Raji Sourani, founder and director of the NGO Palestinian Center for Human Rights, and member of South Africa’s legal team in the genocide lawsuit against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), has asked this Monday in Spain that the Government take all the measures so that “its leadership role is completed” with a total arms embargo on Israel, which also prohibits the transit of war material through Spanish ports.
The lawyer, who managed to leave the Gaza Strip in November, spoke at an event in the Congress of Deputies, under the title “The role of military embargoes in peace-building processes” and took the opportunity to give the thanks to civil society groups and political parties in Spain who – he has assured – are playing a fundamental role in supporting the Palestinian people and against the genocide that Israel has been committing in Gaza for thirteen months.
“We sit here while people are being murdered in Gaza with American and European weapons, and that has been happening for the past thirteen months,” he denounced. “We are seeing this genocide in real time and the world continues as if it were normal. “No one reacts, no one acts, this is the biggest crime that can be committed against civilians and no one lifts a finger.”
Sourani has lamented that the Palestinians have not received the same support from the international community as the Ukrainians, when Russia invaded their country in February 2022. “When Russia invaded and occupied Ukraine it was a big scandal, and everyone said that the Ukrainians have the right to defend and resist against the Russians, with all available means. Russia has been subjected to unprecedented sanctions to stop [la guerra]”Europe and the United States activated the ICJ and the International Criminal Court (ICC), and have done everything possible to hold Russia accountable,” the lawyer recalled.
However, regarding the Israeli offensive against Gaza – in which almost 44,000 people have died since October 2023 – the US and Europe have not acted in the same way against the Jewish State. “Europe lives in a very deep gap and must awaken its conscience, as Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg, Norway, etc. have done. These countries, from the first moment, have taken independent positions and have said ‘we are against war crimes and crimes against humanity, and in favor of the recognition of the Palestinian State’; “Spain has even asked to suspend the EU Association Agreement with Israel.”
But the lawyer has pointed out that the Spanish Executive has not yet taken all possible measures to prevent genocide in Gaza, such as suspending the transit of weapons destined for Israel through Mediterranean ports, something that elDiario.es has recently revealed in an investigation. . “I hope that Spain’s leadership role is completed and that these small things can change,” Sourani wished at the event organized by the “End the Arms Trade with Israel” campaign.
Hundreds of social organizations participating in this campaign presented last July a parliamentary initiative to reform the law on foreign arms trade (53/2007) and to include the figure of “embargo” for those countries that violate human rights. or they are investigated for war crimes, crimes against humanity or the crime of genocide, as is the case in Israel.
At this Monday’s event, the United Nations special rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, also participated electronically, who stated that she has dedicated herself to documenting the genocide over the last year and “has no doubt that what What Israel has been doing to the people of Gaza since October 2023,” when the brutal assault on the Strip began.
Albanese recalled that the ICJ ruled that all States have the obligation to prevent weapons from being used to violate the convention against genocide and, therefore, “imposing this arms embargo is an obligation of all States” that recognize the highest court of the UN. Furthermore, the rapporteur has highlighted that the embargo must include imports, exports and transfers of military and dual-use material. “The embargo is the most basic thing, the next step is to end all academic, economic and military ties that may be detrimental to the rights of the Palestinians,” he added.
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