Now the UN says Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, too. How can western governments still refuse to act? | Steve Crawshaw
The UN commission of inquiry’s report makes it almost impossible for Israel – and its allies – to maintain the narrative that criticism of it is part of an antisemitic plot
The conclusion of a UN commission of inquiry that Israel has committed genocide in the war in Gaza, and that its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and other Israeli leaders are responsible for inciting that genocide, changes little in legal terms. The international court of justice (ICJ) in The Hague has yet to issue its final ruling in the genocide case that South Africa brought against Israel last year.
Politically, however, this latest report (officially a “conference room paper”, intended to aid discussion of the themes) may prove to be one of the final nails in the coffin of the shameless but still-continuing narrative from Netanyahu and his allies that any talk of Israeli crimes is part of an antisemitic plot – or, to use Netanyahu’s favourite phrase, “a blood libel”.
Steve Crawshaw is the author of Prosecuting the Powerful: War Crimes and the Battle for Justice. He is a former chief foreign correspondent at the Independent and former UK director at Human Rights Watch
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