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<div class="gmail-inner-article-top"><h1 class="gmail-">Bogota Summit launches Global South\u2019s legal intifada against Israel and US impunity</h1><p class="gmail-">Colombia\u2019s
defiant pivot from Washington and the growing Hague Group alliance
marks a potentially historic rupture with western legal hypocrisy on
Palestine.</p><div class="gmail-another-name"><p><a href="https://thecradle.co/authors/jose-nino" style="color:rgb(164,4,4)">José Niño</a></p></div><div class="gmail-another-name" style="margin-top:16px"><p><span style="color:rgb(84,88,94)">JUL 17, 2025 - </span><font size="1"><a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/bogota-summit-launches-global-souths-legal-intifada-against-israel-and-us-impunity">https://thecradle.co/articles/bogota-summit-launches-global-souths-legal-intifada-against-israel-and-us-impunity</a></font></p></div></div><div class="gmail-inner-article-img"><img src="https://thecradle-main.oss-eu-central-1.aliyuncs.com/public/articles/aeb1b1aa-6311-11f0-91ea-00163e02c055.jpeg" alt="" width="394" height="186" style="margin-right: 0px;"><span>Photo Credit: The Cradle</span></div><div class="gmail-inner-article-content"><div class="gmail-row"><div class="gmail-col-md-8 gmail-col-sm-7"><div class="gmail-article-content"><span class="gmail-article-body"><p>From
15\u201316 July, Bogota became the unlikely capital of a global insurrection
against western legal impunity. Over 30 countries \u2013 including key
powers from the Global South and even some European states \u2013 gathered in
the Colombian capital for the <a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/officials-from-over-30-nations-meet-in-colombia-to-demand-end-to-gaza-genocide">Hague Group Emergency Summit</a>.</p><p>This was the most ambitious multilateral initiative yet to <a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/no-nation-is-above-the-law-colombia-to-host-international-summit-against-israeli-impunity">directly confront</a>
what participants unflinchingly termed Israel\u2019s genocide in Gaza, and
the broader culture of impunity that has shielded the occupation state
since 1948.</p><p><strong>From steadfast client to anti-imperial spearhead</strong></p><p>That
the summit was held in Colombia \u2013 a long-standing US vassal in Latin
America \u2013 was not incidental. Once regarded as Washington\u2019s <a href="https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R43813">most loyal client</a> in the hemisphere, Colombia\u2019s dramatic <a href="https://josbcf.substack.com/p/colombia-vs-united-states-a-harbinger">pivot</a> under President Gustavo Petro represents the boldest regional defiance of US authority in decades.</p><p>Petro, who <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2024/5/1/colombia-to-cut-diplomatic-ties-with-israel-over-gaza-war-petro-says">severed</a>
diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv in 2024, has placed Bogota on a collision
course with the US over his unwavering opposition to the occupation
state\u2019s onslaught in Gaza.</p><p>Washington reacted predictably by issuing <a href="https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/israel-genocide-united-states-the-hague-group-colombia-international-law-united-nations">warnings</a> to allies against the \u201cweaponization of international law,\u201d and <a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/us-sanctions-francesca-albanese-for-exposing-western-profiteering-from-gaza-genocide">sanctioning</a>
UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese for her \u201cillegitimate and
shameful efforts\u201d to advance the International Criminal Court's (ICC)
prosecutions of Israeli and US officials. Bogota responded with direct
defiance. In the run-up to the summit, Petro publicly backed Albanese, <a href="https://progressive.international/wire/2025-07-12-pi-briefing-no-25-nos-vemos-en-bogot/en">declaring</a> that \u201cthe multilateral system of states cannot be destroyed,\u201d in a thinly veiled rejection of US diktats.</p><p>Over 30 nations participated, including the <a href="https://english.elpais.com/international/2025-07-15/colombia-hosts-first-hague-group-summit-to-finalize-action-against-israels-gaza-offensive.html">eight founding members</a>
of the Hague Group \u2013 Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Honduras, Malaysia,
Namibia, Senegal, and South Africa, co-chaired by Colombia and South
Africa. They were joined by more than 20 additional states spanning
Latin America, Africa, Asia, and even Europe.</p><p>The participation of
European countries such as Portugal and Spain was noteworthy. Both
states only established full diplomatic relations with Israel in the
latter half of the 20<sup>th </sup>century: Portugal in <a href="https://new.embassies.gov.il/portugal/en/the-embassy/bilateral-relations">1977</a> and Spain in <a href="https://israeled.org/israel-spain-establish-diplomatic-ties/">1986</a>, emblematic of their historic caution over Israel\u2019s contested legitimacy. </p><p>But since Tel Aviv\u2019s genocidal war on Gaza began in late 2023, Madrid has adopted a string of punitive diplomatic moves.</p><p>Spain <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/world/europe/2025/04/24/spain-cancels-ammunition-purchase-from-israel-amid-political-outcry/">canceled</a> a \u20ac6.6 million (around $7.2 million) ammunition purchase from an Israeli firm, <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/spain-cancels-285-million-missile-114529887.html?fr=yhssrp_catchall">scrapped</a> a \u20ac285 million (around $310.7 million) anti-tank missile deal with the Spanish subsidiary of Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-spain-israel-weapons-shipping-7cb890af47716111445f7726ce19ddb4">banned </a>Israeli weapons from port entry, formally <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/28/middleeast/spain-ireland-norway-recognize-palestinian-statehood-intl/index.html">recognized</a> Palestinian statehood, and <a href="https://www.algemeiner.com/2025/06/23/spain-pushes-eu-suspend-israel-trade-pact-amid-gaza-conflict-sparking-division-bloc/">pushed</a> to suspend the EU\u2013Israel Association Agreement. </p><p>Though
neither European state fully endorsed all of Bogota\u2019s proposals, their
participation and scathing denunciations of Israeli policy reflect a
deeper fracture within Europe over Tel Aviv\u2019s legitimacy and the cost of
complicity.</p><p><strong>Laying the legal gauntlet</strong></p><p>Central
to the summit was a blistering legal and moral condemnation of Israel\u2019s
conduct in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. The Hague Group issued a
detailed catalog of <a href="https://www.palestinechronicle.com/hague-group-meeting-most-significant-development-for-gaza-albanese/">war crimes</a>:
the mass killing of over 57,000 civilians, the targeting of hospitals
and schools, the weaponization of starvation and siege, and the
deliberate use of forced displacement.</p><p>The apartheid state in the
occupied West Bank, enforced through racial segregation, parallel legal
systems, and land confiscations for settlements, was cited as a textbook
violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and, per the International
Court of Justice's (ICJ) 2024 advisory <a href="https://www.icj-cij.org/node/204176">opinion</a>, a breach of international prohibitions against forced territorial acquisition and apartheid.</p><p>Francesca Albanese delivered the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/15/united-nations-francesca-albanese-colombia-conference-israel-palestine">summit\u2019s keynote</a>, setting the tone with an uncompromising indictment: </p><blockquote><p>\u201cFor
too long, international law has been treated as optional \u2013 applied
selectively to those perceived as weak, ignored by those acting as the
powerful ... That era must end.\u201d</p></blockquote><p>The ICC <a href="https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/situation-state-palestine-icc-pre-trial-chamber-i-rejects-state-israels-challenges">arrest warrants</a>
against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense
Minister Yoav Gallant \u2013 citing crimes such as starvation as a weapon,
indiscriminate civilian targeting, and the murder of Palestinian
non-combatants \u2013 were repeatedly invoked as a historic turning point.</p><p><strong>The Resistance Axis of lawfare</strong></p><p>The summit's ethos was clearly to rupture the impunity enabled by the UN Security Council\u2019s paralysis. The Hague Group, <a href="https://orinocotribune.com/the-hague-groups-bogota-meeting-what-is-at-stake/">founded</a>
in January 2025, framed itself as the Global South\u2019s corrective to a
postwar order that protects violators so long as they are shielded by US
power.</p><p>That paralysis, most attendees argued, was not accidental but structural: The <a href="https://main.un.org/securitycouncil/en/content/voting-system">P5 veto system</a> ensures impunity for those, such as Israel and its allies.</p><p>Meeting
in the San Carlos Palace, delegates from 12 states \u2013 Bolivia, Colombia,
Cuba, Indonesia, Iraq, Libya, Malaysia, Namibia, Nicaragua, Oman, Saint
Vincent and the Grenadines, and South Africa \u2013 <a href="https://dirco.gov.za/press-release-by-the-hague-group-states-announce-unprecedented-measures-to-halt-the-gaza-genocide-at-the-bogota-conference-in-bogota-republic-of-colombia-16-july-2025/">announced</a>
six binding measures. These included a full arms embargo on the
occupation state, port bans for Israeli military vessels, contract
reviews to terminate commercial complicity with the occupation, and firm
support for domestic and international prosecution of Israeli
officials.</p><p>These policies were anchored in the ICJ\u2019s 2024 opinion
declaring Israel\u2019s occupation illegal and the UN General Assembly\u2019s
September 2024 <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/09/1154391">resolution</a> urging decisive global action within 12 months.</p><p><strong>A global rift \u2013 but still an uphill battle</strong></p><p>Despite
the breakthrough, significant limitations remain. Only 12 states
adopted the measures outright. Others were given until the UN General
Assembly in September to sign on. Key powers, including China, <a href="https://www.mei.edu/publications/israel-and-china-time-choosing">withheld endorsement</a>
\u2013 despite supporting the initiative\u2019s aims \u2013 likely due to economic
entanglements with Israel, including port infrastructure investments.</p><p>Organizers
acknowledged the uphill road ahead: absent broader UN uptake and
stronger alignment from economic powers, Washington\u2019s veto and European
hesitation could neuter the Hague Group\u2019s legal insurgency. But the
coalition remains adamant that justice is no longer negotiable.</p><p>Colombian Vice Minister Mauricio Jaramillo Jassir <a href="https://www.cadtm.org/At-Hague-Group-Emergency-Summit-30-Nations-Seek-to-Halt-the-Genocide-in-Gaza">captured</a> the summit\u2019s urgency: </p><blockquote><p>\u201cThe
Palestinian genocide threatens the entire international system \u2026 The
participating states will not only reaffirm their commitment to opposing
genocide, but also formulate concrete steps to move from words to
collective action.\u201d</p></blockquote><p><strong>A warning \u2013 and a promise</strong></p><p>The Bogota summit was not just another international conference. It openly challenged the post-1945 legal fiction of a \u201c<a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/the-axis-of-asymmetry-takes-on-the-rules-based-order">rules-based order</a>\u201d \u2013 a system long exposed as a euphemism for western prerogative.</p><p>As South Africa\u2019s International Relations Minister, Roland Lamola, <a href="https://www.ynetnews.com/article/hkgwojvull">asserted</a></p><blockquote><p>\u201cNo country is above the law, and no crime will go unanswered.\u201d</p></blockquote><p>Yet
the struggle remains unfinished. The Hague Group\u2019s bold confrontation
with Israeli impunity marks a decisive break, but the future of this
legal uprising hinges on whether its momentum can breach the fortified
walls of New York and The Hague, and whether powers like China, India,
and Brazil shift from quiet endorsement to active alignment.</p><p>On 16
July, as thousands gathered in Plaza Bolivar in support, the message
was unambiguous: either the era of impunity ends, or the legitimacy of
the global order collapses with it.</p></span></div></div></div></div>
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