The section calls to investigate actions which establish suspicions of widespread violations of international law and crimes against humanity; calling for an immediate cessation of the War.
– While the Israeli section of Amnesty International does not accept the accusation that Israel is committing genocide, based on the information available to us, we are concerned that serious crimes are been committed in Gaza, that must be investigated. Active international involvement is essential to end these atrocities and suffering created due to the war.
– The Israeli Section also points out that a minority among the members are convinced, based on available information, that the accusation against Israel of committing genocide in Gaza can be established. We find it essential to provide space to the minority voices within our section.
Regarding the report published today by Amnesty International’s global movement, accusing Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip (titled ‘You Feel Like You Are Subhuman’: Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza), Amnesty International Israel – an independent association registered in Israel – wishes to stress the following: we were not among the initiators of the report, nor did we collaborate in its authorship or were involved in funding or approving the report. Further, the section’s leadership has decided that the section opposes the report’s conclusions. Specifically, the Israeli section does not accept the assertion that genocide has been proven to be taking place in the Gaza Strip, nor does it accept the operational calls.
It should be noted that there are diverse voices within our section. While the majority position holds that the claim that Israel is committing genocide is not sufficiently substantiated, a minority within our section disagrees. We respect all voices within our organization and consider it important to acknowledge and represent these perspectives. Yet, this is not the position of Amnesty Israel, and these voices should not be perceived as indication of the section’s support for the report, or its calls for action.
The Israeli section maintains that while the scale of killing and destruction carried out by Israel in Gaza, as reflected in the report, has reached catastrophic proportions and must cease immediately, our careful analysis does not find that the findings meets the definition of genocide, as carefully formulated in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
There is no dispute within the Israeli section, however, that Israel’s actions in Gaza, carried out in response to the Hamas-led massacre against civilians in Israel on October 7, 2023, establish suspicions of widespread violations of international law and may amount to crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.
There is also no dispute that significant efforts must be made to stop the war immediately. Given the Israeli government’s lack of political will to halt its attacks on Gaza and its residents, the international community must be called upon to act decisively to end the war. International pressure should be applied primarily to protect civilians on both sides, who have illegally become acceptable targets of aggression by all parties involved in the war. The residents of both Gaza and Israel must see their basic security and the right to life restored.
While ending the war is a vital step, it is not enough in and of itself. Security, freedom, welfare, and dignity for all residents in the region cannot be achieved as long as ideologies, governments, and leaders continue to make civilians the primary victims and cling to the perception that warfare and violence are the only means of resolving conflict. The mechanisms of occupation and apartheid that Israel maintains over territories and populations outside its internationally recognized borders must also be dismantled.
Our section maintains that, while recognizing the high death-toll of civilians in the Gaza Strip, the international convention addressing the crime of genocide – and subsequent international law – require proof that these crimes were committed with a “specific intent” to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza as a group, in whole or in part. Based on our analysis, put together in consultation with external experts, many of us have doubts regarding the possibility of proving unequivocally, and beyond any reasonable alternative explanation, the element of intent.
Nonetheless, Israel has, at the very least, blatantly violated an important article in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide by failing to properly act against direct and public incitement to commit genocide. While Israel’s public figures have openly and explicitly called for harming and taking revenge on Gaza’s civilian population as a whole, Israel has failed to act against such incitement.
It should also be noted that accusations of genocide or attempted genocide have been made regarding both the massacre carried out by Hamas on October 7 and Israel’s attack on Gaza. It is necessary and appropriate to investigate these claims and ensure that the threshold required to prove genocidal intent is applied universally and consistently in both cases, as well as in any other case worldwide where similar concerns arise.
In addition, adequate humanitarian aid must be urgently provided in order to prevent the continued suffering in Gaza, which sometimes reaches, according to reports of various aid agencies, to the point of malnutrition and even starvation. Israel has a responsibility, as the occupying power and under the IHL, for the needs of the civilian population under its control. Alongside Israel’s responsibility, evidence and allegations, also emerging from Gaza, of looting and theft of aid, and the fear that food is being withheld from those who need it must be investigated.
Therefore, we, members of Amnesty International Israel, call for:
1. International pressure and efforts to achieve a ceasefire and secure the return of all Israeli hostages and the release of Palestinian detainees who were imprisoned without due process.
2. Immediate humanitarian aid on a broad and sufficient scale for Gaza residents, including food, water, medicine, medical equipment, as well as access to other basic services such as electricity.
3. Active involvement of the international community in establishing a comprehensive and sustainable arrangement that adress the root causes of violence – such as the occupation, siege, and apartheid in the territories occupied by Israel since 1967 – as well as ending the involvement of other armed actors in the region, such as Iran and Hezbollah, who consistently advocate for and perpetrate violence and destruction against Israeli civilians, both in practice and as an ideology.
4. Recognition of international human rights law and international humanitarian law as the foundations for sustainable arrangements between nations, ensuring the right to life and protection for all residents of the region.
5. Comprehensive investigation conducted by agreed-upon institutions of possible war crimes by all sides, as part of accountability and facilitating the healing of victims – both communities and individuals.