Many participants in The Hague Group meeting in Colombia are talking about taking action, but many analysts and activists closely following the actions of various states note that many of these countries have not pushed for legal mechanisms available. These include to demanding arms embargo and sanctions through the UN General Assembly’s Uniting for Peace mechanism, as was done against apartheid South Africa. Nor have they moved toward direct relief operations that bypass Israel’s blocking of humanitarian aid, as was done with the Berlin Airlift. Nor have they moved toward a peace force as the UN assembled after Israel invaded Gaza and Sinai with Britain and France in 1956.
See IPA news releases: “Will The Hague Group Live up to Their Legal Obligations?” and “Peace Force for Gaza ‘the Least’ The Hague Group Can Adopt.”
ROBERT JERESKI, [email protected], @codepink
Jereski is a New York City-based attorney who has led CODEPINK’s World Court Project. He has organized and participated in many meetings with various UN missions, trying to get them to take concrete steps for over a year and a half.
He said today: “Israel must be stopped. Governments around the world could have stopped Israel over 50,000 dead Palestinians ago (and how many maimed and permanently incapacitated?) when Israel’s leaders declared they would collectively punish Palestinians by starving them and depriving them of medicine and other necessities. But they didn’t.
“Since then, majorities worldwide have demanded that Israel stop. Our appeals to International law have not stopped Israel from committing war crimes. It ignores the orders of the International Court of Justice and fundamental norms that undergird the Rule of Law. Appeals to humanity and decency do not work either. Israel’s soldiers are part of a nation which turns a cold heart to Palestinian suffering. So its soldiers can create a free for all kill zone in 85 percent of Gaza without qualms, while its politicians and pundits can call Palestinian children future terrorists and call for their mass murder and its soldiers snipe infants in the head. Condemnation doesn’t work either. Two months ago, foreign ministers from Spain, Norway, Slovenia and others condemned Israel’s use of food as a weapon of war in May 2025, six months after the ICC issued warrants for the same conduct in November 2024. The practice continues undeterred.
“The only thing that Israel understands is power. So governments that would truly enforce international law and protect Palestinians from Israel’s depravity must impose economic pain and render it vulnerable to attack by cutting it off from trade, weapons and fuel.
“By now each country attending the Hague Group summit cannot ignore what the majority of humanity, outraged by Israel’s atrocities over the last 20-plus months, has known since the beginning: Israel will not stop because of condemnation of its unlawful and immoral actions by other countries. Countries that mean what they say must show that with actions by forcing Israel to stop with strong and enforced economic sanctions on Israel — and not just the settlements — and by stopping sales/purchase of all tech, oil, and arms with Israel.
“We will see if these countries are just buying more time to let Israel ‘finish the job’ or whether they will act to defend international law and the Palestinian people.”