From now on, Israeli Army soldiers and officers had better think twice about obeying orders to destroy Palestinian homes. Ruins of the home of Fatenah and ‘Azzam Idris i in the Beit Hanina neighborhood of East Jerusalem. There had been two apartments in the building: one was home to the 8-member Idris family and the other to their relative Mai who lived there with her husband Baha a-Deb’i and their two minor children. Photo by ‘Amer ‘Aruri – B’Tselem.

The International Criminal Court ruling is a game-changer

by Gush Shalom, the Israeli Peace Bloc

The judges of the International Criminal Court in The Hague ruled unequivocally that the court has full authority to hear and decide on Palestinian complaints of violations of International Law by the State of Israel and its army. Thereby, the rules of the game have fundamentally changed.

To date, the only judicial authority authorized to hear cases relating to acts by the Israeli Army in the Occupied Territories had been the Supreme Court in Jerusalem. In spite of prolonged wild incitement waged by Israeli right-wing circles against the Supreme Court and its judges, in practice the Supreme Court was and remains extremely forgiving towards the occupation army, rejecting the vast majority of appeals lodged by Palestinians.

When it comes to the judges of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, it’s a completely different matter. The Hague Court is bound by the provisions of International Law, specifically by the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 which sets out in detail what an occupying state is allowed — and what it is forbidden — to do in a territory under the military rule of its army. Many of the acts that the IDF routinely undertakes in the territories under its rule may turn out to be serious violations of International Law.

For example: Just a few days ago, on the morning of Monday, February 1, a large military force arrived in the tiny village of Hamsa al-Fouka in the northern Jordan Valley. The soldiers destroyed dozens of residential buildings and sheep pens, leaving 85 Palestinian residents – 45 of them children – homeless and exposed in the open air. The soldiers also demanded that the residents completely leave Hamsa al-Fouka and move to another location that the army would determine for them, threatening that if they did not leave voluntarily, they would be forcibly transferred by the army.

This act of destruction and devastation carried out by the army — and it is certainly not the first of its kind — has gone virtually unnoticed by the Israeli public and political system. Knesset Members who habitually engage in loud and vociferous debates failed to take up this issue. But make no mistake: outside the borders of the State of Israel, there are those who constantly monitor and closely record such acts.

At the International Court, indictments can certainly be filed against IDF officers and settlers as well as against officials and ministers in the Government of Israel. Among other things, acts of wanton destruction — carried out especially against small and highly vulnerable Palestinian communities in the Jordan Valley and the South Hebron Hills — can certainly lead to the filing of indictments against everybody involved.

From now on, IDF officers should think twice about obeying an order to participate in such acts of destruction, and risk serious consequences. Officers who nevertheless decide to continue participating in these acts of destruction had better make an effort to keep their identities secret, constantly wear masks regardless of the Covid-19 situation, and in general start acting like law-breakers evading law enforcement — because that is exactly what their legal status is about to become.

Decision-makers in the State of Israel have been well aware in recent weeks that the decision of the judges in The Hague was imminent, and that President Trump – who tried to intimidate the International Court by series of blatant threats – is no longer in the White House. It is surprising that in such a situation the decision-makers continued to order soldiers and officers to go on destroying Palestinian homes, when knowing that those who carry out such orders may have to pay a heavy price.

Defense Minister Gantz should look up from his clashes with the Prime Minister and his party’s precarious electoral situation, and think about the consequences of the Hague judges’ decision — the consequences for himself personally, both regarding his former position as Army Chief of Staff and his present one as Defense Minister, and the changing judicial situation of the soldiers and officers for whom he is responsible as being in charge of Israel’s military system.

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​​​Mexico: Vaccination registry excludes important sectors of the population

by Amnesty International

Registration on the website that the Mexican government set up on 2 February for the vaccination of people over 60 years old requires a Unique Population Registration Number (CURP), excluding large numbers of the population who do not have this document, and thus putting public health at risk, warned the Alianza Movilidad Inclusiva en la Pandemia, a coalition of more than 30 organizations and shelters in Mexico and Central America, led by the Instituto para las Mujeres en la Migración, AC (IMUMI), the Grupo de Monitoreo Independiente del Salvador (GMIES) and Amnesty International.

“The COVID-19 vaccine should not be subject to a single document as there is no universal form of identification in Mexico, where the state has substituted this on a discretional basis with National Electoral Institute credentials, passports, and in this case the CURP. To make it so is to leave in limbo the migrant population, deported Mexicans, binational people who have not been able to prove their Mexican nationality for lack of an apostille, indigenous internal migrants, and those who, due to conditions of exclusion or the backwardness of municipal institutions, have not been able to acquire a birth certificate or have theirs corrected,” said Gretchen Kuhner, director of IMUMI, on behalf of the Alliance.

The organizations denounce that the Mexican government has not made public any plan to allow people who do not have a CURP to access vaccinations. They also note that throughout the pandemic the Mexican government, through the National Migration Institute and in the absence of sanitary vigilance, has failed to provide people on the move with effective access to health care or measures to stop the spread of the virus.

In Central American countries such as Guatemala, El Salvador and Costa Rica, similar failures have been observed to include migrants, deportees and other sectors of the population in vaccination plans, by requiring documents that not everyone in those places has.

“Access to the vaccine for everyone, including those on the move across different countries in Central America, regardless of their migratory status, is crucial. It must be provided without discrimination. It’s not a privilege, it’s about guaranteeing a level playing field,” said Vinicio Sandoval, executive director of GMIES.

“We call on the governments of Mexico and Central America, especially on their health authorities, to coordinate the management of pathways to vaccination, putting people’s needs at the forefront of their policies without exceptions and with differentiated approaches to gender, the need for international protection and movement, to ensure no one is left behind,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International.

“These authorities must generate health policies and vaccination plans that are inclusive in practice, to avoid putting public health at risk at national and regional level. Health is a human right that cannot be denied to anyone for any reason, including their nationality or immigration status.”

[Editor’s note: Panama faces many of the same issues, and will even more so with our land borders reopened.]

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Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) speaks during a press conference on January 30, 2019, as Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Repsresentatives Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), and Ken Buck (R-Co.) stand around him as a bipartisan group announced reintroduction of a joint Senate and House resolution to end US support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen. Photo from the Office of Senator Bernie Sanders.

A tribute to ‘so many activists over the years’

by Andrea Germanos — Common Dreams

Senator Bernie Sanders was among those welcoming the White House announcement Thursday that the United States will limit its role in the Saudi-led war on Yemen by ending support for “offensive operations,” with the Vermont Independent calling the development “a tribute to the work of so many activists over the years.”

“Yemen needs food, medicine, and healthcare — not bombs and blockades,” the senator tweeted.

In a statement, Sanders pointed to the legislative effort he undertook three years ago along with Senators Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah ) to end US participation in the bombing campaign of Yemen — now in its sixth year — as well as sustained activism by peace advocates.

“For many years, activists in Yemen and around the world have worked to bring an end to the devastating Saudi-led war in Yemen, which has led to the world’s worst humanitarian crisis,” said Sanders.

“In 2018,” he continued, “I helped lead an effort to pass the first War Powers Resolution in history, calling for the United States to end its unauthorized participation in that war.”

President Joe Biden also announced Thursday that career diplomat Timothy Lenderking would serve as special envoy to Yemen, which was also welcomed by Sanders.

Today’s announcement that the White House will end military support for the Saudi-led war in the Yemen war is a tribute to the work of so many activists over the years.

Yemen needs food, medicine, and health care—not bombs and blockades. pic.twitter.com/TllHHnK93z

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) February 4, 2021

“Today’s announcement by President Biden that the United States will end support for offensive operations in the Yemen war, and his naming of a Special Envoy to help resolve this conflict and bring aid and reconstruction to Yemen, are important steps,” said Sanders, “and a tribute to the work of so many activists over the years.”

At his Thursday speech at the State Department, Biden said that in addition to a halt on support for offensive operations, the United States would end “relevant arms sales” and back a ceasefire effort to help end what he called a “humanitarian and strategic catastrophe.”

As the Associated Press reported,

While withdrawing support for Saudi offensive operations in Yemen, the Biden administration said it intends to help the kingdom boost its defenses against any further attacks from Yemen’s Houthis or outside adversaries. The assurance is seen as part of an effort to persuade Saudi Arabia and other combatants to end the conflict overall.

Despite such caveats to Thursday’s announcement, MPower Change campaign director Sijal Nasralla said in a statement that it still represents “a real, monumental victory.”

“We celebrate this massive step forward even knowing that under the war on terror, the United States will still have carte blanche to bomb Yemen, even if the immense suffering from this particular campaign ends,” he said. “We also know that we must end the forever wars, and the Authorization for Use of Military Force that legally powers it.”

Like Sanders, Nasralla gave a “massive thank you” to international peace activists “who began the effort under the Obama administration, kept it up under Trump, and have brought us to this moment under Biden.”

“Let’s remember,” he said, that “this coalition effort saw one of the only real votes in Congress in decades to curb US imperialism,” referring to Sanders’ war powers resolution. “Trump vetoed it then, but it helped lay the groundwork for this moment.”

Nasralla called for continued pressure “to push the US to end all of its forever wars.”

In a statement last month Shireen Al-Adeimi, a Yemeni-American and an assistant professor at Michigan State University, urged the new administration to ensure that a full end to US complicity in the war.

“I call on President Biden to end every aspect of this war,” Al-Adeimi said. “One day, Yemenis will have a chance to pick up the pieces and chart their own course, free of international meddling and intervention.”

US support for the war, which began under the Obama-Biden administration, has been linked to alleged war crimes in Yemen.

The United Nations has repeatedly warned that Yemen has been pushed to the brink of famine, and considers the country the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The war has killed, directly or indirectly, an estimated 230,000 Yemenis, the UN says.

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