May this Tribunal prevent the crime of silence
May this Tribunal prevent the crime of silence
Revival of a People's Tribunal on Palestine
Synopsis
Israel’s crimes against the Palestinians - Who do you believe?
If not the ICJ, ICC, NGOs, UN - all speaking in unison on the clear and present plausibility or presence of genocide never mind apartheid and systematic long term abuse from the Israeli State. Who then?
All lies. All of course antisemitic - according to Israel.
In the face of continued distrust in international organisations and the motives of our own Governments - a Civil Society forum through a reformed Russell Tribunal on Palestine (modelled on an early 2012 forum examined in this article) would again bring the discussion closer to the people rather than remote in New York or Brussels and would be of tremendous value.
This article looks at the original Russell Tribunal with a view to considering how a current day Tribunal of Global Civil Society might run a more specific forum for events from and including October 7th to today, six months later.
Contents
Appendices & Related Articles
Appendix A - Summary of RToP findings on Israel’s Breaches of International Law
Appendix B - Findings documents from the Russell Tribunal on Palestine
Appendix C - YouTube Playlist of Video Excerpts from the 2012 UN Presentation
Foreword
Note that the principal prompt for writing this article was reading a piece in John Menadue’s excellent “Pearls and Irritations” Public Policy Journal “We need a People’s Tribunal on Palestine & Gaza”1.
Menadue referred to Richard Falk’s comments (former Special Rapporteur to the UN on Israeli Violations of Human Rights 2008-20142 - predecessor to Francesca Albanese) in the Euro Med Human Rights Monitor publications3:
“An initiative worth carefully considering would be timely establishment of a People’s Tribunal on the Question of Genocide initiated by global persons of conscience. Such tribunals were established in relation to many issues that the formal governance structures failed to address in satisfactory ways. Important examples are the Russell Tribunal convened in 1965-66 to assess legal responsibilities of the U.S. in the Vietnam War and the Iraq War Tribunal of 2005 in response to the U.S. and U.K. attack and occupation of Iraq commencing in 2003.
Such a tribunal on Gaza could clarify and document what happened on and subsequently to October 7. By taking testimony of witnesses, it could provide an opportunity for the people of the world to speak and to feel represented in ways that governments and international procedures are unable to given their entanglement with geopolitical hegemony in relation to international criminal law and structures of global governance.”
Interestingly - Falk and Menadue didn’t refer to the fact there had already been an extensive Global Russell Tribunal specifically on Palestine between 2010-2013.
Perhaps this is because in Falk’s position as UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine between 2008-2014 he would have had to keep at arms’ length from this Tribunal but looking back the findings are very much in line with the UN’s own findings even today.
This article looks at the original Russell Tribunal with a view to considering how a current day Tribunal of Global Civil Society might run a more specific forum for events from and including October 7th to today, six months later.
2008 Version of “but Hamas” and “it started on October 7th…”
Roger Waters of Pink Floyd fame addressed the UN General Assembly on 29th November 2012, presenting the findings of a series of international forums examining the Palestinian situation called “The Russell Tribunal on Palestine”
As he wearily opened with “As I speak, I can hear the tut, tutting of governmental and media tongues trotting out the well worn mantra of the apologists, but “Hamas started IT with their rocket attacks, Israel is only defending itself” referring to the then 2008 massacre of Israel’s Operation Cast Lead.
The operation was called a “heavy-handed massacre” by Amnesty International in its subsequent report - the Israelis then of course pleading it was all started by Hamas rocket attacks. Noting then as now the actual trigger was Israel’s brutal oppression of then 60 years.
Sound familiar? We’re talking about the same repeated situation but now on a different horrendous scale 13 years later….
Perhaps the technological advances permitting the live streaming of the current horrific events and global transparency of a more aware civil society are finally getting an inroads into this injustice and the hypocrisy of the states and institutions protecting Israel’s atrocities.
How history repeats itself in particular with regard to the Palestinian situation.
What is a People’s Tribunal?
In 1965 philosopher Bertrand Russell brought together people’s of conscience to form a People’s Tribunal on Vietnam charging the US with genocide.
From 2010-2014 a number of international sessions took place in a Russell Tribunal on Palestine (RToP) - echoing then what we read in the current ICJ, ICC and UN cases on Israel’s current and historic treatment of the Palestinians but in a broader context.
A strong argument would be for a truly independent global group to be reformed today to shine a light on Israel’s activities and augment the more formal findings of the various investigatory bodies whose mandate is often restricted by political motivations.
Russell Tribunal on Palestine (RToP) - Background
Triggers to instigating the Russell Tribunal on Palestine were failures of the international community to respond to:
2004 International Court of Justice 1067-page Advisory Opinion on the illegality of Israel’s separation barrier with recommendations to remove. The ICC report was requested by the UN General Assembly. No action taken4.
2008 Israel Gaza War “Operation Cast Lead” - lack of action in the face of human rights abuses by Israel during the 2008 Gaza War and broader human rights abuses in the occupied territories detailed in the 2009 Report by the UN Human Rights Council5 plus a separate comprehensive report on Israel’s atrocities by Amnesty International6.
The focus of the Tribunal was not only on Israel’s responsibility for the suffering inflicted on Palestinians but also the complicity of States, Corporations and International Bodies.
Methodology and Scope of sessions
The Tribunal was broken in to four different sessions in different international cities each with a particular focus.
In each Tribunal a panel of judges with different legal, cultural and political backgrounds heard the testimonies of experts witnesses and posed questions to each witness.
The scope of each session was:
🇪🇸 Barcelona March 2010 - the EU’s failure to meet its responsibilities
🇬🇧 London November 2010 - corporate complicity
🇿🇦 Cape Town November 2011 - applicability to Israel of the Crime of Apartheid (noting South Africa as at 2024 taking Israel to the ICJ for Genocide and submitting strong Apartheid evidence to the ICJ in the separate Occupation Illegality case)
🇺🇸 New York October 2012 - the role of the UN and the United States (with presentation to the United Nations)
🇧🇪 Brussels March 2013 - Conclusions
In addition to the above after the 2014 Israeli massacre of over 2000 civilians in a week as part of “Operation Protective Edge” a special session of the Tribunal was also set up in Brussels March 2014 to discuss.
Notably this 2014 operation is currently an active case with the International Criminal Court and was only commenced in 2021 some 7 years after the event (Case ICC-01/18 Situation in the State of Palestine).
Tribunal Members and Expert Testimony
The Tribunal Members consisted of a core group who attended all sessions, plus guest members in each location and subject matter experts giving testimony and answering cross-examination by the Tribunal.
Core Tribunal Members (all sessions):
Michael Mansfield QC, barrister, President of the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers, United Kingdom
John Dugard, Professor of International Law, Former Special rapporteur for both UN Commission on Human Rights and International Law Commission
José Antonio Martin Pallin, emeritus judge, Chamber II, Supreme Court, Spain
Gisèle Halimi, lawyer, former Ambassador to UNESCO, France
Cynthia McKinney, former member of the US Congress and 2008 presidential candidate, Green Party, USA
Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Nobel Peace laureate 1976, Northern Ireland
Ronald Kasrils, writer and activist, South Africa
Aminata Traoré, author and former Minister of Culture of Mali
Ancillary Guest Members (individual sessions):
Alberto San Juan, actor, Spain (Barcelona)
Alice Walker, Author and Activist, USA (Cape Town)
Yasmin Sooka, Director of the Foundation for Human Rights, South Africa (Cape Town)
Dennis Banks, activist and writer, co-founder of American Indian Movement (New York)
Miguel Angel Estrella, Argentine Pianist and UNESCO goodwill ambassador (New York)
Stephane Hessel, Ambassadeur de France and former French resistant (New York)
Roger Waters, founding member of the band Pink Floyd; a songwriter, bass guitar player and vocalist (New York)
Lord Anthony Gifford QC, British hereditary peer and senior barrister (Brussels)
Expert Testimony
With Tribunal Members in place, expert witnesses, speakers and presenters were called to give first-hand testimonies in their sphere of influence to the Tribunal.
These included:
Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Max Du Plessis (who presented for South Africa in the ICJ Genocide Case 2024)
Richard Hermer QC
Dr. William Bourdon (Legal Scholar)
Dr. Dalit Baum (Israel) - on international business practices in the occupied territories
Impact statements from various Palestinians and contractors involved in companies building the wall and settlements
Palestinian and Israeli NGO staff and representatives
The subject matter experts presented findings, views, parallels with other conflicts and first hand accounts of the impacts to the Tribunal.
🇮🇱 Invitation to Shimon Peres
Shimon Peres, then Prime Minister of Israel, was invited to the final session to review the outcomes. Needless to say no reply was forthcoming.
Tribunal Outcomes
The Tribunal produced a number of outcomes - with a focus identifying all parties violating or complicit in violation of international law, and recommended actions.
International Law Breaches
Each of the sessions was run referring to the breaches of international law that Israel had committed verified by legal experts on the Tribunal and various external subject matter legal experts.
This gave them a practical basis to target conversations and review.
The breaches of international law by Israel by the Tribunal’s legal experts are listed in APPENDIX A below.
Findings, Charges & Recommended Actions
Each of the sessions produced detailed findings, charges and recommended actions in the subject matter under investigation, incorporating the testimony from statements and cross-examination by the Tribunal of expert subject matter experts from the particular area of examination in each forum.
These are excellent documents - a lot more wide-ranging and direct that other limited mandated institutional investigations, often restricted for political or other purposes.
This gives a holistic, complete and practical action plan to address the issue at hand.
Links to all outcomes documents from each session are listed in APPENDIX B below.
🇺🇸🇺🇳 UN Address by the Russell Tribunal - November 2012
The New York Tribunal specifically dealt with the UN and the United States complicity supporting Israel’s actions in Palestine. After the main Tribunal the team summarised the findings to date to present back to the United Nations.
On 29th November the UN International Day of Solidarity with The Palestinian People Roger Waters addressed the UN General Assembly at the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP).
This was ahead of a vote at the General Assembly on awarding Palestine “Non-Member Observer State” status at the UN - which was passed overwhelmingly (138-9 with 41 exemptions7 8).
Waters presented the findings of the international Tribunals to date to the General Assembly. See his powerful closing remarks in the video above covering:
Awareness: continuing to make US citizens aware of where their tax payer’s dollars are going in enabling Israel’s violations
United Nations Reform: Reform of the UNSC - impossible to be functional with a biased veto system plain from empirical proof
Support for Palestine’s ascension to observer-state status (duly granted by large majority post the meeting)
A link to a series of short video excerpts from other salient parts of Water’s speech are listed in APPENDIX C below.
Civil Society Forums Today
In the face of continued distrust in international organisations and the motives of our own Governments - a Civil Society forum through a reformed Russell Tribunal on Palestine (specifically on the genocide including events of October 7th) would again bring the discussion closer to the peoples rather than remote in New York or Brussels and would be of tremendous value.
Unlike the original RToP which seemed to fizzle out somewhat - NGOs should be falling in behind the aggregated outcomes of such a forum, with an ongoing co-ordinated action plan here, in the face of inaction by our institutions.
The United Nations themselves organise a few large events:
Core Civil Society Conference: Bringing together “the Third UN” - a network of NGOs to discuss a particular topic of interest. Regular Annual Events
Emergency Conferences: 3-4 April 2024 The Conference of Civil Society Organisations working on the Question of Palestine: - an event bringing together NGOs urgently to discuss Palestine in particular with respect to Gaza.
Here is a local Australian Rep from The Australian Centre for International Justice Executive Director Rawan Arraf presenting at the conference, discussing amongst other items the military contracts with Israeli companies the Government is pursuing in Australia - see link here.
Russell Tribunal 2.0 - Examining pro-Israeli Influence
It is proposed still that a new separate Russell Tribunal should take place.
The United Nations itself is still viewed with mistrust as an institution and again the proceedings take place remotely in New York or Geneva so remote from the peoples. There is also no “judgement” per se delivered - more reporting and discussion, albeit informing relief actions.
In this day and age - most awfully - citizen involvement and a bit of “theatre” with prominent members of the humanitarian community in different areas of the globe - as with the original Russell Tribunal - is more likely to garner attention and some traction.
As with the original Russell Tribunal the sessions would be split into different topics ancillary to the occupation of Palestine, complicit in the crimes. For example one of the original sessions in London focused on corporate complicity.
It is recommended that a session be dedicated to looking at the unfolding events over the Gaza crisis and to look at just how public opinion was manipulated and how politicians and media were manipulated to garner support for Israel in the initial phases.
The reason is simply the embedded influence of pro-Israeli interests in the main allies of Israel, principally the AUKUS Alliance but further. Examining how this influence perpetuated would be key in taking steps to scale back influence and preventing such influence again.
Previously this subject was taboo - with automatic accusations of “the old trope of a global Jewish conspiracy” and of course antisemitic. Now public opinion is clear on the difference between “Jewish” and “Israeli” and notes that the propaganda and influence machine in allied countries of Israel is pro-Israeli State. The subject is no longer taboo because it is simply a foreign influence operation, such as Russia, China or indeed corporate influence by organisations such as Big Oil or the NRA.
Examining the influence lobby would be a useful template to prevent future influence operations by any actors and could be applied to checklist foreign influence in upcoming national elections for example, ideally augmenting or replacing the existing Government integrity operations which are clearly inadequate (e.g. Australia’s Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme - FITS - that pro-Israeli lobbies should have been registered with from Day 1).
There are articles below looking specifically at pro-Israeli lobby operations in the US and Australia as a good reference to begin the analysis, looking at their part in the crisis over the period and the impact of the influence in prolonging the crisis:
The AUKUS nations in turn and lobbying organisation in each country, all quoting publicly available references from reputable sources for factual information:
🇦🇺 AUSTRALIA: Pro-Israeli Lobbying Influence in Australia:
🇬🇧 UNITED KINGDOM: UK: Upcoming Proposed Censorship Law Changes and the Bias of Ministers involved:
🇺🇸 USA: Pro-Israeli Influence across multiple powerful institutions in the US:
And the phraseology of spokespeople and lobbyists, as we’ve seen through the crisis from pro-Israeli Advocates in either Government positions or on social media or indeed from Israeli Government spokespeople.
The actual written formula for discussing effectively and concisely with particular emotive language to use has been revealed in leaked documents in the US and Australia as article below, reviewing Israeli Government spokesperson during the Gaza Crisis Eylon Levy as an exemplar:
The Language of lobbying: Defending the Indefensible:
All of the above is worth analysing and presenting in a separate session to educate the public and formalise the transparency of the influence and by its nature would force change or at least the implementation of checks and balances.
It won’t be legally binding of course - but what it will do is capture the public’s attention and name and shame in a prominent and independent forum that cannot be corrupted by obfuscation - the long history of atrocities committed by the State of Israel.
The Gunner’s Dream
In the original Russell Tribunal on Palestine in 2012, as part of his address to the UN, Waters read the lyrics to one of his songs “The Gunner’s Dream”.
The song expresses the dying dream of an RAF Gunner as he plunges to his death from a stricken aircraft towards the corner of some foreign field. He dreams of the future for which he is giving his life.
A place to stay
Enough to eat
Somewhere old heroes shuffle safely down the street
Where you can speak out loud about your doubts and fears
And what’s more
No one ever disappears you never hear their standard issue
Kicking in your door.
You can relax on both sides of the tracks
And maniacs, don’t blow holes, in bandsmen by remote control
And everyone has recourse to the law
And no one kills the children anymore
No one kills the children anymore.
Perhaps we can find some humanity and a way forward.
We can only hope.
Epilogue: What happened to Roger Waters
Roger Waters has been a lifelong advocate for Palestinian Rights, evidenced in his activism and his involvement in the Russell Tribunal with his spokesperson role at the UN.
A thinly-veiled Hollywood pro-Israel lobby group, generically misnamed “The Creative Coalition for Peace”, had been gunning for him for years as a vocal and very visible advocate of Palestinian rights despite his balanced address at the UN in 2012 where he called out and condemned Hamas’s illegal indiscriminate rocket attacks on Israel:
Naturally finding an emotional angle the pro-Israeli lobby accusing his stage performances of being antisemitic.
Waters responded defending his stage show, noting that “The Wall” authoritarian (NOT Nazi) song had been performed for 40 years and is and always has been an allegory in opposition to fascism - and just now is being accused of antisemitism, he says due to his pro-Palestinian views (note this interview was months before the current conflict)
After October 7th they escalated their campaign against Waters, taking advantage of the McCarthyite hysteria over antisemitism, continuing to accuse him of this (read: highly visible pro-Palestine activist: silence) and demand his publisher Sony BMG drop him from their label9.
Finally in January 2024 Sony BMG caved and dropped Waters10.
When you write it down - the manipulation is so transparent of a thoroughly decent humanitarian. You can only hope in the coming years there is a huge backlash against this lobby so prevalent across civil society.
Appendix A - Summary of RToP findings on Israel’s Breaches of International Law
Note the RToP findings on Israel’s violations of international law listed in this section were as at 2012.
The following 12 years have been particularly traumatic for the Palestinians. Israel’s violations of international law to current date are noted in the article below.
Israel’s Breaches: A more detailed article; at-source documented history of Israel’s breaches of International Law to date plus he legal protections for:
Palestinian Rights to Self Determination
Resistance
The Right of Return
All are referenced to appropriate international law and/or accompanying UN Resolution mandates.
RToP 2012 Findings
Each of the Tribunal’s examined a different aspect of the Palestine situation but all opened with a summary of Israel’s breaches of international law in this section.
Occupation & Prevention of Self-Determination
Prevention of Self-Determination: by maintaining a form of domination and subjugation over the Palestinians that prevents them from freely determining their political status, Israel violates the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination inasmuch as it is unable to exercise its sovereignty on the territory which belongs to it; this violates the Declaration on the granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples (A/Res. 1514(XV), 14 Dec. 1960) and all UN General Assembly resolutions that have reaffirmed the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination since 1969 (A/Res. 2535 B (XXIV), 10 Dec. 1969, and, inter alia, A/Res. 3236 (XXIX), 22 Nov. 1974, 52/114, 12 Dec. 1997, etc);
Occupation: by occupying Palestinian territories since June 1967 and refusing to leave them, Israel violates the Security Council resolutions that demand its withdrawal from the territories concerned (SC/Res. 242, 22 Nov. 1967; 338, 22 Oct. 1973);
In summary - violating the UN Security Council (UNSC) resolutions requiring Israel to withdraw from the Occupied Territory (87 resolutions to this day) and the UN Charter which obliges the member states to “carry out the decisions of the Security Council” (Art. 25).
Annexation: by annexing Jerusalem in July 1980 and maintaining the annexation, Israel violates the prohibition of the acquisition of territory by force, as stated by the Security Council (SC/Res. 478, 20 August 1980);
Gaza Occupation: The Tribunal notes that the Occupied Palestinian Territory refers to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as well as the Gaza Strip, since Israel’s 2005 withdrawal did not end the occupation of the 140-square-mile territory. This appears from the fact that Israel still maintains effective control, per Article 42 of the Hague Regulation, of all air and maritime spaces of the Gaza Strip, as well as control along the land border and inside the Gaza Strip, a 300 m wide buffer zone (600 and 1500 m wide in some places) which is a no-go zone depriving Gaza of 35 percent of its cultivable areas;
Blockade: by maintaining a blockade on the Gaza Strip in breach of the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 12 August 1949 (art. 33), which prohibits collective punishment;
Natural Resources: Violation of the Palestinian people’s right to their natural resources and wealth through the Israeli use of Palestinian agricultural land, the exploitation of Palestinian water reserves and preventing Palestinian access to more than 10 percent of their safe drinking water reserves (A/RES/64/292);
Settlement Building: by systematically building settlements in Jerusalem and the West Bank, Israel breaches the rules of international humanitarian law governing occupation, in particular article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 12 August 1949, by which Israel has been bound since 6 July 1951.
Violating the Right of Return: Violation of customary law, human rights norms (A/RES/194/III, § 11 and customary IHL as codified by the ICRC in 2005, Rule 132, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Art. 12(2)) by prohibiting the return of Palestinian refugees to their homes;
In Summary: Violation of the prohibition of discrimination based on national origin through Israeli policies and practices akin to apartheid (2011 Cape Town findings of this Tribunal), which have denied Palestinians a functioning nationality both within Israel proper as well as in the Occupied Territory and beyond.
Apartheid
Apartheid Acts: by pursuing a policy of systematic discrimination against Palestinians present in Israeli territory or in the occupied territories, Israel commits acts that may be characterized as apartheid; these acts include the following:
- closure of the borders of the Gaza Strip and restrictions on the freedom of movement of its inhabitants;
- prevention of the return of Palestinian refugees to their home or land of origin;
- prohibition on the free use by Palestinians of certain natural resources such as the watercourses within their land;
given the discriminatory nature of these measures, since they are based, inter alia, on the nationality of the persons to whom they are applied, the Tribunal finds that they present features comparable to apartheid, even though they do not emanate from an identical political regime to that prevailing in South Africa prior to 1994; these measures are characterized as criminal acts by the Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid of 18 July 1976 which, though it is not binding on Israel, does not exonerate Israel in that regard;:
Apartheid Acts: by pursuing a policy of systematic discrimination against Palestinians present in Israeli territory or in the occupied territories, Israel commits acts that may be characterized as apartheid; these acts include the following:
- closure of the borders of the Gaza Strip and restrictions on the freedom of movement of its inhabitants;
- prevention of the return of Palestinian refugees to their home or land of origin;
- prohibition on the free use by Palestinians of certain natural resources such as the watercourses within their land;
given the discriminatory nature of these measures, since they are based, inter alia, on the nationality of the persons to whom they are applied, the Tribunal finds that they present features comparable to apartheid, even though they do not emanate from an identical political regime to that prevailing in South Africa prior to 1994; these measures are characterized as criminal acts by the Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid of 18 July 1976 which, though it is not binding on Israel, does not exonerate Israel in that regard;
Constructing Illegal Wall: by constructing a Wall in the West Bank on Palestinian territory that it occupies, Israel denies the Palestinians access to their own land, violates their property rights and seriously restricts the freedom of movement of the Palestinian population, thereby violating article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Israel has been a party since 3 October 1991; the illegality of the construction of the Wall was confirmed by the International Court of Justice in its Advisory Opinion of 9 July 2004, which was endorsed by the UN General Assembly in its resolution ES-10/15;
In Summary: Violation of fundamental rights and freedoms such as freedom of movement, freedom of religion, right to work, to health and to education because of the Israeli Wall and checkpoints in the Occupied Territory which prevent Palestinians from having free access to their workplaces, schools, health services and religious places (1966 Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Art. 12 and 18; id. on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Art. 6, 12, 13);
Punishment
Targeted Killings: by pursuing a policy of targeted killings against Palestinians whom it describes as “terrorists” without first attempting to arrest them, Israel violates the right to life of the persons concerned, a right enshrined in article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;
Disproportionate attacks: military attacks against civilians, indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks against Gaza and Palestinian refugee camps (customary international humanitarian law, ICRC Compendium Rules 1 and 14);
Prohibited Weapons & Military Conduct: by inflicting extensive and serious damage, especially on persons and civilian property, and by using prohibited methods of combat during operation “Cast Lead” in Gaza (December 2008 – January 2009).
Criminally Sanctioned Violations
Among these violations of international law, several of them are criminally sanctioned:
war crimes (Israeli settlements, inhumane treatment, torture, indiscriminate attacks, home demolitions, forced population transfers, collective punishment, 1996 ILC Draft Code of crimes against the peace and security of mankind, Art. 20; 4th GC, Art. 147, Rome Statute, Art. 8)
crimes against humanity (persecution defined by the International Criminal Court (ICC) Statute cited here as an expression of international custom, Art. 7)
the crime of apartheid (1973 UN Convention, Art. 1
Because of their systematic, numerous, flagrant and, sometimes criminal character, these violations are of a particularly high gravity.
Appendix B - Findings documents from the Russell Tribunal on Palestine
🇪🇸 Barcelona March 2010 - the EU’s failure to meet its responsibilities: https://www.russelltribunalonpalestine.com/en/sessions/barcelona-session/findings.html
🇬🇧 London November 2010 - corporate complicity: https://www.russelltribunalonpalestine.com/en/sessions/london-session/findings.html
🇿🇦 Cape Town November 2011 - applicability to Israel of the Crime of Apartheid: https://www.russelltribunalonpalestine.com/en/sessions/south-africa/south-africa-session-—-full-findings.html
🇺🇸 New York October 2012 - the role of the UN and the United States (with presentation to the United Nations): https://www.russelltribunalonpalestine.com/en/sessions/future-sessions/new-york-session-full-findings.html
🇧🇪 Brussels March 2013 - Final Conclusions: https://www.russelltribunalonpalestine.com/en/sessions/final-session/findings-of-the-final-session.html
🇧🇪 Brussels September 2014 - Extraordinary Session Conclusions on Israel’s 2014 Operation Protective Edge murderous assault (currently being prosecuted at the ICC as Case ICC-01/18 Situation in the State of Palestine when the investigation finally commenced some 7 years later in 2021): https://www.russelltribunalonpalestine.com/en/sessions/extraordinary-session-brussels/findings.html
Appendix C - YouTube Playlist of Video Excerpts from the 2012 UN Presentation
☮️📺 Sleekit Scotsman YouTube Playlist - playlist of short video excerpts from Waters’s 2012 speech to the UN. Videos:
History repeats itself: The 2008 version of “but Hamas” and “it started on October 7th”
🇺🇳☮️ “Antisemitic” @rogerwaters at the UN condemns illegal Hamas rocket attacks into Israel
🇺🇳☮️ @rogerwaters addressing the UN in 2012 calls out the US on misusing its veto 🇺🇸🚫 #UNGC
🇺🇳☮️ BDS: Roger Waters addressing the UN in 2012 talking about the BDS Movement after the failure of UN Resolutions to hold Israel to account 🚫🇮🇱
🇺🇳☮️ @rogerwaters closing remarks on his 2012 Address to the UN General Assembly
@rogerwaters at the UN 2012 quoting a Pink Floyd peace song 🇺🇳☮️🕊️
📚 Related Articles:
Adas, Jane. "Russell Tribunal on Palestine examines roles of U.N. and U.S." Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, vol. 32, no. 1, Jan.-Feb. 2013, pp. 18 https://www.wrmea.org/2013-january-february/russell-tribunal-on-palestine-examines-roles-of-u.n.-and-u.s.html
Substack Articles:
🇮🇱🇺🇸 UNITED STATES: Israeli Lobby in the US including the Hollywood lobby that got Roger Waters sacked and the US Veto in the UN:
🇦🇺 AUSTRALIA: Pro-Israeli Lobbying Influence in Australia:
🇬🇧 UNITED KINGDOM: UK: Upcoming Proposed Censorship Law Changes and the Bias of Ministers involved:
The Language of lobbying: Defending the Indefensible:
Comprehensive at-source documented history of Israel’s breaches of International Law and the legal protections for Palestinian Rights to Self Determination, Resistance and the Right of Return:
Current state of manipulating the media narrative to defend Israel’s actions:
Sanctions on Israel - what SHOULD be happening:
BDS Movement and practical actions in Australia:
Pearls and Irritations: Mar 28 2024 “We need a People’s Tribunal on Palestine and Gaza“ John Menadue - https://johnmenadue.com/we-need-a-peoples-tribunal-on-palestine-and-gaza
UN Human Right Office of the High Commissioner - “Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967“ - https://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/sr-palestine
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, Richard Falk (Chairman of Euro-Med Monitor Board of Trustees) 25 Feb 2024 - “In Gaza, the west is enabling the most transparent genocide in human history“ - https://euromedmonitor.org/en/article/6184/In-Gaza,-the-west-is-enabling-the-most-transparent-genocide-in-human-history
International Court of Justice Case 131 9 July 2004 “Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory“ https://www.icj-cij.org/case/131
United Nations General Assembly A/HRC/12/48 25 September 2009 “HUMAN RIGHTS IN PALESTINE AND OTHER OCCUPIED ARAB TERRITORIES: Report of the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict“ - https://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/12session/a-hrc-12-48.pdf
Amnesty International Report July 2 2009 - “Operation Cast Lead: 22 days of death and destruction” - https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/MDE15/015/2009/en/
UN Press Release 29 Nov 2012 - “General Assembly Votes Overwhelmingly to Accord Palestine ‘ Non-Member Observer State’ Status in United Nations“ - https://press.un.org/en/2012/ga11317.doc.htm
UN A/RES/67/19 29 Nov 2012 - “Status of Palestine in the United Nations“ - https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/n12/479/74/pdf/n1247974.pdf
Creative Coalition for Peace website Nov 14 2023 “Roger Water’s label asked to break with him“ - https://www.creativecommunityforpeace.com/blog/2023/11/14/roger-waters-label-is-asked-to-break-with-him
The Guardian 31 Jan 2024 - “Roger Waters dropped by BMG over Israel Comments“ - https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/jan/30/bmg-pink-floyd-roger-waters-antisemitic-comments