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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">U.S. Court Concludes Israel’s
Assault on Gaza Is Plausible Case of Genocide</h1>
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<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time" dir="ltr">Jan 31,
2023<br>
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<h2><span>While Dismissing Case on Jurisdictional
Grounds, U.S. Judge “Implores” Biden
Administration to Stop its “Unflagging Support”
for Israel’s Ongoing Siege of </span><span>the
Palestinian People in Gaza</span></h2>
<p><span><br>
January 31, 2024, Oakland, CA – After a federal
court heard arguments and testimony in the case </span><a
href="https://ccrjustice.org/home/what-we-do/our-cases/defense-children-international-palestine-v-biden"
moz-do-not-send="true"><em><span>Defense for
Children International – Palestine v. Biden</span></em></a><span>
on Friday, January 26, charging the Biden
administration with failing in its duty to
prevent, and otherwise aiding and abetting, the
unfolding genocide in Gaza, a federal judge found
that Israel is plausibly engaging in genocide of
the Palestinian people in Gaza and that the United
States is providing “unflagging support” for the
massive attacks on Palestinian civilians in
contravention of international law. The court’s
decision follows a historic ruling by the
International Court of Justice last Friday, which
also found the Israeli government was plausibly
engaged in a genocide of the Palestinian people in
Gaza, and which issued a series of emergency
measures Israel must take to end its genocidal
campaign. </span></p>
<p><span>The U.S. court based its assessment on the
“uncontroverted” live testimony of seven
Palestinian witnesses, including one from Gaza and
one from Ramallah, who testified firsthand to
Israel’s killing of their nieces, cousins, aunts,
uncles, elders, and members of their community, to
the mass displacement of their families
reminiscent of the 1948 Nakba, and to the
devastating conditions of life in their homeland
as the siege leads to mass starvation. The court
also relied on the </span><a
href="https://ccrjustice.org/sites/default/files/attach/2023/11/Declaration%20Expert%20Historians_w.pdf"
moz-do-not-send="true"><span>expert opinion</span></a><span>
of genocide and Holocaust scholars who confirmed
that Israel’s military assault and totalizing
humanitarian destruction bears the hallmarks of a
genocide based on legal and historical precedent.
Nevertheless, the court reluctantly </span><a
href="https://ccrjustice.org/sites/default/files/attach/2024/01/91_1-31-24_Order-granting-MTD_w.pdf"
moz-do-not-send="true"><span>dismissed the case</span></a><span>
on jurisdictional grounds. While the court
recognized that the prohibitions on genocide are
fundamental and binding international law, this
was a “rare” instance where “the preferred outcome
is inaccessible to the Court” and it found it
lacked power to resolve the case because it
implicated executive decision-making in the area
of foreign policy. </span></p>
<p><span>Delivering a historic rebuke of Israel and
the United States for its flouting of the Genocide
Convention, the court wrote: </span></p>
<p><span>Both the uncontroverted testimony of the
Plaintiffs and the expert opinion proffered at the
hearing on these motions as well as statements
made by various officers of the Israeli government
indicate that the ongoing military siege in Gaza
is intended to eradicate a whole people and
therefore plausibly falls within the international
prohibition against genocide. </span></p>
<p><span>The court recognized the substantial role of
the United States in furthering the genocide and
noted that “as the ICJ has found, it is plausible
that Israel’s conduct amounts to genocide” and,
therefore, the “Court implores Defendants to
examine the results of their unflagging support of
the military siege against the Palestinians in
Gaza.” </span></p>
<p><span>The court stated, “It is every individual’s
obligation to confront the current siege in
Gaza.” </span></p>
<p><span>According to </span><a
href="https://ccrjustice.org/home/who-we-are/staff/gallagher-katherine"
moz-do-not-send="true"><strong>Katherine Gallagher</strong></a><span>,
Senior Staff Attorney at the Center for
Constitutional Rights who argued the genocide case
before the court, “The court affirmed that what
the Palestinian population in Gaza is enduring is
a campaign to eradicate a whole people – genocide
– and that the United States’ unflagging support
for Israel is enabling the killing of tens of
thousands of Palestinians and the famine facing
millions. While we strongly disagree with the
court’s ultimate jurisdictional ruling, we urge
the Biden administration to heed the judge’s call
to examine and end its deadly course of action.
Together with our plaintiffs, we will pursue all
legal avenues to stop the genocide and save
Palestinian lives.” </span></p>
<p><span>According to plaintiff </span><strong>Waeil
Elbhassi</strong><span>, “My family lived through
and was displaced by the first Nakba (catastrophe)
in 1948, which the world has barely acknowledged.
Yet in court on Friday, I testified to make a
record of Israel’s horrific slaughter of my
family, and the destruction of my homeland and
Palestinian heritage, and to demand that the
United States stop giving the Israeli government
its total financial and diplomatic support for
this ongoing genocide, a second Nakba.” </span></p>
<p><span>Plaintiff </span><strong>Mohammed</strong> <strong>Monadel
Herzallah </strong><span>said,</span> <span>“</span><span>It
is important that the court recognized the United
States is providing unconditional support to
Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and that a
federal court heard Palestinian voices for the
first time, but we are still devastated that the
court would not take the important step to stop
the Biden administration from continuing to
support the slaughter of the Palestinian people.
Currently, my family lacks food, medicine, and the
most basic necessities for survival. As
Palestinians, we know this is a hard struggle, and
as plaintiffs we will continue to do everything in
our power to save our people’s lives.” </span></p>
<p><span>“To be clear, this is far from a win for the
U.S. government. It is unprecedented and damning
that a federal court has all but affirmed that
Israel is committing a genocide while criticizing
defendants Biden, Blinken, and Austin’s
‘unflagging’ support for the acts that constitute
that genocide,” said Center for Constitutional
Rights Senior Staff Attorney </span><a
href="https://ccrjustice.org/home/who-we-are/staff/shamas-diala"
moz-do-not-send="true"><strong>Diala Shamas</strong></a><strong>.</strong></p>
<p><span>The Palestinian plaintiffs, represented by
the Center for Constitutional Rights, together
with co-counsel from Van Der Hout LLP, are the
Palestinian human rights organizations Defense for
Children International – Palestine and Al-Haq; and
the individuals Dr. Omar Al-Najjar, Ahmed Abu
Artema, and Mohammed Ahmed Abu Rokbeh, who are in
Gaza; and Mohammad Monadel Herzallah, Laila
Elhaddad, Waeil Elbhassi, Basim Elkarra, and Ayman
Nijim, who are U.S. residents with family in Gaza.</span></p>
<p><span>To watch a recording of the hearing, visit
the </span><a
href="https://www.uscourts.gov/cameras-courts/defense-children-international-palestine-v-biden"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"><span>court’s
website</span></a><span>.</span></p>
<p><span>To watch a recording of the plaintiffs’ press
conference following the hearing, visit the Center
for Constitutional Rights </span><a
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF9qBh83ul8&t=160s"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"><span>YouTube
page</span></a><span>.</span><span>For more
information, see the Center for Constitutional
Rights’ </span><a
href="https://ccrjustice.org/home/what-we-do/our-cases/defense-children-international-palestine-v-biden"
moz-do-not-send="true"><span>case page</span></a><span>.
</span></p>
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