U.S. petition calls for Netanyahu’s arrest for Gaza war crimes
A U.S. petition has begun circulating the Internet for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes committed during Israel’s Operation Protective Edge in the Gaza Strip when he arrives in New York next month to address the United Nations General Assembly.
The petition’s goal is 100,000 signatures. It currently has 3,900.
During the 2014 onslaught, 2,251 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip, including 299 women and 551 children. More than 11,000 people were injured, 63 percent of them were women and children and 10 percent were left with permanent disabilities.
IMEU detailed how Israel targeted civilian infrastructure, such as universities, hospitals, mosques, homes, residential towers, ambulances, and UNRWA schools where displaced families had taken refuge.
According to the UN, approximately 108,000 Palestinians were left homeless by Israel’s destruction of around 18,000 housing units. Gaza’s only power plant and largest sewage treatment plants were also targeted.
Israel has historically used chemical weapons on Palestinian civilians. In a 2013 interview, Dr. Khaled Thabet, head of the Oncology Department at Gaza’s Al Shifa Hospital, said he expected cancer cases in Gaza to double within 5 years due to Israel’s use of uranium, during Operation Cast Lead in 2009. There is strong evidence that dense inert metal explosives (DIME), as well as other banned weapons, were used by the Israeli army during the summer of 2014.
There is also documentation of Israeli forces using Palestinian civilians and children as human shields during ground operations.
Almost all of the destroyed homes and buildings in Gaza have yet to be rebuilt, as the blockade continues and the status quo remains. The UN recently re-published a report stating that the Gaza Strip will be unlivable by 2020.
In spite of recent and past war crimes, Israel is yet to have been held accountable. A recent petition in the UK received over 110,000 signatures calling for Netanyahu’s arrest upon his arrival in London.
Sign the U.S. petition and tell the White House you want to hold Netenyahu accountable for his war crimes.
