As we know only too well, there have been genocides numerous times since 1945, in Cambodia and Burma, in Rwanda and Bosnia and now in Gaza. In an attempt to prevent such atrocities taking place again, a number of measures were taken in the second half of the 1940s. These included the Nuremberg Trials of Nazi war criminals such as Nazi leader Hermann Göring, and the adoption by representatives of the nations of the world of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Paris on 10 December, 1948.
All these measures added up to the establishment of an international rule of law. Clearly this rule of law has been ignored numerous times since 1948, hence the tragic genocides we have seen.
However, the international community has at least punished some of the perpetrators, especially since the establishment of the International Criminal Court in the Hague on 1st July 2002. Despite numerous atrocities, and indeed Western governments were said by many to be breaking international law with the invasion of Iraq in 2003, there was still perceived to be a rule of international law.
But things seem different and more dangerous today. From the White House to the city of Newcastle, we are seeing people in positions of power turn a blind eye to grave human rights abuses, which really should be their concern, while perpetrators get off without punishment and indeed are often fêted.
Anas al-Sharif
In mid-August the media outlet Al Jazeera announced that an Israeli airstrike had killed their correspondent Anas al-Sharif and fellow journalists in Gaza City. Al-Sharif, 28, was killed along with reporter Mohammed Qreiqeh, journalist Mohammed al-Khalidi and cameramen Momen Aliwa, Ibrahim Zaher, and Mohammed Noufal.
It was further reported that the Israeli strike had targeted a tent where the journalists were sheltering at the Al Shifa medical complex in Gaza City.
Additionally, it has been stated that UN special rapporteur Irene Khan had warned on 31 July that killings of journalists were ‘part of a deliberate strategy of Israel to suppress the truth.’
In response to the killing of the journalists, including al-Sharif, Raed Fakih, input manager at Al Jazeera, was reported to have told the BBC that al-Sharif was:
“Courageous, dedicated, and honest – that is what made him successful as a journalist with hundreds of thousands of social media followers from all over the world.”
Faikh also commented:
“His dedication took him to areas where no other reporter ventured to go, especially those that witnessed the worst massacres. His integrity kept him true to his message as a journalist. In our last conversations, he told me about the famine and starvation he was enduring, about how hard it is to survive with so little food.”
The Israeli government openly said that they had deliberately killed al-Sharif claiming that he was a leading member of Hamas and a terrorist, but have provided no credible evidence to back up this claim. It has been further noted that numerous leaders around the world have expressed outrage over the assassination of Anas al-Sharif.
However, the Trump White House has had nothing to say about the murder of journalists in Gaza, or Netanyahu’s plan to invade Gaza City.
The fact is that journalists are civilians and the deliberate targeting of a journalist is a war crime.
Is a new template being put in place for governments around the world, for journalists to be killed and then accused of being terrorists? We have already seen many times, the use of the word ‘terrorist’ being used falsely by many governments such as Saudi Arabia.
Although there was condemnation from around the world. Governments such as our own, continue to provide arms to Israel, though it does sanction those who so flagrantly break international law. There is indeed something of a conspiracy of silence in the western world about such actions.
Silence in Newcastle
Human rights belong to all people. That is why the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was given its name in 1948. It is universal. You cannot just cherry pick what is convenient for you to support and ignore the plight of others, whether you are a Prime Minister or President or the Leader of Newcastle City Council.
Indeed, much closer to home, there seems to have been another conspiracy of silence, with regards to politicians and other groups in and around Newcastle, who have little or nothing to say about human rights in Saudi Arabia, despite the city’s close links with the Gulf state.
Newcastle MP Chi Onwurah, spoke in the Houses of Commons in 2019 against Tory government plans to sell arms to Saudi Arabia, which were later deemed unlawful. At the time of the takeover of Newcastle United in 2021, Onwurah issued a statement including these words:
“Many of us are horrified by the human rights record of Saudi Arabia which stands in direct opposition to the values of our city.”
However, Onwurah has gone very quiet on human rights issues concerning Saudi Arabia, and Newcastle City Council leader Karen Kilgour refused to be photographed with human rights defenders from Saudi Arabia who came all the way to Newcastle to speak to her in February of this year.
Many local political figures in Newcastle seem more than happy to talk about human rights, when it is safe and convenient for them to do so. But if it is seen as inconvenient, then any avowed principles appear to go straight out of the window.
The dangerous collapse of international law
The people of Palestine matter. The people of Saudi Arabia matter. All people matter. And consequently, so does international law.
As has often been said, these are dangerous times and they are dangerous partly because of the way so many powerful political figures, be it Netanyahu or Bin Salman or so many others, are being allowed to break international law, abuse human rights, and act with complete impunity in ways contrary to the accepted norms of international law since 1945.
Surely it is time for the international community to face up to its responsibilities, whether they be prime ministers or presidents, council leaders or elected representatives or individuals like you, and defend those who are bravely telling the truth in places such as Gaza and Saudi Arabia, and so many other places around the world.
And do it before it is too late. Too many stayed quiet in the 1930s and we all know what the consequences of that were.
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