Tribunal Issues Landmark Verdict against Israel for Genocide

By Yoichi Shimatsu
Global Research.

In contrast to other non-official courts of conscience on Palestinian rights, for example, the Russell Tribunal on Palestine (New York 2012), the prosecution in Kuala Lumpur took a step beyond war crimes and crimes against humanity to the higher and broader charge of genocide.

- The decision was rendered during the ongoing commission of the alleged crime by the defendant, rather than after the fact as in earlier genocide cases.

- Instead of limiting its ruling to individuals who ordered genocidal actions, the jurists also charged the state as a defendant.

- As a consequence, this case breaks the tradition of immunity of nation-states from criminal prosecution under international law.

- The decision introduces a legal basis for international action to protect minorities from genocide as a lawful alternative to the current response of so-called humanitarian intervention, invasion, occupation and regime change, which have often been as illegitimate and more destructive, and in some cases as genocidal as the original violation being punished.

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