurisprudence recognizes that the perpetrator does not need
to succeed in their attempts to destroy the protected group, either in
whole or in part, for genocide to have been committed. The commission of
prohibited acts with the intent to destroy the group, as such, is
sufficient.
Amnesty International’s report examines in detail Israel’s violations in
Gaza over nine months between 7 October 2023 and early July 2024. The
organization interviewed 212 people, including Palestinian victims and
witnesses, local authorities in Gaza, healthcare workers, conducted
fieldwork and analysed an extensive range of visual and digital evidence,
including satellite imagery. It also analysed statements by senior Israeli
government and military officials, and official Israeli bodies. On multiple
occasions, the organization shared its findings with the Israeli
authorities but had received no substantive response at the time of
publication.
*Unprecedented scale and magnitude*
Israel’s actions following Hamas’s deadly attacks on 7 October 2023 have
brought Gaza’s population to the brink of collapse. Its brutal military
offensive had killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, including over 13,300
children, and injured over 97,000 more, by 7 October 2024, many of them in
direct or deliberately indiscriminate attacks, often wiping out entire
multigenerational families. It has caused unprecedented destruction, which
experts say occurred at a level and speed not seen in any other conflict in
the 21st century, levelling entire cities and destroying critical
infrastructure, agricultural land and cultural and religious sites. It
thereby rendered large swathes of Gaza uninhabitable.
Mohammed, who fled with his family from Gaza City to Rafah in March 2024
and was displaced again in May 2024, described their struggle to survive in
horrifying conditions:
“Here in Deir al-Balah, it’s like an apocalypse… You have to protect your
children from insects, from the heat, and there is no clean water, no
toilets, all while the bombing never stops. You feel like you are subhuman
here.”
Israel imposed conditions of life in Gaza that created a deadly mixture of
malnutrition, hunger and diseases, and exposed Palestinians to a slow,
calculated death. Israel also subjected hundreds of Palestinians from Gaza
to incommunicado detention, torture and other ill-treatment.
Viewed in isolation, some of the acts investigated by Amnesty International
constitute serious violations of international humanitarian law or
international human rights law. But in looking at the broader picture of
Israel’s military campaign and the cumulative impact of its policies and
acts, genocidal intent is the only reasonable conclusion.
*Intent to destroy*
To establish Israel’s specific intent to physically destroy Palestinians in
Gaza, as such, Amnesty International analysed the overall pattern of
Israel’s conduct in Gaza, reviewed dehumanizing and genocidal statements by
Israeli government and military officials, particularly those at the
highest levels, and considered the context of Israel’s system of apartheid,
its inhumane blockade of Gaza and the unlawful 57-year-old military
occupation of the Palestinian territory.
Before reaching its conclusion, Amnesty International examined Israel’s
claims that its military lawfully targeted Hamas and other armed groups
throughout Gaza, and that the resulting unprecedented destruction and
denial of aid were the outcome of unlawful conduct by Hamas and other armed
groups, such as locating fighters among the civilian population or the
diversion of aid. The organization concluded these claims are not credible.
The presence of Hamas fighters near or within a densely populated area does
not absolve Israel from its obligations to take all feasible precautions to
spare civilians and avoid indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks. Its
research found Israel repeatedly failed to do so, committing multiple
crimes under international law for which there can be no justification
based on Hamas’s actions. Amnesty International also found no evidence that
the diversion of aid could explain Israel’s extreme and deliberate
restrictions on life-saving humanitarian aid.
In its analysis, the organization also considered alternative arguments
such as ones that Israel was acting recklessly or that it simply wanted to
destroy Hamas and did not care if it needed to destroy Palestinians in the
process, demonstrating a callous disregard for their lives rather than
genocidal intent.
Our damning findings must serve as a wake-up call to the international
community: this is genocide. It must stop now.
Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International
However, regardless of whether Israel sees the destruction of Palestinians
as instrumental to destroying Hamas or as an acceptable by-product of this
goal, this view of Palestinians as disposable and not worthy of
consideration is in itself evidence of genocidal intent.
Many of the unlawful acts documented by Amnesty International were preceded
by officials urging their implementation. The organization reviewed 102
statements that were issued by Israeli government and military officials
and others between 7 October 2023 and 30 June 2024 and dehumanized
Palestinians, called for or justified genocidal acts or other crimes
against them.
Of these, Amnesty International identified 22 statements made by senior
officials in charge of managing the offensive that appeared to call for, or
justify, genocidal acts, providing direct evidence of genocidal intent.
This language was frequently replicated, including by Israeli soldiers on
the ground, as evidenced by audiovisual content verified by Amnesty
International showing soldiers making calls to “erase” Gaza or to make it
uninhabitable, and celebrating the destruction of Palestinian homes,
mosques, schools and universities.
*Killing and causing serious bodily or mental harm*
Amnesty International documented the genocidal acts of killing and causing
serious mental and bodily harm to Palestinians in Gaza by reviewing the
results of investigations it conducted into 15 air strikes between 7
October 2023 and 20 April 2024 that killed at least 334 civilians,
including 141 children, and wounded hundreds of others. Amnesty
International found no evidence that any of these strikes were directed at
a military objective.
In one illustrative case, on 20 April 2024, an Israeli air strike destroyed
the Abdelal family house in the Al-Jneinah neighbourhood in eastern Rafah,
killing three generations of Palestinians, including 16 children, while
they were sleeping.
While these represent just a fraction of Israel’s aerial attacks, they are
indicative of a broader pattern of repeated direct attacks on civilians and
civilian objects or deliberately indiscriminate attacks. The attacks were
also conducted in ways designed to cause a very high number of fatalities
and injuries among the civilian population.
*Inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about physical
destruction*
The report documents how Israel deliberately inflicted conditions of life
on Palestinians in Gaza intended to lead, over time, to their destruction.
These conditions were imposed through three simultaneous patterns that
repeatedly compounded the effect of each other’s devastating impacts:
damage to and destruction of life-sustaining infrastructure and other
objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population; the
repeated use of sweeping, arbitrary and confusing mass “evacuation” orders
to forcibly displace almost all of Gaza’s population; and the denial and
obstruction of the delivery of essential services, humanitarian assistance
and other life-saving supplies into and within Gaza.
After 7 October 2023, Israel imposed a total siege on Gaza cutting off
electricity, water and fuel. In the nine months reviewed for this report,
Israel maintained a suffocating, unlawful blockade, tightly controlled
access to energy sources, failed to facilitate meaningful humanitarian
access within Gaza, and obstructed the import and delivery of life-saving
goods and humanitarian aid, particularly to areas north of Wadi Gaza. They
thereby exacerbated an already existing humanitarian crisis. This, combined
with the extensive damage to Gaza’s homes, hospitals, water and sanitation
facilities and agricultural land, and mass forced displacement, caused
catastrophic levels of hunger and led to the spread of diseases at alarming
rates. The impact was especially harsh on young children and pregnant or
breastfeeding women, with anticipated long-term consequences for their
health.
The international community’s seismic, shameful failure for over a year to
press Israel to end its atrocities in Gaza, by first delaying calls for a
ceasefire and then continuing arms transfers, is and will remain a stain on
our collective conscience.
Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International
Time and again, Israel had the chance to improve the humanitarian situation
in Gaza, yet for over a year it has repeatedly refused to take steps
blatantly within its power to do so, such as opening sufficient access
points to Gaza or lifting tight restrictions on what could enter the Strip
or their obstruction of aid deliveries within Gaza while the situation has
grown progressively worse.
Through its repeated “evacuation” orders Israel displaced nearly 1.9
million Palestinians – 90% of Gaza’s population – into ever-shrinking,
unsafe pockets of land under inhumane conditions, some of them up to 10
times. These multiple waves of forced displacement left many jobless and
deeply traumatized, especially since some 70% of Gaza’s residents are
refugees or descendants of refugees whose towns and villages were
ethnically cleansed by Israel during the 1948 Nakba.
Despite conditions quickly becoming unfit for human life, Israeli
authorities refused to consider measures that would have protected
displaced civilians and ensured their basic needs were met, showing that
their actions were deliberate.
They refused to allow those displaced to return to their homes in northern
Gaza or relocate temporarily to other parts of the Occupied Palestinian
Territory or Israel, continuing to deny many Palestinians their right to
return under international law to areas they were displaced from in 1948
.
They did so knowing that there was nowhere safe for Palestinians in Gaza to
flee to.
*Accountability for genocide*
“The international community’s seismic, shameful failure for over a year to
press Israel to end its atrocities in Gaza, by first delaying calls for a
ceasefire and then continuing arms transfers, is and will remain a stain on
our collective conscience,” said Agnès Callamard.
“Governments must stop pretending they are powerless to end this genocide,
which was enabled by decades of impunity for Israel’s violations of
international law. States need to move beyond mere expressions of regret or
dismay and take strong and sustained international action, however
uncomfortable a finding of genocide may be for some of Israel’s allies.
“The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrants for Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for
war crimes and crimes against humanity issued last month offer real hope of
long-overdue justice for victims. States must demonstrate their respect for
the court’s decision and for universal international law principles by
arresting and handing over those wanted by the ICC.
“We are calling on the Office of the Prosecutor of the International
Criminal Court (ICC) to urgently consider adding genocide to the list of
crimes it is investigating and for all states to use every legal avenue to
bring perpetrators to justice. No one should be allowed to commit genocide
and remain unpunished.”
Amnesty International is also calling for all civilian hostages to be
released unconditionally and for Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups
responsible for the crimes committed on 7 October to be held to account.
The organization is also calling for the UN Security Council to impose
targeted sanctions against Israeli and Hamas officials most implicated in
crimes under international law.
*Background *
On 7 October 2023 Hamas and other armed groups indiscriminately fired
rockets into southern Israel and carried out deliberate mass killings and
hostage-taking there
,
killing 1,200 people, including over 800 civilians, and abducted 223
civilians and captured 27 soldiers. The crimes perpetrated by Hamas and
other armed groups during this attack will be the focus of a forthcoming
Amnesty International report.
Since October 2023, Amnesty International has conducted in-depth
investigations into the multiple violations and crimes under international
law committed by Israeli forces, including direct attacks on civilians and
civilian objects and deliberately indiscriminate attacks killing hundreds
of civilians, as well as other unlawful attacks on and collective
punishment of the civilian population. The organization has called on the
Office of the ICC Prosecutor to expedite its investigation into the
situation in the State of Palestine and is campaigning for an immediate
ceasefire.
*For the Hebrew translation of this press release, click here.
*
On Mon, Aug 4, 2025 at 12:29 PM Martin Wasserman
wrote:
> Hi Justin,
>
>
> Israel declaring a unilateral cease-fire and leaving Hamas in power would
> be a potential long-term disaster not only for Israel, but for the entire
> civilized world. Hamas is just one branch of a larger movement called the
> Muslim Brotherhood, which exists in various forms in many different
> countries, including the US and most of Europe, and whose stated goal is
> Islamic world domination. Hamas couldnt care less about the Gazans. In
> fact, they see dead and starving Gazans as beneficial to their cause,
> because it undermines international support for Israel, which they regard
> as one of the chief impediments to their goal of world domination.
>
>
> The MB knows it doesnt have the military strength to conquer the world
> right now, so theyre very sharp-eyed for psychological weaknesses on the
> part of their enemies. For Israel to allow Hamas to survive because of
> humanitarian concern for Gazan civilians would be seen as a critical
> psychological weakness which could be further exploited, not only of
> Israel, but also of Western civilization itself which is pressuring Israel
> in this regard. This would greatly embolden the MB worldwide and add to
> their confidence that they’re on the right path.
>
>
> Best,
>
> Martin Wasserman
>
>
> On Aug 4, 2025, at 9:14 AM, Justin Zalkin wrote:
>
> Hello —
>
> I see some exceptionally bright people on this thread who have differing
> perspectives. For the folks who think Israel should immediately declare a
> ceasefire, what are your perspectives on Hamas? And what do you anticipate
> Hamas would most likely do with a ceasefire period?
>
> Hopefully everyone views famine among Gazans as horrible (regardless of
> who is to blame). My fear is that a cessation of hostilities that leaves
> Hamas governing would not lead to a good long term outcome for Gazans (or
> Israelis). I am curious what others who have studied the conflict in more
> detail think would most likely happen if Hamas were to continue governing.
>
>
> All the Best,
> Justin
>
>
>
>
>
> On Aug 1, 2025, at 10:56 AM, Aram James wrote:
>
> Subject: Your Stand on the Ceasefire
>
> Hi Henry,
>
> You were truly the only candidate for the Palo Alto City Council in 2024,
> out of nine total candidates, who had the courage to unequivocally call for
> a ceasefire. I attended the council meeting that night and remember your
> speech very well.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Avram “ One State Solution” Finkelstein
>
> On Fri, Aug 1, 2025 at 10:31 AM, Henry Etzkowitz
> wrote:
>
>> Marty
>>
>> Marty,
>>
>> Express away but the killing and starvation policy must stop, under UN
>> armed supervision, of course. Who is to be the Ike who said, I will go to
>> Korea during he 1952 election campaign, achieved a cease fire, that holds
>> to this day, despite lack of a formal peace treaty.
>>
>> Best,
>> Henry
>>
>> > On Aug 1, 2025, at 10:19 AM, Martin Wasserman
>> wrote:
>> >
>> > Henry,
>> >
>> > One of my objections to “ceasefire now” is that it places all of the
>> onus on Israel and demands nothing of Hamas, and gives Hamas breathing
>> space to regroup and rearm so they can continue their policy of killing
>> Jews.
>> >
>> > Marty
>> >
>> >
>> >> On Aug 1, 2025, at 10:01 AM, Henry Etzkowitz
>> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Dear Marty
>> >>
>> >> I have expressed my agreement in heron to Council on their general
>> policy of excluding foreign policy issues However, like the attorney for
>> the holocaust victim who successfully asked the US Supreme for a narrow
>> exception to the statute of limitations, I argued to Council that there are
>> certain issues that it behooves as as Palo Alto citizens to take a stand:
>> Gaza cease fire now, is one! See council video of several months ago for my
>> full statement.
>> >>
>> >> Best,
>> >> Hillel
>> >>> On Aug 1, 2025, at 9:43 AM, Martin Wasserman
>> wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>> Theres no legitimate reason for city government to weigh in on
>> foreign policy issues, especially in highly volatile areas like the Middle
>> East. Such controversial resolutions change nothing in the Middle East and
>> only promote conflict at home. Unless of course the goal is precisely to
>> create conflict at home.
>> >>>
>> >>> Martin Wasserman
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>> On Aug 1, 2025, at 2:14 AM, Henry Etzkowitz
>> wrote:
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Ps
>> >>>> Upon reflection, accept your critique: cease fire requires
>> repetition , will include in writings this topic until achieved
>> >>>> www.triplehelix.net
>> >>>>
>> >>>>> On Jul 31, 2025, at 11:45 PM, Roberta Ahlquist <
>> finnroberta@gmail.com> wrote:
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> Ok!🌷🦋
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>>> On Jul 31, 2025, at 10:20 PM, Henry Etzkowitz
>> wrote:
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>> Agree with cease fire, and permanent treaty above and beyond.
>> Aram, who was present, can assure you that I requested each council member
>> individually and publicly to commit Palo Alto to call for cease fire.
>> Video supposed to be available at city website.
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>> Best
>> >>>>>> Henry
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>> On Jul 31, 2025, at 8:49 PM, Roberta Ahlquist <
>> finnroberta@gmail.com> wrote:
>> >>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>> Yes- and how about a ceasefire? Less abstract, more
>> concrete...?🐸🦋
>> >>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>> >>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>> On Jul 31, 2025, at 1:08 PM, Henry Etzkowitz
>> wrote:
>> >>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>> Somewhere in Israel’s Governmental bureaucracy under an
>> innocuous title, a “collective Eichmann” is at work meticulously designing
>> the “crime of the new century” the systematic destruction the civil
>> institutional environment of universities, businesses, and housing, with
>> the intent and objective of atomizing the citizens of GAZA Palestine into a
>> controllable mass. Attendant nutrition deprivation is an overlay on
>> institutional and organizational deprivation, conducted in Mediterranean
>> sunlight and international, if not Israeli, full media gaze. Rather than
>> the inside pages of the New York Times where v Germany’s 20th century
>> holocaust was relegated, this rolling, escalating genocide is on the front
>> pages of the newspaper of record where all news that fits is published,
>> sometimes ironically overshadowed by food recipes in the Internet Edition.
>> The international community, led by Europe where the Holocaust was
>> originated, collaborated, condoned and only sometimes resisted in the last
>> century, must mitigate its indelible moral stain by heading off the
>> Netenyahu regime’s scheme. Only a Jewish state founded on the ashes of the
>> holocaust could have been given such leeway, not to forget Pol Pot’s
>> Cambodia. Who will be the future Hannah Arendt to chronicle the ubiquity
>> of evil?
>> >>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>> Sincerely
>> >>>>>>>> Henry Etzkowitz
>> >>>>>>>> Distinguished Fellow
>> >>>>>>>> University of London, Birkbeck College, Centre for Innovation
>> Management Research
>> >>>>>>>> Co-founder, Neighbors for Environmental and Social Justice, 644
>> Menlo Avenue, Menlo Park CA 94025
>> >>>>>>>> RE Henry Etzkowitz et al vs Elon Musk et al Case number
>> 24CV450485 Superior Court of California County of California, Downtown
>> Courthouse 191 Notth First Street, San Jose CA 95113 civil division
>> >>>>>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>> >>>
>> >>
>> >
>>
>>
>
>