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The document, which has not been previously reported, was discussed internally as part of the EU’s foreign service propsal to suspend “political dialogue” with Israel, the only aspect of the relationship the union’s foreign service has power over; Skoog’s paper effectively backed the plan to freeze it. The proposal, however, was rejected by the EU ministers, along with a de facto recommendation to ban arms exports to Israel.
The report found that because the death toll in Gaza corresponds to the demographic breakdown of the territory’s civilian population, the pattern of killing indicated “indiscriminate attacks” that could constitute war crimes.
“When committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population,” the assessment added, “they may also implicate crimes against humanity.”
Skoog called on EU countries to “deny an export licence” — for arms — “if there is a clear risk that the military technology or equipment to be exported might be used in the commission of serious violations of international humanitarian law.”
“Lawyers across Europe are watching this closely and likely to initiate domestic and international accountability mechanisms.”
In the wake of the assessment, some EU politicians will be at risk of complicity if Israel is found to have committed war crimes, said Tayab Ali, a partner in the U.K. law firm Bindmans, which recently took the British government to court over its arms exports to Israel.
“Lawyers across Europe are watching this closely and likely to initiate domestic and international accountability mechanisms. Economic interests are not a defence to complicity in war crimes,” Ali told The Intercept. “It is astounding that, following the contents of this report, countries like France and Germany might even remotely consider raising issues of immunity to protect wanted war criminals like Netahyahu and Gallant” — referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Diana Buttu, a former legal adviser and negotiator for the Palestinian Authority suggested that the rejection of the EU’s own analysis by its member states was political.
“Legally, we know where the dominoes should be falling,” Buttu said. “It was a question of whether the politics would match with the law, and unfortunately, they did not.”
“Criminal Collusion”
Skoog’s paper pulls no punches in its treatment of Hamas’s atrocities on October 7, describing hostage-taking, for instance, as “a violation of international humanitarian law and a war crime.”
Rocket attacks by Hamas and Hezbollah were “inherently indiscriminate … and may constitute a war crime,” it says.
The probe also calls out the use of tunnels in civilian areas as being tantamount to using human shields, which is also a war crime. The Israeli military, however, had not offered “substantial evidence” to back up this allegation, which, even if proven, would not justify indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks on civilian areas.
“Even when their own services presented them with the facts, they refused to act.”
The paper rebuts a major Israeli defense against war crimes allegations over the targeting of hospitals in the Gaza Strip. Skoog’s assessment argues that the “intentional targeting of hospitals … may amount to war crimes,” regardless of any Hamas activity there.
Skoog’s assessment says international law allows Israel “the right and indeed the duty to protect its population,” but that this can only be exercised in response to an armed attack or imminent attack and must be proportional. Because it is an occupying power, the assessment says, Israel also had an obligation to ensure safety and the health of those living under occupation.
Agnès Bertrand-Sanz, an Oxfam humanitarian expert, said the assessment “reinforces the case that EU governments have been acting in complicity with Israel’s crimes in Gaza.”
“Even when their own services presented them with the facts, they refused to act,” she said. “Those that continued exporting arms to Israel in defiance of the report’s clear advice, are involved in a blatant case of criminal collusion.”
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Publish date : 2024-12-23 07:34:00
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