[News] Israel’s extortion leaflets and Namecheap: How to do corporate accountability during a genocide

[Anti-Imperialist News]

mondoweiss.net
<https://mondoweiss.net/2024/05/israels-extortion-leaflets-and-namecheap-how-to-do-corporate-accountability-during-a-genocide/?ml_recipient=121941933634356718&ml_link=121941887488624352&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2024-05-21&utm_campaign=Daily+Headlines+RSS+Automation>
Israel’s extortion leaflets and Namecheap: How to do corporate
accountability during a genocide
Tali Shapiro
May 20, 2024
------------------------------
[image: GNyD344XYAEBsS3.jpg]
[image: Photo of the extortion leaflet the Israeli military dropped over
Gaza that includes a QR code leading to a website registered by U.S.-based
Internet registrar company NameCheap. (Photo: Social Media)] Photo of the
extortion leaflet the Israeli military dropped over Gaza that includes a QR
code leading to a website registered by U.S.-based Internet registrar
company NameCheap. (Photo: Social Media)

On Friday Israel dropped another set of leaflets on Gaza. Israel’s use of
leaflets <https://twitter.com/ytirawi/status/1732004242586493014> for its
psychological torture of the besieged Palestinian population is well known
in these genocidal days.

Ominous
<https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/israelopt-israeli-army-threats-ordering-residents-northern-gaza-leave-may-amount-war-crimes-enar>,
gloating <https://x.com/ytirawi/status/1732359003643023471>, taunting
<https://x.com/N12News/status/1780977153166688378>, and sadistic
<https://x.com/masoud_ahmed/status/1792583890403541403> messaging is
the lingua franca of these leaflets, which Israel claims is a humanitarian
effort to evacuate the civilian population. Some of the most common leaflet
content are calls to contact Israel’s secret service with information on
Hamas <https://x.com/ytirawi/status/1763654225366593857> or the Israeli
hostages <https://x.com/MuhammadSmiry/status/1748647384173752624>. The
purpose of these particular leaflets is twofold: the coercion of protected
civilians to obtain information (which is a violation of the law of armed
conflict <https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/assets/files/other/law9_final.pdf>);
but most of all, to undermine the trust and cohesion of a community under
siege and annihilation.

Friday’s leaflets took the intel-gathering genre to another level, when the
army included messaging of extortion and a list of children, among them
toddlers as targets, with the threat to reveal personal information such as
criminal records, extramarital affairs, and queer identities.

The leaflets, like much of Israel’s abuse of technology during this
genocide, included a QR code leading to a website
<https://www.alkasheffgaza.net/> with more ominous messaging, a snitch box,
and a countdown until presumably the threat of outing will be acted upon.

An anonymous group has traced the website to the domain registration
company NameCheap, and upon discovering that the company terminated their
Russian accounts
<https://x.com/bantg/status/1498400847981686800?s=20&t=w0zVGkJzZIKfwu22YN6AlA>
because of “war crimes and human rights violations,” wrote a letter (text
below) demanding similar treatment in this case, stressing the possibility
of complicity in war crimes, collective punishment, and genocide.

It’s notable that if NameCheap did take a similar step to cut off all
service to Israel, they would likely be breaking the law in Arizona
<https://legislation.palestinelegal.org/location/arizona/>, where
the company is based. However, as the ICC prosecutor breaks the news
<https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/statement-icc-prosecutor-karim-aa-khan-kc-applications-arrest-warrants-situation-state>
that
he’s applying for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders, there is a
serious argument to be made that both American and international law would
be on NameCheap’s side, as the anonymous letter points out, if the company
doesn’t remove the content it could very well be complicit in grave
international crimes. Former UN Director of Advocacy & Communications,
Chris Gunness, took to X (formerly Twitter) to point out the “mental harm”
element in the genocide convention in these particular flyers.

During these past months, as Israel’s campaign of extermination unfolds,
the obligation of states and corporate actors to act to prevent genocide
has been pointed to by the International Court of Justice
<https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/192/192-20240126-sum-01-00-en.pdf>;
the
United Nations Special Rapporteur on Palestine, Francesca Albanese
<https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2024/04/10/eu-must-suspend-ties-with-israel-to-prevent-crimes-of-genocide-in-gaza-un-rapporteur-says>
; human <https://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/22282.html> rights
<https://www.somo.nl/making-a-killing/> organizations
<https://www.badil.org/press-releases/14460.html>; and in courts
<https://www.euronews.com/2024/02/12/court-orders-netherlands-to-stop-exporting-fighter-jet-parts-to-israel-over-gaza-war>
around
the world. Companies like NameCheap, who find themselves directly embroiled
in Israel’s military operations in Gaza, may do well to ensure that they
can prove their immediate action
<https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/2/19/corporate-japan-deals-an-unwitting-blow-to-us-east-asia-policy>
to disassociate from any plausible criminal activity.

In the process of writing this article, the author has promptly been
assured by NameCheap that they have received the original complaint and
that others “understand the urgency of the matter and its importance
<https://x.com/Namecheap/status/1792588860527984946>” and that they “are
investigating the issue <https://x.com/Namecheap/status/1792602788083425379>
.”
*Letter text:*

Hello NameCheap team,

I write to you on behalf of several concerned citizens, who for their
personal safety wish to remain nameless. We are deeply concerned that your
services are being used to facilitate grave breaches of international law,
war crimes, and violations of human rights.

Yesterday it was reported (https://x.com/ytirawi/status/1791451753910526420)
that the Israeli military dropped leaflets in the Gaza Strip for the
purposes of blackmailing Gaza residents that the military will reveal
personal information (criminal records, extramarital affairs, LGBTQ
identities) unless they collaborate with them, complete with a QR code
leading to a website with a countdown timer. The website, registered with
namecheap, claims to have information on more than 9000 individuals, and
includes names, ID numbers, and pictures of young children, labeled as
“Hamas informants”.

We inform you that Israel now stands trial in the International Court of
Justice for the crime of genocide, on which the court ruled- at this early
stage- that genocide is “plausible” and “a real imminent risk” (
https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/192/192-20240126-sum-01-00-en.pdf
).

Yet another decision was issued in the United States by the Court of
Northern District of California, on the case of ‘Defense for Children
International-Palestine et al v. Biden et al’, stating that “the current
treatment of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip by the Israeli military may
plausibly constitute a genocide in violation of international law” (
https://ccrjustice.org/sites/default/files/attach/2024/01/91_1-31-24_Order-granting-MTD_w.pdf
)

I submit to you that the website in question constitutes several violations
of international law, such as that of collective punishment, and could also
fall under the Genocide Convention clause of ‘mental harm’, and possibly
torture.

We are aware and inspired by your termination of services to Russian
accounts due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, citing “war crimes and
human rights violations”. We hope and expect to see similar action in this
case, in particular, because it appears your client is Israel’s military
and secret service and that the use of your register services directly
involves your company in war crimes and plausibly the crime of genocide.

We hope to hear from you and that the matter will be resolved swiftly,
[redacted] on behalf of others
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