On September 10, the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) started in New York. Whether or not the world body will finally take action this time depends on every single member state from around the world.
As we approach a year since the start of the livestreamed US-Israeli genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in the occupied and besieged Gaza Strip, our people, fragmented by colonialism, stands united in resisting the genocide and Israel’s 76-year-old regime of settler-colonialism and apartheid.
On January 26, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) confirmed the plausibility of South Africa's charge under the Genocide Convention that “Israel has engaged in, is engaging in and risks further engaging in genocidal acts against the Palestinian people in Gaza.” On 19 July, the ICJ found Israel guilty of apartheid and its military occupation illegal. Both rulings by the world’s top court require states to take immediate and effective action to impose sanctions on Israel. Failing to do so would relegate international law to the trash bin of history.
Palestinians remain steadfast in the face of genocide, apartheid and settler-colonialism. We need your support to ensure that the UNGA responds to the unified Palestinian call for sanctions! It is high time to mobilize and ensure that your elected officials respect international law by supporting and imposing targeted sanctions on Israel!
We need to make sure governments shoulder the legal and moral responsibility of safeguarding the rule of law, alongside the rights of the Palestinian people, and ensure they are not complicit in Israel’s decades-old systematic crimes.
This is why we are launching a months-long campaign for people worldwide to demand decisive action from their governments at the UN.
The campaign starts now, with an urgent call to action!
In the coming week, the UNGA will be holding a historic vote on a resolution that, if voted in its current form, would only meet some of the authoritative demandssupported by the vast majority of Palestinian society in Palestine and in exile and still be limited to addressing only parts of our UN-stipulated rights. Yet it would be a significant step in pressuring Israel, the US and their allies to end the genocide. Let’s build pressure on governments and demand they vote for the resolution and support its essential elements, particularly:
- The demand for Israel to end its illegal presence, including its entire settlement enterprise, in the occupied Palestinian territories (OPT) within 6 months and to immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the OPT, including Gaza and East Jerusalem. This is a crucial first step towards dismantling Israel’s 76-year-old regime of settler-colonialism and apartheid.
- A comprehensive military embargo, including a direct or indirect transfer, sale, export and diversion of arms, munitions, parts, components, dual use items, surveillance equipment, technologies and any other military equipment to Israel, and any military trade, cooperation and dual-use research with Israel.
- Trade sanctions on Israel, especially (a) a ban on products from its illegal settlements and on any business that directly or indirectly is involved in them; (b) ensuring that authorities, nationals, companies and entities under their jurisdiction do not take any action that recognizes or assists Israel’s presence in the OPT; and (c) implement sanctions, including travel bans and asset freezes, against individuals, entities and officials identified as responsible for the maintenance of Israel’s unlawful presence in the OPT.
- The UNGA to establish a Special Committee to investigate and report on the ICJ finding that Israel is guilty of apartheid.
Alert: Use this template to contact your Foreign Ministry now. And use this model letter to reach out to civil society groups and activists, inviting them to support the campaign.
Please also join us:
- In supporting the unified call from Palestinian civil society to impose sanctions on Israel for its genocide, settler colonialism, apartheid and illegal occupation against the Indigenous Palestinian people. Share and advocate for Palestinian demands with your Foreign Ministries and relevant policy makers, via emails, letters, phone calls, and in-person meetings with elected officials.
- In the week ahead of the start of the UNGA general debate, 16th - 23rd September, join your local BDS or Palestine solidarity group in organizing protests, demonstrations and public actions calling on your government to demand #SanctionIsrael now.
- As citizens of conscience who want a world without racism, oppression and apartheid, help create/support Apartheid Free Zones in local businesses of your region, in cultural associations or in activist spaces in which you participate, or help create Apartheid Free Churches and communities where applicable.
- Take part in our Global Day of Action for sanctions on Israel–further details coming soon.
Together we can end Israel’s genocide in Gaza and help dismantle its 76-year-old regime of settler-colonialism and apartheid, the root cause of this oppression and unspeakable violence.