People's Tribunal of the G20 Social in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, convicts the Zionist entity for genocide against the Palestinian people. Photo: Priscila Ramos/MST.
Israel was convicted of genocide against the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip by the People’s Tribunal, which brought together jurists, lawyers, and activists at the Fundição Progresso in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to judge the crimes of imperialism.
“In the case of the genocide of peoples, the evidence in the case file reveals that the people of Palestine, particularly in Gaza, have been subjected to colonialism for 76 years and have been suffering genocide for 409 days, openly practiced by the State of Israel with the complicity of the United States, Germany and other European and Western countries,” stated the sentence read out by judge Simone Dalila Nacif, from the Brazilian Association of Jurists for Democracy (ABJD), who presided over the session on Friday, November 15.
“The inhumanity we are seeing in Gaza has exceeded our imagination. Turning hospitals into torture chambers, bombing and burning shelters where people should seek safety, UN facilities, schools, is unbelievable,” Rula Shadeed, a Palestinian lawyer who presented the case for genocide at the People’s Court of the G20 Social, told Brasil de Fato.
Shaheed, director of the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy, a Palestinian civil society organization based in Ramallah, considered this condemnation a “very important symbolic action” in the efforts to stop the Zionist entity’s military offensive in the region.
“There are prominent people from all over the world here,” she added. “It is a way of showing how there are different systems and, despite the fact that the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court have already taken action, we are still seeing genocide against my people in Gaza and the West Bank, and also against people in Lebanon, people in Syria and elsewhere.”
A special committee of the United Nations declared on November 14 that the methods of warfare used by “Israel” in the Gaza Strip “correspond to the characteristics of genocide” and that the Israeli authorities “have publicly supported policies that deprive Palestinians of the most basic vital needs,” including food, water and fuel. Despite the increasingly forceful stances taken by international organizations, Shadeed believes that the genocide in Gaza reveals the need for changes in the entire human rights system.
“There are no more human rights, we cannot say that the legal framework of human rights is really working,” she stressed. “Therefore, tribunals like this and many others that are being prepared around the world are necessary, because we need other paths and we need to see some kind of accountability, which can lead to de facto formalization in the bureaucratic courts, in order to take a step forward.”
The occupation entity’s military offensive in the region, she points out, is maintained mainly due to the financial and military support it receives from its main allies, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, countries with veto power in the UN Security Council that prevent more incisive decisions against its ally in West Asia or even the establishment of a ceasefire in the region.
“The time has come to move away from the regular bureaucratic, patriarchal and authoritarian system that is based on the veto,” Shaheed said. “There are five states in the world, of which one can veto any decision that could lead to some kind of responsibility, security or stability—I don’t even understand how we can let this system continue for so long.”
The fact that the Zionist entity’s aggressions go unpunished by the international legal system creates a precedent for its military might to turn against other peoples, Shadeed points out.
“There have been previous warnings in other situations and struggles, such as in Sudan, Somalia and elsewhere,” she highlighted. “When the oppressors realize that there is no accountability, the next attack or aggression will be even greater, because there is nothing to stop them. We have seen the war in Iraq since the US invasion. We saw the attack on Afghanistan. No accountability. So this is very regrettable and has a huge cost for our people.”
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“I hope Brazil surprises me”
The genocide committed by the Zionist entity against the Palestinian population represents the main challenge for Brazil’s conduct of the G20 presidency, which took place during November 18-19 in Rio de Janeiro. The condemnation of this crime by the People’s Court increases the pressure on the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to take concrete positions against the Netanyahu government.
“I hope Brazil surprises us, but I am not sure it will,” the Palestinian lawyer said. “So we call on the unions, the workers and the Black movement, the Indigenous movements, and others who are also facing oppression which, by the way, is very much fueled by Israeli brutality. Israeli colonial forces export violence to many countries around the world and this is exactly what is being used, also in Brazil, against various underprivileged people and groups.
Despite having already classified the Israeli military offensive as genocide, the Brazilian government can be considered an accomplice to this crime, Shadeed said.
In August, a survey commissioned by the non-profit organization Oil Change International revealed that Brazil is responsible for 9% of the total crude oil supplied to “Israel” and pointed out that an oil embargo would help promote a ceasefire.
On November 13, a coalition led by Palestinian organizations presented at COP29, the UN Climate Conference, a request to Brazil, South Africa and Turkey to stop supplying gas and fuel to the Zionist entity, as the Colombian government has done.
“I really hope that the Brazilian people, through the movements, the unions and the people, will push for a change that benefits the Palestinian people amid this terrible genocide, and that also benefits their own people,” Shaheed expressed. “In the last five weeks, we have seen the siege, the unbelievable situation and the end of any humanitarian aid to the northern part of Gaza, and this is because countries like Brazil and Turkey, which have expressed clear statements about the genocide, have not taken action.”
Social movements march against genocide and imperialism
On November 16, the social movements that participated in the G20 Social, a meeting of social movements held before the G20 Summit was set to take place in Rio de Janeiro, marched through the marine drive of Copacabana, demanding an end to the genocide of the Palestinian people. The marchers also called on Brazilian President Lula da Silva to break diplomatic relations with “Israel.”
“This march is the culmination of a long process that we have been carrying out here since November 14, people’s organizations from Brazil and Latin America, to condemn the crimes committed by the major imperialist powers that are in Rio and will be meeting at the G20,” said Cássia Bechara of the international sector of the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) to the Brazilian media Brasil de Fato.
“Here, the major financiers of the genocide in Palestine will gather, both economic and political backers,” she pointed out. “This march, which focuses on ceasefire, the end of the genocide, for a free Palestine from the river to the sea, is precisely to convey this message: Palestine today symbolizes the struggle of all the oppressed peoples of the world, who have been colonized throughout the history of the capitalist colonial system.”
The Popular Youth Uprising participated in the march with about 3,000 people.
“We are here with the popular movements to condemn the extermination of youth, which is happening all over the world,” Daiane Araújo, a leader of the movement, told Brasil de Fato. “While in Palestine young people and children are being genocided, here in Brazil the same weapons kill us in the outskirts. ‘Defending the lives of young people’ is the message of the Uprising in today’s march, but not only that … We want to send a message to the youth of all Brazil: the transformation of reality will only be possible with the youth organized in the streets, carrying out a popular struggle.”
The march of the social movements also called for the end of the US blockade against Cuba and the imperialist invasion and occupation of Haiti, terming both as “genocides” committed by imperialism.
(NewsClick) by Leandro Melito, with Orinoco Tribune content
