By Jesselina Rana
Every week, the evidence mounts that Israel is committing grave war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip that likely amount to genocide. But you wouldn’t know that from listening to the words of many multilateral organisations, aid agencies, development institutions, and foreign policy think tanks, particularly in the Global North.
The main powerbrokers and supposed moral authorities of the international order have sought to repress and retaliate against organisations and individuals for speaking out about Palestine, creating a chilling climate of fear. Aware of the consequences, many organisations and institutions have adopted a cautious approach to protect their own interests.
Through their silence or hollow gestures of solidarity, however, they have become complicit in the very oppression and injustice they were founded to end.
This is the same cycle of passive complicity that has downplayed and obfuscated the reality of Israeli occupation and apartheid for decades, which preceded the current brutality.
Growing consensus, resounding silence
Just last week the International Criminal Court (ICC) took the welcome step of issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for international crimes they have overseen in Gaza.
The arrest warrants are just the tip of the iceberg. Numerous UN experts, committees, and commissions have studied the Israeli military’s conduct in Gaza over the past year and determined that it is committing war crimes and crimes against humanity that bear the characteristics of genocide or amount to genocide.
None of this should be a surprise or, frankly, all that radical at this point. It has, after all, been nearly a year since the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the UN’s top court, found that there was a plausible risk that Israel’s actions in Gaza could lead to genocide. Dozens of human rights and legal experts and scholars of genocide have come to the same conclusion.
Still, too many agencies and organisations are afraid to even utter terms like Palestine, Palestinians, or the Occupied Palestinian Territories let alone examine the massive power imbalances created by Israel’s apartheid and genocide against the Palestinian people.
The UN Committee on World Food Security, for example, marked its 20th anniversary in October yet has failed to condemn the weaponisation of food in Gaza or acknowledge the violation of the right to food under prolonged illegal occupation. Other organisations, such as PEN America, have displayed a stark double standard by vocally denouncing ethnic cleansing in contexts like Ukraine while refusing to apply the same terminology to Israel.
Even organisations with leadership that are supportive of Palestinian rights on a personal level have been afraid to use their organisational influence and political capital to speak out, fearing backlash.
The silence, double standards, and equivocation have created internal frustrations and divisions that have rippled across UN agencies, the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, and numerous aid organisations, including Save the Children, Danish Refugee Council, Médecins Sans Frontières, and the International Rescue Committee. The global climate movement Friday for Future also saw an internal rift as prominent activist Greta Thunberg vocally denounced Israeli atrocities in Palestine, making a clear link between the quest for climate justice and the vital importance of defending human rights.
Even feminist organisations in the Global North have been accused of suppressing voices supportive of Palestinian rights within their ranks, or worse, enabling governments to co-opt feminist rhetoric while failing to address the intersectional violence endured by Palestinian women. This has happened even though nearly 70% of those killed in Gaza are women and children, and sexual violence against Palestinian women and girls in detention is being used as a deliberate strategy to break resistance.
A path forward
The fear driving the silence of many is warranted. The repression of Palestinian solidarity is a global phenomenon. Organisations worldwide are silencing their workers. Ceasefire and pro-Palestine protests have been met with brute force from security forces in Germany, the United States, and beyond.
The pattern is clear: Those in positions of influence – in multilateral institutions, funding agencies, governments, think tanks, and more – often act as gatekeepers, shaping narratives and suppressing dissent and resistance.
In March 2024, a German bank – partially owned by the state – froze the accounts of the Jewish anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the Middle East. In Jordan, a draconian cybercrime law is being used to criminalise pro-Palestine protesters.
In Canada and the United States, protest camps at many universities have been broken up with force, and student protesters have faced significant repercussions, including the rescinding of job offers from law firms. Harvard University even went so far as to deny degrees to 13 students for their involvement in pro-Palestine protests.
The pattern is clear: Those in positions of influence – in multilateral institutions, funding agencies, governments, think tanks, and more – often act as gatekeepers, shaping narratives and suppressing dissent and resistance. Meanwhile, there is persistent retaliation against individuals who speak out, whether through legal threats, job reprisals, or violence.
It’s hard to hold on to hope. Recent developments in international law and legal proceedings offer a ray of possibility for accountability and justice. The ICC’s decision to issue arrest warrants for leaders of a Western-aligned state marks a pivotal moment in efforts to hold powerful individuals accountable, and challenges the notion that Global North states are exempt from international justice – although what repercussions the ICC will face remain to be seen.
To truly advance the cause of justice and accountability, the international community – in particular multilateral organisations, aid agencies, development institutions, and foreign policy think tanks, especially in the Global North – must centre Palestinian voices when it comes to defining the path forward, which undoubtedly will include self-determination, statehood, and reparations for the Palestinian people.
Silence or cautious calls for restraint in the face of gross injustice actively enable the abuses these institutions were founded and claim to oppose. As a result, the role of the entire international community has been called into question.
The international community must, at the end of the day, demand a rules-based international order that prioritises justice over realpolitik. A failure to act today is unquestionably a moral failure, but it is also a political one that is excusing an unfolding genocide.
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