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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Palestinians Sue Biden for Failure to
Prevent Genocide, Seek Emergency Order to Stop Military and Diplomatic
Support for Israeli Government’s Assault on Gaza</h1>
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<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time">November 13, 2023<br></div>
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<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div><h2><span>Leading Genocide and Holocaust Experts Submit Declarations in Support of Federal Case</span></h2><p><span><br>November
13, 2023, San Francisco – Today, Palestinians asked a federal court to
enjoin President Biden, Secretary of State Blinken, and Secretary of
Defense Austin from providing further arms, money, and diplomatic
support to Israel on grounds that there is an unfolding genocide by the
State of Israel against the civilian population of Gaza and the U.S.
officials have a legal duty to prevent, and not further, this most
serious of crimes. </span></p><p><span>Biden, Blinken, and Austin, as
outlined in the complaint, are sued in their official capacity for
failing to prevent an unfolding genocide where they have influence over
the State of Israel to do so, and directly abetting its development with
weapons, funds, and diplomatic cover, in breach of duties enshrined in
the Genocide Convention and customary international law. The filing is
accompanied by a declaration from the leading legal expert on genocide, </span><span>William Schabas,</span> <span>who
identifies features of the Israeli government’s statements, deadly
military assault, and total siege as signs of genocide and affirms the
United States’ breach of its legal duty to prevent genocide. A separate
expert declaration by the genocide and Holocaust scholars Drs. John Cox,
Victoria Sanford, and Barry Trachtenberg, explains how the genocidal
intentions and actions of Israeli leadership resemble other genocides in
recent history.</span></p><p><span>The complaint, which seeks
declaratory and injunctive relief, cites the U.S. government’s
unconditional support for Israel as it bombs the people of Gaza and
deprives them of food, water, and other necessities. The complaint
states that even the crimes committed by the military wing of Hamas on
October 7th that killed an estimated 1,200 Israeli people, including
many civilians, and kidnapped 240, cannot legally justify the forms of
targeting an entire population and collective punishment meted out by
the Israeli government, let alone genocide. Since October 8th, Israel
has killed over 11,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip – mostly
civilians, including more than 4,600 children – and displaced 1.5
million. Thousands of Palestinians remain missing, and Israel’s
destruction of hospitals, schools, and most infrastructure in Gaza – as
well as intentional deprivation of access to food, water, electricity,
and medicine – has rendered life in Gaza impossible.</span></p><p><span>“To be honest, it’s difficult to revisit all the scenes of the past weeks. They open a door to hell when I recall them,” said </span><strong>Dr. Omar Al-Najjar, a 24-year-old intern physician at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis and a plaintiff in the case.</strong><span>
“I’ve lost five relatives, treated too many children who are the sole
survivors of their families, received the bodies of my fellow medical
students and their families, and seen the hospital turn into a shelter
for tens of thousands of people as we all run out of fuel, electricity,
food, and water. The U.S. has to stop this genocide. Everyone in the
world has to stop this.”</span></p><p><span>In addition to Dr.
Al-Najjar, the other plaintiffs in the case are the Palestinian human
rights organizations Defense for Children International–Palestine and
Al-Haq; the individuals Ahmed Abu Artema, and Mohammed Ahmed Abu Rokbeh,
who are in Gaza; and Mohammad Monadel Herzallah, Laila Elhaddad, Waeil
Elbhassi, Basim Elkarra, and “A.N.”, who are U.S. citizens with family
in Gaza. All have had multiple family members killed, subjected to the
closure of Gaza, and displaced. </span></p><p><span>Filed on the plaintiffs’ behalf by the Center for Constitutional Rights with </span><span>the law firm of Van Der Hout, LLP</span><span>,
the complaint provides extensive evidence that the acts of the Israeli
government represent an unfolding genocide, which the Genocide
Convention defines as acts committed </span><span>“with intent to
destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious
group,” and which can be accomplished through killing, inflicting
serious bodily or mental harm upon a targeted group, or by “</span><span>inflicting upon the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.” </span><span>The
Israeli military has targeted civilian areas and infrastructure,
including using chemical weapons, and deprived Palestinians of basic
necessities for life, the complaint says, while dehumanizing
Palestinians as “human animals” that are undeserving of human rights
protections and vowing to “eliminate everything,” making clear the
“emphasis is on damage and not accuracy.” Gaza had already been subject
to five prior bombing campaigns and a nearly 17-year military closure
and ongoing occupation that had made Gaza an open air prison.</span></p><p><span>“For
the last five weeks, President Biden and Secretaries Blinken and Austin
have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with an Israeli government that has
made clear its intention to destroy the Palestinian population in Gaza.
As neighborhood after neighborhood, hospital after hospital, and
sheltering displaced Palestinians were bombed, while subject to a total
siege and closure that denies 2.2 million people basic necessities for
life, they have continued to provide both military and political support
for Israel’s unfolding genocidal campaign while imposing no red
lines,” said </span><a href="https://ccrjustice.org/home/who-we-are/staff/gallagher-katherine"><strong>Katherine Gallagher</strong></a><strong>, a senior attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights and one of the lawyers who brought the case</strong><span>.
“The United States has a clear and binding obligation to prevent, not
further, genocide. They have failed in meeting their legal and moral
duty to use their considerable power to end this horror. They must do
so.” </span></p><p><span>The United States has a duty under Article 1 of
the Genocide Convention to prevent and punish acts of genocide, an
obligation the U.S. Congress made law in 1988 when it ratified the
Convention and passed the Genocide Convention Implementation Act (18
U.S.C. § 1091). The duty to prevent is heightened given the United
States’ considerable influence on Israel. The Biden administration,
plaintiffs say, is not merely failing to prevent Israel’s genocide of
Palestinians, it is actively abetting it. From the start of the bombing,
Biden has repeatedly reaffirmed, through word and deed, </span><a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4243691-biden-vows-us-support-for-israel-hamas-attacks/" target="_blank"><span>“unwavering”</span></a><span> U.S. support. </span></p><p><span>Courts
have identified the providing of weapons and other materials to the
perpetrators of genocide as a form of complicity. To be culpable, the
provider need not share the recipients’ genocidal intent.</span></p><p><strong>William Schabas, the world’s leading legal expert on genocide</strong><span>,
wrote in his declaration in the case, “I conclude that there is a
serious risk of genocide committed against the Palestinian population of
Gaza and that the United States of America is in breach of its
obligation, under both the 1948 Genocide Convention to which it is a
party as well as customary international law, to use its position of
influence with the Government of Israel and to take the best measures
within its power to prevent the crime taking place.”</span></p><p><span>“Palestinian
children in Gaza are undoubtedly targets as repeated Israeli military
offensives destroy their homes, schools, and neighborhoods, as Israeli
forces use U.S.-made and funded weapons to kill them and their families
with impunity,” said </span><strong>Khaled Quzmar, general director at Defense for Children International – Palestine</strong><span>.
“While people protest in the streets, world leaders show, day after
day, that they lack the temerity to end the catastrophic and
unprecedented destruction of Palestinian life in Gaza. We need the
American people to join us to force an end to this genocide.”</span></p><p><span>Local counsel </span><strong>Marc Van Der Hout</strong> <strong>of the law firm of Van Der Hout, LLP</strong><span>,
said, “The United States must fulfill its obligations under the
Genocide Convention and international law to prevent escalating
atrocities in Gaza. The killings and kidnappings perpetrated by Hamas on
Oct 7th, horrendous as they were, in no conceivable way justify the
massacres now being perpetrated by the State of Israel with the
unconditional support and acquiescence of the United States. The courts
must now force the U.S. to comply with its obligations under the law.” </span></p><p><span>“We
have lost so many people, but there are still many more who are living,
and we owe it to them to do everything possible to stop this genocide,”
said </span><strong>Mohammad Herzallah, one of the plaintiffs in the case who has family in Gaza.</strong><span>
“I have done everything in my power: I have participated in protests,
sit-ins, wrote letters to my representatives, civil disobedience. Now I
am asking the courts to end this ongoing genocide.”</span></p><p><span>For more information and to read the complaint, visit the </span><a href="https://ccrjustice.org/home/what-we-do/our-cases/defense-children-international-palestine-v-biden"><span>Center for Constitutional Rights case page here</span></a><span>.</span></p><p><span>_______________________________</span></p><p>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Stop the Genocide</h1>
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<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time" dir="ltr">November 13, 2023<br></div>
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<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div><h3><strong>The Israeli government is committing genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza with unconditional U.S. support.</strong></h3><p>Genocide
is the gravest of crimes under international law. As defined by the
international Genocide Convention (1948), genocide refers to specific
actions – such as killing or deliberately inflicting conditions of life
calculated to bring about the destruction of a group in whole or in part
– taken with the intention of destroying, in whole or in part, the
group targeted, including on ethnic or national grounds.</p><p>Numerous
Israeli government leaders have expressed clear genocidal intentions and
deployed dehumanizing characterizations of Palestinians, including
“human animals.” At the same time, the Israeli military has bombed
civilian areas and infrastructure, including by using chemical weapons,
and deprived Palestinians of everything necessary for human life,
including water, food, electricity, fuel, and medicine. Those statements
of intent – when combined with mass killing, causing serious bodily and
mental harm, and the total siege and closure creating conditions of
life to bring about the physical destruction of the group – reveal
evidence of an unfolding crime of genocide.</p><p>Since October 7, the
Israeli government has killed at least 11,100 Palestinians in the Gaza
Strip, including over 4,600 children, and injured more than 28,000.
There is documented use of white phosphorus, and the Euro-Med Human
Rights Monitor reported that by early November, “Israel [had] dropped
more than 25,000 tons of explosives on the Gaza Strip,” the “equivalent
to two nuclear bombs.” Israel’s constant bombardments and total closure
of Gaza has resulted in the collapse of Gaza’s entire healthcare
capacity. The World Health Organization has verified 250 attacks on
hospitals, ambulances, healthcare workers and patients in Gaza and the
West Bank. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine
Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) estimates that 1.65 million people
have been internally displaced across Gaza (<em>statistics in this paragraph are current as of November 13</em>).</p><p>The
Israeli government's argument of self-defense in response to the
unlawful attacks by Hamas on October 7 that killed 1,200, including
civilians, does not absolve it from committing crimes of its own: <strong>under international law, there is no justification for genocide</strong>.
As as a matter of law or morality, there can be no justification for
the lethal collective punishment and commision of the gravest of crimes –
genocide – against an entire Palestinian population. The October 7
attacks do not obviate the US’ corresponding duty to prevent the
continuation of the unfolding genocide.</p><p>Leading genocide legal scholars and historians of genocide and the Holocaust, including <strong>William Schabas</strong>, have identified features of the Israeli government’s rhetoric and military response as signs of genocide:</p><p>“In
the present case, there is much direct evidence in the form of
statements by senior officials and politicians in Israel indicating an
intent to destroy the people of Palestine. Furthermore, the conduct of
the State of Israel provides evidence from which genocidal intent may be
inferred. The avowed policy of depriving Gaza of water, food, medicine
and electricity, bearing in mind the rather desperate economic situation
in the territory prior to the conflict and the fact that the borders
are sealed, leaving the people of Gaza with nowhere to go, will
inexorably lead to their physical destruction. If the siege and blockade
continue, there can be no other outcome.”</p><p>Immediately after the
launch of the Israeli military campaign targeting Gaza, President Biden
offered “unwavering” support for the Israeli governement, which he and
administration officials have consistently repeated and backed up with
military, financial, and political support even as mass civilian
casualties escalated alongside the Israeli government's genocidal
rhetoric.</p><h3><strong>The United States is failing to uphold its
legal obligation to prevent genocide, and President Biden and other
high-level officials are actively aiding and abetting the Israeli
government’s genocide of the Palestinian people.</strong></h3><p>The
U.S. is a signatory to the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Congress passed the Genocide
Convention Implementation Act (18 U.S.C. § 1091) in 1988, making it
federal law. International law imposes on Biden and other high-level
officials a legal duty to prevent genocide. The United States has
significant capacity to influence Israel's actions as its primary
provider of military and political support. Therefore, the U.S. has been
obligated, since learning of the serious risk of genocide in Gaza, to
exercise its considerable influence on the Israeli government to prevent
the crime.</p><p>Not only have high-level officials, President Biden,
Secretary of State Blinken, and Secretary of Defense Austin, failed to
exercise their influence to prevent genocide, but they have publicly and
repeatedly offered statements of unconditional support of the Israeli
government’s actions while pledging and providing additional military
financial assistance and equipment to Israel. They have repeatedly said
Israel has “no red lines”, continued their unconditional support, while
undermining global calls for a ceasefire. In 2023, like every year, the
U.S. government provided Israel $3.8 billion USD in unrestricted
military financing. Since the Israeli government’s indiscriminate
bombardment of Palestinians in Gaza began on October 7th, the defendants
have sought approval from Congress to provide Israel with an additional
$14.1 billion USD in military hardware, deployed aircraft carrier
battle groups, and increased U.S. forces in the region to “assist in the
defense of Israel.”</p><h3><strong>Center for Constitutional Rights Interventions</strong></h3><p>The Center for Constitutional Rights <a href="https://ccrjustice.org/node/4530">has long challenged</a>
impunity for the Israeli government’s violations of international law
related to its illegal occupation of Palestine and the U.S. support that
enables Israel's violations. In response to the Israeli govenrment's
actions after October 7, we joined other experts and legal organizations
in issuing urgent warnings to the U.S. of the unfolding genocide, yet
the U.S. has stated that it is not actively evaluating whether or not a
genocide is occuring. Consequently, we have provided legal and factual
documentation to highlight the United States’ failure to uphold its
legal obligation to prevent Israeli government's genocide, and its role
in advancing the genocide.</p><p><em><strong>Lawsuit, Emergency Legal Briefing and Advocacy</strong></em></p><p>The Center for Constitutional Rights issued an <a href="https://ccrjustice.org/israel-s-unfolding-crime-genocide-palestinian-people-us-failure-prevent-and-complicity-genocide">Emergency Legal Briefing Paper</a>
in the first weeks after the attacks began. We shared this analysis
with national and international stakeholders to provide evidence of the
genocide against the Palestinian population in Gaza and U.S. complicity
in it and to urge them to take all measures to stop the crimes, to call
for an immediate ceasefire, and to end U.S. military, economic, and
diplomatic support of the Israeli government's violations.</p><p>On November 13, the Center for Constitutional Rights filed a federal lawsuit, <a href="https://ccrjustice.org/home/what-we-do/our-cases/defense-children-international-palestine-v-biden"><span><em>Defense for Children International—Palestine, et al. v. . Joseph Biden, et al.</em></span></a>,
on behalf of Palestinian human rights organizations and Palestinians in
Gaza and the U.S. Plaintiffs are suing President Biden, Secretary of
State Blinken, and Defense Secretary Austin for their failure to prevent
and complicity in the Israeli government’s unfolding genocide against
them, their families, and the 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza. The case
against the three high-level U.S. officials argues that they are
violating international law, including those codified in the 1948
Genocide Convention and the corresponding Genocide Convention
Implementation Act (18 U.S.C. § 1091) passed by the U.S. Congress in
1988.</p><p>The lawsuit situates the unfolding genocide within a history
of Israeli actions against the Palestinian people - starting with the
Nakba in 1948. It sets out how Defendants Biden, Blinken, and Austin
have not only failed to prevent the genocide of the Palestinian people
in Gaza but have helped advance the gravest of crimes by continuing to
provide the Israeli government with unconditional military and
diplomatic support, coordinating closely on military strategy, and
undermining efforts by the international community to stop Israel’s
unrelenting and unprecedented bombing campaign and total siege of Gaza.</p><p>Plaintiffs
are filing this federal complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief
asking the court to declare that these U.S. officials have failed to
prevent genocide and are aiding and abetting genocide, and to order an
end to U.S. military and diplomatic support to Israel. The lawsuit is
accompanied by a preliminary injunction (PI) motion, which seeks an
emergency order to prohibit any further U.S. military and diplomatic
support to the Israeli government while the case is being considered.</p><hr><p><strong>Lawsuit</strong></p><ul><li>Case page: <a href="https://ccrjustice.org/home/what-we-do/our-cases/defense-children-international-palestine-v-biden"><span><em>Defense for Children—Palestine v. Joseph Biden, et al</em>.</span></a></li><li>November 13 <a href="https://ccrjustice.org/node/10103"><span>Press Release</span></a></li><li><span><a href="https://ccrjustice.org/sites/default/files/attach/2023/11/One-pager_DCIP-v-Biden_Genocide_Complaint_2023-11-13.pdf">One-pager</a></span> about the lawsuit</li></ul><p><strong>Media</strong></p><ul><li>Jason Stanley,<span> <em><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/nov/11/my-life-has-been-defined-by-genocide-of-jewish-people-i-look-on-gaza-with-concern" target="_blank">My life has been defined by genocide of Jewish people. I look on Gaza with concern</a></em></span>, Guardian (Nov. 11)</li><li><a href="https://lawanddisorder.org/2023/11/law-and-disorder-november-6-2023/" target="_blank"><em><span>Israel’s unfolding crime of genocide of the Palestinian people & U.S. failure to prevent and complicity in genocide</span></em></a>, Law and Disorder Radio (Nov. 6)</li><li><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/biden-complicit-genocide" target="_blank"><em><span>Attorneys warn Biden's support for Israeli assault on Gaza could make him complicit in genocide</span></em></a>, Common Dreams (Oct. 20)</li><li><a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/10/19/israel-gaza-biden-genocide-war-crimes/" target="_blank"><span><em>Going all-in for Israel may make Biden complicit in genocide,</em></span></a> The Intercept (Oct. 19)</li><li><a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/un-experts-sound-genocide-alarm-over-gaza" target="_blank"><span><em>UN experts sound genocide alarm over Gaza</em></span></a>, Electronic Intifada (Oct. 19)</li></ul><p><br><strong>Additional Center for Constitutional Rights Resources</strong></p><ul><li>Resource page: <a href="https://ccrjustice.org/israel-s-unfolding-crime-genocide-palestinian-people-us-failure-prevent-and-complicity-genocide"><span>Israel’s Unfolding Crime of Genocide of the Palestinian People & U.S. Failure to Prevent and Complicity in Genocide</span></a></li><li>Emergency Legal Briefing Paper (PDF): <a href="https://ccrjustice.org/sites/default/files/attach/2023/10/Israels-Unfolding-Crime_ww.pdf"><span>Israel’s Unfolding Crime of Genocide of the Palestinian People & U.S. Failure to Prevent and Complicity in Genocide</span></a> (October 2023)</li><li>FAQ: <a href="https://ccrjustice.org/sites/default/files/attach/2023/11/FAQ%20-%20Israeli%20Genocide%20in%20Palestine%20%282%29.pdf"><span>Israel's Unfolding Crime of Genocide in Gaza</span></a></li><li>Case page: <span><a href="https://ccrjustice.org/node/8604">Accountability for International Crimes in Palestine</a></span></li></ul>
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