(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . The Dept. of Justice indicts Hamas leaders [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-09-04 The DoJ has revealed that it is seeking charges against Hamas members, especially its leadership, for the crimes committed during the October 7 massacre last year. The current leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, and others in its hierarchy including those already dead were included in the indictments unsealed by the DoJ yesterday. The justice department said it was indicting six Hamas members with seven charges, including the murder of US citizens, conspiracy to finance terrorism and use of weapons of mass destruction. The criminal complaint covers decades of alleged attacks by Hamas, as well as the unprecedented assault on southern Israel nearly a year ago. …. In a video statement on Tuesday, Mr Garland said the defendants were responsible for "financing and directing a decades-long campaign to murder American citizens and endanger the security of the United States". The group also "led Hamas's efforts to destroy the state of Israel and murder civilians in support of that aim". www.bbc.com/… These charges by the DoJ demonstrate how domestic and international courts are getting more involved in the Israel-Palestine conflict. In July, a US federal appeals court rejected a case against President Biden, Secretary of State Blinken and Defense Secretary Austin, accusing them of being complicit in genocide through financial, diplomatic and military support. www.reuters.com/.… Families of the victims of the October7 massacre are also suing the US affiliate of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in a Delaware federal court. UNRWA has a staff of over 30,000, with the majority living in or near the refugee areas where they provide service. The lawsuit alleges that the 501(c)(3) nonprofit, which supports UNRWA through fundraising, advocacy, and community engagement in the US, has been knowingly providing material support to Hamas by funding the employment of terrorists, spreading terrorist propaganda, and facilitating weapon storage in schools and other civilian public buildings. While UNRWA USA is an independent nonprofit, the suit said the organization’s stated mission is to support UNRWA, and the charity has called the UN agency’s workers “colleagues.” The nonprofit reported that it had raised over $ 3.8 million for UNRWA in 2022, and when it provided almost $5 million in 2021 it claimed that it was “the agency’s top institutional donor” that year. www.jpost.com/.… UNRWA USA is also dealing with an advertising blocking, trolling and smear campaign on Google search results by the Israeli government. x The spread of misinformation & disinformation continues to be used as a weapon in the war in #Gaza. As part of its campaign to undermine & discredit @UNRWA, the Government of Israel has been buying ads on @Google to block users from giving donations to the Agency + undertake a… — Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) August 31, 2024 However, these pending legal cases may put the US justice system at odds with similar pending cases and advisory opinions being argued and decided under international law. The International Court of Justice issued two recent rulings. One preliminary ruling that there is a plausible case that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, thus Israel must take all legal precautions to prevent a genocide in Gaza. The other ICJ ruling is an advisory opinion made at the behest of the UN General Assembly. In its advisory opinion, the ICJ concluded that Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is unlawful and that it is under an obligation to bring to an end its unlawful presence “as rapidly as possible”. Israel is also “under an obligation to cease immediately all new settlement activities and to evacuate all settlers from the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” the opinion continued, as well as “reparation for the damage caused to all natural or legal persons concerned”. It further stated that “all States are under an obligation not to recognize as legal the situation arising from the unlawful presence” of Israel. States are also under the obligation to “not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by the continued presence of the State of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory”. news.un.org/.… The ICJ’s advisory opinion is a reason Canada, and several countries in Europe are restricting more exports of weapons that could make their governments complicit in war crimes committed in Gaza. The UK was the latest country to limit some weapon exports to Israel, fearing they could be used to commit war crimes in the besieged enclave, and in the West Bank where illegal settlements are expanding rapidly under Netanyahu’s far-right regime, which is also deducting tens of millions from tax revenue transfers to the Palestinian Authority to compensate Israeli victims of the massacre committed by Hamas on October 7. The International Criminal Court has also been pulled into the current Israel-Gaza conflict. The ICC’s prosecutor applied for arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant for war crimes committed in Gaza after October 7 and Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri (Deif), Ismail Haniyeh for war crimes committed in Israel on October 7 and afterwards. Be that as it may, Haniyeh was killed in an Israeii airstrike in Iran last month and it’s unclear if Al-Masri is still alive or more likely dead. Nonetheless, American foreign policy in the Middle East has already lost a tonne of credibility. We’ve gone from “honest broker” to “biased mediator” to “being complicit” in this never-ending brutal conflict, so bringing charges against one party in the conflict seems biased, especially since the ICC is seeking indictments for both sides for war crimes, and the US is likely the only major democratic country against executing these ICC arrest warrants. Are we not a country of laws too? But it is the hypocrisy of going against our American can’t-we-all-get-along values that has weakened our credibility to broker peace, and made our country much less respected in the region and around the world at a critical time for our planet. And this a reason why China sees a great opportunity to usurp our leadership over there with a grand propaganda plan of their own for a ceasefire, a two-states solution and then eventually make peace in the region, called the 2024 Beijing Declaration. At present, the Gaza conflict is dragging on and its spillovers continue to spread, as multiple regional conflicts are interconnected. To help get out of the current conflict and predicament, China proposes a three-step initiative. The first step is to achieve a comprehensive, lasting and sustainable ceasefire in the Gaza Strip as soon as possible, and ensure access to humanitarian aid and rescue on the ground. The international community should build more synergy for ending the hostilities and establishing a ceasefire. The second step is to make joint efforts towards post-conflict governance of Gaza under the principle of “Palestinians governing Palestine”. Gaza is an inseparable, integral part of Palestine. Restarting post-conflict reconstruction as soon as possible is an urgent priority. The international community needs to support Palestinian factions in establishing an interim national consensus government and realising the effective management of Gaza and the West Bank. The third step is to help Palestine become a full member state of the UN and get down to implementing the two-state solution. It is important to support the convening of a broad-based, more authoritative, and more effective international peace conference to work out a timetable and road map for the two-state solution. The three-step initiative lays out a detailed and feasible plan for peacefully resolving the Palestinian question, contributing to building consensus among all stakeholders and guiding the Palestinian question back on the right track of a political solution. China and many of the Middle Eastern countries are bound by similar memories of the devastation wrought by imperialism and colonialism, and share a kindred pursuit of national liberation, independence and self-reliance. China has never engaged in geopolitical confrontation or seeking proxies in the Middle East, nor does it intend to draw spheres of influence to fill the so-called power vacuum in the region. en.wikipedia.org/... [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/9/4/2267752/-The-Dept-of-Justice-indicts-Hamas-leaders?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/