Defending Palestinians with Strategic Litigation

Dear friends,

Amid the ongoing atrocities the Israeli military has been committing for the past six months in Gaza, Israeli officials continue to incite for genocide and to block essential and lifesaving aid for Palestinian residents in the Strip. Under the cover of the war, the far-right government has carried out massive confiscation of swaths of Palestinian land in the OPT, reportedly the largest takeover of Palestinian territory in the past 30 years. Additionally, Israeli police have suppressed dissent of Palestinian citizens of Israel (PCI) against the Israeli offensive.

In this report, we highlight recent major legal actions undertaken by Adalah to defend the rights of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and in Israel against the background of the Israeli war on Gaza.

Petition to the Supreme Court to Enable Entry of Humanitarian Aid to Gaza

Adalah and four other partner human rights organizations filed a petition to the Israeli Supreme Court on 18 March 2024 calling on Israel to allow all humanitarian aid, equipment and staff into Gaza, especially to the north of the Strip; to significantly increase the volume of aid to Gaza, including by opening land crossings between Gaza and Israel; and to provide for all the needs of the civilian population in keeping with Israel’s obligations as the occupying power. The petition was filed by Adalah, Gisha, HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual, Physicians for Human Rights Israel, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.

The Gaza Strip suffers from a devastating humanitarian crisis caused by the ongoing Israeli bombardment of the strip and destruction of essential infrastructure and services, and Israeli restrictions on access to aid into and throughout Gaza. Some 75% of Gaza residents have been internally displaced and 1.1 million people in Gaza are projected to face catastrophic levels of food insecurity (OCHA OPT- 19 April 2024). Civilians, most of them women and children are dying as a result of starvation, dehydration, the collapse of medical services, and dire sanitary conditions. The situation is particularly extreme in areas north of Wadi Gaza, where there is no access to clean water and where, as of 15 March, one in three children under 2 years of age suffer from acute malnutrition, a staggering escalation from 15.6 per cent in January 2024.

The petitioners argued that Israel’s failure to take immediate, effective steps to increase the flow of aid to civilians throughout Gaza is a flagrant violation of its obligations under international law both as an occupying power and as a party to the hostilities. This failure is also a breach of the provisional measure set by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on facilitation of aid. The petition further stated: “The fact that children have died and continued to die in the north of Gaza as a result of malnutrition should have shaken the respondents (Israeli officials), the Israeli public, and the world at large to their foundations. Instead, the respondents did nothing to change their ways and continue to trample the basic human rights of Gaza residents.”

Demanding to Investigate and Prosecute Incitement to Genocide by Israeli Public Figures

On 8 April 2024, Adalah sent a letter to Israel’s State Attorney (AS), Attorney General (AG), Commissioner of Police and Minister of Justice demanding they immediately open an investigation into incidents of incitement to genocide perpetrated by various Israeli public figures since the start of the war on Gaza.

In its letter, Adalah cited a database of incidents of incitement compiled by Law for Palestine, which included over 500 statements made by Israeli decision makers, army personnel, and other influencers which included incitement to genocide. Adalah highlighted specific examples that are particularly alarming and warrant immediate investigation. In one particular instance, Minister of Defense Yoav Galant referenced the population of Gaza as “human animals”, stating that there would be no electricity, food, or fuel to the territory. In another explicit instance, Rabbi Eliyahu Mali, head of the Shirat Moshe Yeshiva in Jaffa, stated that all Gazans must be killed in order to comply with Jewish law; when asked about the elderly, women, and children, he responded “The same applies to them.” The letter also included comments from Israel’s highest leadership, with the President stating that “It's an entire nation out there that is responsible. This rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved—it's not true.” 

Adalah demanded that a criminal investigation be initiated against all those individuals who had made similar expressions to those in the letter and database, in order to ascertain whether they qualified as incitement to genocide, terror, violence, and/or bigotry. Adalah highlighted Israel's obligations under both international and Israeli law and specifically referred to the provisional order issued by the ICJ on 26 January 2024 in the case South Africa v. Israel, stating that “Israel must take all measures within its power to prevent and punish the direct and public incitement to commit genocide in relation to members of the Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip”.

The rhetoric endorsed by Israeli public officials, as well as by the broader public, reflects the dehumanization, hatred and incitement directed against Palestinians, and statements made by members of the cabinet reflect a state policy of intentional targeting of Palestinian civilians and send a clear message to military personnel that they are to act accordingly. The consistent inaction by Israeli authorities in spite of clear evidence of incitement to genocide suggests that expressions conveying genocidal intent, according to which all Palestinians in Gaza are seen as “involved” and therefore legitimate targets, will persist under their protection.

Challenging Settlements and Annexation Policies in the Occupied West Bank

Since the start of the war, the far-right Israeli government has significantly accelerated its policies to entrench Jewish settlements and solidify its control and annexation of the occupied West Bank. Under the cover of the war, Minister Bezalel Smotrich, the religious Zionist Party chairman, announced the confiscation of 800 hectares (around 2,000 acres) of Palestinian land in the West Bank, reportedly the largest seizure of Palestinian territory since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993. This move is aimed at facilitating settlement construction on Palestinian land and blatantly violates international law.

This massive confiscation of Palestinian land is among the repercussions of the transfer of powers over land in the OPT to Smotrich who, in December 2022,assumed responsibility for the Unit for the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories and the Civil Administration in the West Bank. On 25 March 2024, Adalah sent a letter to Smotrich, the Minister of Defense Minister, the AG, and others demanding the cancellation of the “document of understanding and division of responsibilities and powers between the Minister of Defense and the additional minister in the Ministry of Defense" which was signed in February 2023, and all the steps taken and the decisions made based on it. The memorandum was signed pursuant to the 2022 coalition agreements between the Religious Zionist Party and the ruling Likud Party, and following the amendment to the Basic Law: The Government which allowed for the appointment of Smotrich as an additional minister in the Ministry of Defense.

The agreement, which details Smotrich’s authority in the Ministry of Defense, grants him powers intended to expand the settlement enterprise. Adalah argued that the agreement deepens the violations of international law, including: the perpetration of war crimes by establishing settlements in OPT; crimes against humanity (Apartheid) by the de facto application of Israeli laws to Israeli settlers in the West Bank; and crimes of aggression through de facto annexation, while violating the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.

Challenging Racist Policies that Stifled Freedom of Expression and Assembly of PCI since the Start of the War

On 4 March 2024, Adalah sent a letter to the AG and the SA arguing that since 7 October 2023, the actions of their offices’ have consistently failed to intervene in the political misuse of the police force and of the criminal procedure aimed at silencing Palestinian dissent.

In the letter, Adalah argued that since the beginning of the war, the AG and SA allowed law enforcement to engage in violent and criminal conduct against PCI, violating fundamental principles of the rule of law. This criminal conduct involves the police's severe suppression of PCI's freedom of assembly, along with their widespread arrests and prosecutions based on Palestinians' expressions on social media platforms. The actions of the AG's and SA’s offices result in a policy of violations of the political rights of PCI. This policy is compounded by the AG’s and SA’s failure to address instances of incitement to violence against Palestinians and explicit calls for genocide in Gaza. Such actions contradict international norms that mandate Israel to safeguard these rights and ensure the equal and non-discriminatory application of the rule of law.

Adalah demanded immediate action to amend these racist policies of the AG and the SA which include racially-based enforcement of investigations, arrests, and prosecution for expressions on social media. Adalah also demanded that the AG and the SA instruct all officials in their offices and the Israeli police to act in accordance with the principle of the rule of law and equality before the law.

Thank you for your support.

In solidarity,

The Adalah team.