The Indian government’s meek silence on the unfolding genocide is condemnable:
NAPM demands an immediate end to the arms trade with Israel as part of comprehensive sanctions on Israel.
The Indian Govt must join the international community in ensuring an immediate ceasefire and the realization of Palestinian self-determination.
12th Oct 2024: As the world marks one year of Israel’s genocidal war on Palestine, the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) joins global voices seeking justice for the Palestinian cause and accountability for the horrendous actions of the state of Israel, which has led to an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, throwing to the winds international law and human rights. The support of powerful ‘first world nations’ as well as countries continuing business and military ties has only emboldened the crimes of Israel over the past year. We demand that the conglomerate of nations responsible for the crisis are held fully accountable. Even as we unequivocally stand by the peoples of Palestine and West Asia, facing Israel’s aggression, we demand an immediate ceasefire, urgent humanitarian aid, end to occupation and recognition of the right to self-determination of Palestine as an independent nation. We also call upon Indian Govt. to immediately sever all its economic ties with Israel until it ends its genocide and is held accountable as per international law.
While the history of the Israeli occupation of Palestine spans over many decades, the past year since Israel began its genocidal violence against Palestinians in Gaza, has been unprecedented, triggered by the horrific attack of armed groups primarily, Hamas on 7th October 2023. Over the last 365 days, Israeli forces have killed 15 Palestinians every hour in Gaza, including 6 children. In total, at least 41,870 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s unceasing attacks in Gaza alone, including 16,756 children, with nearly 1,00,000 injured and over 10,000 missing. Added to this, at least 742 Palestinians have been killed by Israel in the Occupied West Bank, including 163 children along with more than 6,250 being injured. As a result of Israel’s war, 60% of Gaza’s residential and 80% of commercial buildings, 90% of schools, and 70% of cropland have been damaged or destroyed and 2 million people have been forcibly displaced, with many having been displaced multiple times. This scale of oppression and decimation of civilian population is a permanent blot on human history.
During the same period, 125 journalists have been killed in Israel’s war, 120 of whom are Palestinians. At least 220 UNRWA staff members and over 500 medical workers have been killed by Israeli attacks. Israel has bombed and raided hospitals in Gaza and the West Bank, targeted schools housing displaced residents leading to massacres and deliberately enforced restrictions on food, water, electricity and medical supplies including actively blocking entry of humanitarian aid from the international community. As such, it has caused mass hunger with UN experts declaring the spread of famine throughout the strip in July this year. Recently, in addition to continuing its attacks on Gaza and the West Bank, Israel has initiated attacks on residential areas in Lebanon which have already resulted in the deaths of over 2,000 people with another 1.2 million displaced.
In all of this time, the far-right Israeli regime has not shown any sign of trying to negotiate the release of its own hostages, held by Hamas in Gaza since the 7th of October 2023. The government, headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, who was facing growing domestic unrest prior to October 2023, and members of the fundamentalist right in Israel has been repeatedly criticized by family members of the hostages for not trying to secure their release. The regime in Tel Aviv has constantly shifted the goalposts and broadened its war effort in the garb of ‘self-defense’. It now threatens to plunge the region into total war, as it has begun a campaign in Lebanon against Hezbollah and is widely expected to attack Iran any day now.
What is at stake: There are three grave matters at stake, in this entire episode:
•Firstly, the ongoing genocide threatens the right to life of present and future generations of Palestinians. There is an urgent need for an immediate ceasefire and to punish those guilty of conducting, inciting and being complicit in genocide.
•Secondly, left to its own devices, the regime in Israel seems to be pushing the Western Asian region towards war. It is imperative that the Israeli regime be restrained from inciting a wider war, that could have far-reaching implications for peace in West Asia and beyond.
•Thirdly, the impunity and support of the Western powers enjoyed by the Israeli regime have undermined the fragile global order.
The USA’s global hegemony is being challenged in the economic sphere by China and other emerging countries. The West uses the idea of respect for human rights to buttress its soft power, distinguishing itself from what it deems to be authoritarian regimes elsewhere. This forms the basis of its claim to stand for a global “rules-based order” founded on liberal values. It should be appreciated that while almost never living up to such ideals, the ideological narrative behind such formulations has sustained and is crucial to the power of the West and their allies. The West’s complicity in the yearlong genocide in Gaza, especially the unwillingness of the USA to restrain Israeli actions, has ended this source of Western soft power. The credibility of the West to speak about human rights and to assume leadership of the democratic world lies in tatters. As such, the third issue at stake is reformulating a humane international order.
Israel has shown contempt for international law throughout this time and continues to exhibit the same till date. It has declared the General Secretary of the United Nations as persona non grata, and called the UN agency, UNRWA, a terrorist organization. It has done so while committing the gravest of crimes known to humankind: genocide. Among the many serious crimes, Israel stands accused of is that of committing genocide against the Palestinians. The crime of genocide is codified under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the first human rights treaty in the history of the United Nations. All parties to the Convention (including the US, Israel and India) have the obligation to prevent and punish genocide and prosecute genocidal acts.
As early as on 15th of October 800 scholars and practitioners of international law, conflict studies and genocide warned of the possibility of genocide in Gaza. On 27th October 2023, the UNGA adopted a resolution calling for an “immediate and sustained ‘humanitarian truce’”. On 16th November, based on evidence of a month of Israeli actions, UN experts warned of a “genocide in the making”. On the 9th of December, 55 foremost scholars of Holocaust and Genocide Studies from across the world released a statement warning against the danger of Israel committing genocide. By mid-December, it was clear that Israel was using starvation as a tool of war, which is a war crime under the Geneva Convention. Regardless of these and many more warnings and repeated calls by members of the international community for a ceasefire, Israel continued its genocidal campaign.
On 29th December, 2023 South Africa initiated proceedings at the International Court of Justice against Israel on the charge of genocide. On 26th January, 2024, the ICJ pronounced a provisional order in the case wherein it found that Israel has plausibly committed acts in Gaza that violate the Genocide Convention. It ordered Israel to immediately comply with provisional measures it announced, including stopping genocide and punishing those responsible for inciting the same. Israel has only shown blatant contempt for the same ever since.
In her report ‘Anatomy of a Genocide’ to the UN Human Rights Council, presented in March 2024, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories has documented detailed evidence pointing to the commission of genocide on Israel’s part. On 20th May 2024, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court filed applications for arrest warrants to be issued against Benjamin Netanyahu (Prime Minister) and Yoav Gallant (Defence minister) along with top Hamas officials. Over the last year, multiple UNGA resolutions and even UN Security Council resolution 2735 (2024) have been passed demanding an end to Israel’s attacks. Most recently the UNGA overwhelmingly voted to adopt a resolution demanding Israel end its unlawful occupation of Palestinian territories within 12 months.
The Responsibility of the International Community and India’s Silence:
Israel’s genocide, coming on the heels of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, has clearly exposed the West’s double standards when it comes to applying international law and human rights in the context of non-White populations. The brazen murder of 42,000 Palestinians has not been enough for regimes such as the USA, UK and Germany to acknowledge the horror on display, as they continue to fund Israel’s war machine and provide political cover for its operations. The main financial, political and military backer of Israel has been the United States of America. Over the last one year, the regime in the USA has come under increasing domestic as well as international pressure in light of Israel’s atrocities against Palestinians and its complete disregard for international humanitarian law. However, the US has provided political cover and military and financial assistance to the tune of $18 billion to fund genocide. As such, it bears responsibility and is accountable for Israel’s crimes against humanity and commission of genocide. Instead of correcting course, Western states have resorted to internal repression to quell democratic protests, especially by their young citizens, against the genocide by Israel.
In such a distorted time, it is countries of the Global South that have assumed ethical leadership of the world. Led by South Africa and Brazil, the Global South has demanded the human rights of Palestinians be respected. Notable exceptions in the West such as Ireland and Spain have broken ranks with the ethically compromised West, which stands clearly exposed of global thuggery. It is highly condemnable that India is notable by its absence on the international stage and has indeed continued to quietly support Israel while the latter conducts genocide.
While PM Modi was quick to express support for Israel post October 7, India abstained from the UNGA resolution demanding a humanitarian truce the same month. Most recently also India was the notable abstention when 124 countries voted for Israel to end its illegal occupation of Palestine. Moreover, India has supplied Israel with drones manufactured by Adani-Elbit Advanced Systems. Indian-made munitions have been sent to Israel which has used them to target and kill Palestinians. Furthermore, the Indian government has been keen to send thousands to workers to Israel, to replace Palestinians who used to perform low-income jobs in the occupying state. This decision is tantamount to directly sending Indian workers in harm’s way and prioritizing Israeli economic interests over the lives of Indian workers. Several migrant workers were killed and taken hostage in the October 7 attacks and an Indian worker died as a result of a rocket attack in March 2023 while working in an unsafe location in Israel. Israel has long relied on the exploitation of overseas workers to maintain its domestic economy. Abuse of these workers in Israel is well documented. Israeli forces also killed a former Colonel of the Indian Army serving as a UN staffer in May 2024.
India’s lack of initiative to defend human rights at the international stage and its meekness in the face of clear war crimes is highly condemnable for a country that once led the non-aligned world. Despite being a developing country, India has historically carried moral heft and expressed itself in favour of the people of the developing world, including Palestinians. India was among the first states to recognize the state of Palestine in 1988 and has long upheld the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people. The current government is belying the historical role and responsibility of India on the global stage. The ruling BJP is known to share an ideological affinity with the hard right in Israel and has worked to increase political and trade ties with the occupying power. This is especially so in the area of military and surveillance equipment, with India having spent US$ 2.9 billion on Israeli hardware in the last decade. The Indian government also bought malicious spyware from Israel called Pegasus to illegally snoop on opposition political leaders, activists and dissidents. PM Modi’s close ally, Gautam Adani has been the prime beneficiary of the current government’s proximity to Israel. Adani bought the Haifa port (Israel’s largest) in January 2023 and has multiple joint ventures with Israeli weapons manufacturers supplying them to the Israeli forces. Israeli state entities and private firms have received opportunities to work in the agritech and water space in India.
The Indian government has discredited its own legacy of standing with the oppressed peoples of the developing world by supporting Israel and being a spectator as the world order collapses around us. There is an urgent need for course correction. India’s relations with Israel have changed ever since our governments embraced capitalist globalization in the 1990s. Since 2014, the ideological proximity of the BJP-RSS with the Zionist movement in Israel – both of which seek to create a supremacist regime on religious-communal lines – has been key to deepening of state ties. We cannot stand on the wrong side of history when the majority of the world has recognized the unjustifiable oppression of Palestine.
As the world witnesses the ongoing genocide and further escalation and imminent danger of a regional war in West Asia, NAPM demands that:
❖ Israel’s genocidal machine must be immediately stopped, ensuring an immediate ceasefire along with a realization of the Palestinian right to self-determination.
❖Indian government must join the global community in demanding an end to Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land, and impose sanctions including travel bans and asset freezes against Israeli entities (individuals or institutions including corporations) as mentioned in the UNGA resolution from September 2024.
❖Full compliance with UN Resolution 2735 (reg immediate ceasefire and safe handover of hostages) and UN Resolution 2720 (for opening of borders and allowing humanitarian aid).
❖Full accountability under international law must be ensured for all war crimes, terror attacks and genocidal violence that has taken place over the past year.
❖Indian government should move towards annulling all trade ties with Israel (Indian purchases account for 37% of Israel’s arms exports).
❖India must also annul the labour mobility agreements signed with Israel and safely bring back its workers from the warring country.
❖India must end agri-business ties with the Israeli capital which instead of serving the needs of India’s toiling masses, serve businesses and normalizes Israeli initiatives in developing countries.
❖Indian Governments, across party lines, must respect the democratic right of citizens to protest the genocide, instead of clamping down on protests and solidarity efforts.
As we stand ashamed and complicit, witnessing the painful loss of thousands of civilian lives over the past year, in particular of Palestinian children, women, elders, we salute the enduring spirit of Palestinians for self-determination. We also commend the global outrage movements including by students that has drawn much-needed attention to the crimes of Israel. We must continue to intensify efforts locally and globally, to ensure a Free Palestine and a world sans genocidal crimes.
Issued by: National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), E-mail: [email protected]
Source: countercurrents.org
