UNRWA staff at work: do you see any terrorism here? [Archive image.]

That is the claim by Tayab Ali, a director of the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians, as shown in the video clip below:

So, defunding UNRWA is collective punishment because it punishes the Palestinian people of Gaza as a whole, and although there is no single crime called “collective punishment”, the crimes that constitute it are recognised by countries including the UK. Therefore, in defunding UNRWA, the UK may be contributing to those crimes.

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But the UK may also be committing a primary act of genocide. The International Court of Justice has made a provisional order that the rights of Palestinians should be protected, which should trigger the UK’s obligations as a signatory of the Genocide Act – to protect people from genocide.

By defunding UNRWA, the UK has taken an action that could accelerate death and suffering in Gaza, in concert with the activities of the state that is accused of being the primary perpetrator of genocidal acts.

So the UK, along with the United States, Germany, Japan and a few others, are now potential suspects to be investigated for war crimes.

But there’s a darker aspect to this.

Mr Ali suggested that, by defunding UNRWA after the ICJ used it as a source of information that led it to make its ruling, the UK is telling the ICJ and the United Nations that some nations should be considered above the law, and both the ICJ and UN will face reprisals if they do not grant them special dispensation (in this case, to murder or displace everybody in Gaza).

In short: is the UK telling the ICJ and UN that it owns those organisations – at least in part – and will remove its ability to function if it does not exempt the UK and other owners from the rules to which they all signed up?

And is this because the UK’s government is worried about being held complicit in the crime the ICJ is investigating?

Mr Ali suggested that South Africa or an intervening state should consider triggering Article 63 of the International Court of Justice Statute, making states like the UK parties to the ruling, so that it becomes binding on them because they have defunded UNRWA.

Finally, he points out the suspicious timing of the allegation against UNRWA – that Israel decided to make its claim that 12 staff members were terrorists, right after the ICJ made its ruling.

Even if that allegation is true, the activities of 12 members of staff do not justify defunding the entire organisation.

Furthermore, that allegation has been made by a country that is plausibly accused of committing genocidal acts and protects what it wants to do – and is set against a ruling that does not demand defunding, sanctioning or otherwise calling Israel to account in such a way.

If both UNRWA and Israel had been deprived of funds and resources, there might have been a justification for doing it. But doing it to UNRWA alone, before an investigation was even concluded, is unacceptable, according to Mr Ali.

This Writer would tend to agree.

So: would any of the parties to the ICJ’s ruling on Israel’s potential genocide, including/or South Africa, care to do the honours?

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