We,
Israeli citizens, write to express our support for South Africa’s
proceedings before the ICJ claiming that Israel’s conduct in Gaza
violates its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The materials that emerge from
South Africa’s application are horrific and credible. Israel is taking
systematic steps to wipe out the population of Gaza, to starve them, to
abuse them and to displace them. It implements a policy of erasing life
possibilities, and Tsher leads to genocide. It systematically kills
large sections of the population, leading academics, writers, doctors,
medical staff, journalists and ordinary citizens.
We
join the double concern expressed in the proceedings that Israel
violates its obligations by committing genocide against Palestinians in
Gaza, and by failing to prevent the genocide, including by failing to
hold senior Israeli officials and others accountable for their direct
and public incitement to genocide. We also join the applicants
requesting a series of “provisional measures,” including that Israel
immediately suspend its military operations in Gaza.
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Initiators
of the opetition include social worker Lior Kay, as well as Dr. Anat
Matar and peace activist Yonathan Pollak. Lior Kay says: "Shortly after
launching the petition we already got hundreds of signatures, and more
keep coming in. We know that in the public mood prevailing nowadays in
Israel, our initiative may provoke anger and outrage and we may face
oppressive measures by the authorities, as was done against many Israeli
citizens who expressed opposition to the war or even simple compassion
for the many dead of Gaza. Still, we are bound to take this
conscientious step, in face of the atrocities perpetrated every day and
even every hour by our country.
As
noted also in South Africa's suit, the horrors perpetrated by Hamas on
October 7 offer no justification whatsoever for the complete destruction
of the Gaza Strip, the killing of 22,000 people including thousands of
children, and the expulsion two million people from their homes to live
under the open sky in terrible conditions of hunger and rampant
disease."
Contact: Dr. Anat Matar: +972-52-8560001